Planets

Revision as of 06:33, 28 May 2011

There are thousands of planets to be discovered in Galaxy Legion, and what makes each one different is it's Planet Type, Planet Size, and Resources.

Planet Database

Your ship's computer is equipped with an initially empty planet database. The planet database stores the location and meta-data for planets that you currently have scanned. Currently scanned planets are listed on the "PLANETS" tab of your main console. From the PLANETS tab, you can scan for new planets, select an individual planet for details/options, and sort or filter the list of planets.

Sorting and Filtering List of Planets

Sort the list of planets by ascending or descending order by clicking on the column headers. The filter is applied real-time and filters simultaneously by planet name, size, type, best resource, and control. For example, entering "you volc very" as the filter will cause only volcanic planets controlled by you which have a very something best resource or a very something size (it's also possible that a planet has the string "volc" or "you" as a substring somewhere in the planet name). The order of different words in the filter does not matter, and the strings are not case-sensitive, so the following filters are all functionally equivalent: "icy large", "LARGE ICY", and "lArGe ICy".

Adding Planets to the Database

There are 6 known methods to add a planet to the database:

• Scanning for new planets. This is a stochastic process described in the following section.
• Sharing planet locations. Legion members may "alert" a planet location to other members of the same legion. This functionality is based on heavily regulated and leased scan-link channels; planets added under this method are only temporarily available to all legion members, and will be removed after a specific amount of time. If the planet is colonized (or invaded then colonized) by a particular recipient during this window, then its location will remain in the colonizing user's planet database.
• Using the Alien Star Chart Artifact. This artifact adds a random planet to your planet database, and is assumed to be equivalent to a single successful scan. Due to the high cost (in materials and expertise) and relatively low demand of producing these artifacts, there is no known existing production of this artifact; new instances are not expected to be available through artifact drops or Galaxy markets.
• Hacking an enemy ship's database. The planet database is typically maintained in an isolated enclave of the ship's computer with periodic synchronization. It is rare, but the results of a successful hack may coincide with synchronization which will allow planet data to be hacked. The result is that both ships will now have the same planet scanned.
• Daily Rewards. It is rumored (and possibly a myth) that planet information is returned on extremely rare occasions as a Daily Reward. The probability of this event is considered to be virtually zero for all intents and purposes.
• Special Missions. Special mission may return planet information. High rank missions even unlock the discovery of new TYPES of planets (Aphotic and Ecumenopolis, etc). The other canonical case of this is the special planet "Exotica" as a reward for completion of the mission "Ruler of Exotica".

Scanning for New Planets

To scan for new planets, click the "Scan for New Planets" button on the "PLANETS" tab of your main console. The scanning processes consumes Energy and is probabilistic in nature. The probability stated on the console represents the ship's computer's calculated odds that a planet will be identified by the scan. The nature of the flux and related scanning technology allow for a sufficiently accurate calculation of this probability.

Once a planet is identified, the ship's scanners attempt to isolate and analyze the planet. Whether this 2nd scan is successful is a function of your scanning power and the identified planet's cloak. The exact nature of this function is not known, but it has been proposed by high-rank scientists, and confirmed by empirical observations, that this scan-cloak function is indeed probabilistic and of the form: A - B*(cloak/scan) as opposed to a simple add-subtract of scan versus cloak abilities. The actual probability of the overall scan is the stated scanning probability multiplied by the results of the scan-cloak function; therefore, the stated scanning probability is an upper-bound on the actual probability.

Since the 2nd scan function depends on the specific identified planet, your ship computer is unable to report the overall scanning probability prior to the scan. Depending on the results of the scan-cloak function, the identified planet may or may not have enough cloak to remain hidden from the scan after the identification. If the planet is successfully identified, and then successfully isolated/analyzed, the overall scan is considered successful, and the planet is added to your planet database.

Your ship must maintain active scan links with all scanned planets, so the planet identification probability decreases as the number of successfully scanned planets increases. More and more scanning power is needed to maintain more and more active scan-links.

Removing Planets from the Database

Removing a planet from the planet database deactivates active scan links, thus increasing your planet identification probability. Planets are removed from your database when:

• You use a Starchart Purger artifact on the planet. You cannot use a Starchart Purger on a planet that you currently control.
• A player uses a Planet Flux artifact on the planet. The Planet Flux artifact disrupts any existing active scan links to the planet, effectively removing it from all databases which have it scanned. This leaves the user of the Planet Flux as the only user who has the planet scanned.
• A planet alert lease expires.

Colonization Requirements

You are limited in how many planets you can occupy by your current rank. The limit is one planet, plus one per four ranks you have achieved.

Colonizing a planet, whether peacefully or through invasion, also costs credits. The cost is dependent on how many planets you have already occupied, and it costs twice as much to invade a planet as it does to colonize an unoccupied planet.

Based on this data, Kurisu has established a formula which seems to accurately predict colonization costs for those wishing info not verified in the above table:

n = number of planets currently colonized

x = n - 1

p(x) = (x^3 + 3x^2 + 3x + 1) * 1000

or quite simply put: n^3 * 1000

Remember that invasion costs will still be double what is calculated by the above formula.

Types of Planets

A planet comes with a variety of resources that can be produced, and the type of planet you find determines what those resources will be. While some resources might be abundant, other resources may not be available at all. The list below show what planets are out in the galaxy, how likely you are to find them, and what they will typically be able to produce.

Common Planets

• Barren – most common resource is minerals; max observed natural: Very Large / Mining: Rich. Limited upgrades available via 2 missions.
• Volcanic – most common resource is minerals; max observed natural: Very Large / Mining: Extremely Rich
• Gas - most common resource is research; max observed natural: Very Massive / Research: Very Rich

Uncommon Planets

• Desert – most common resource is artifacts; max observed natural: Very Large / Artifact: Very Rich. Limited upgrades available via mission.
• Icy - most common resource is artifacts; max observed natural: Very Large / Artifact: Extremely Rich. Limited upgrades available via mission. (Note: This planet is the only planet in game which has the potential to reach the vaunted status of "Mega Collosal")
• Toxic – most common resource is minerals; max observed natural: Very Large / Mining: Very Rich. (Note: Blade Harvester NPCs spawn randomly in the battle tab providing an unlimited supply of mineral resource enhancers that can be used on Toxic planets. However the artifacts cannot be used on a Toxic of mineral availability of 15x or higher. However the artifact proves a bonus of two levels to the mineral availability. Thus a toxic planet at 14x Mega Rich will reach 16x Mega rich before it cannot be enhanced further, while a toxic at 13x mega rich will only reach 15x mega rich.
• Gas - most common resource is research; max observed natural: Very Large / Research: Very Abundant (Note: Uncommon Gas planets are uncommon because they are SMALLER than their more common Siblings.)

Rare Planets

• Metallic – most common resource is mining/research; max observed natural: Very Massive / Mining or Research: Extremely Rich.
• Oceanic - most common resource is artifacts/research; max observed natural: Massive / Artifact or Research: Extremely Rich.
• Terra - most common resource is artifacts; max observed natural: Very Large / Artifact: 3x-5x Mega Rich. Limited upgrades via mission.

Not naturally found:

• Crystal - Special type of converted desert planet only available throuh the mission Crystal Inferno, which adds +1 size and +2 to all resources to the planet.

• Aphotic - aka 'Shadow' planets. Always: Very Large, Mining: Very Rich, Artifacts: Extremely Rich, Research: Mega Rich, Passive cloak 200. Found only in the Vorigar Expanse (available through the mission Into the Expanse).

• Ecumenopolis - a huge megacity encompassing an entire planet. Found through the mission City of None. Appears to be always: Large, Mining Abundant / Artifact Ultra Rich / Research 2x Mega Rich

• Irradiated - Special type of converted toxic planet only available through the mission Potent Residuum, which adds +1 size and +2 to all resources to the planet. Unlimited upgrades via NPC drop same as a toxic planet.

• Demon world, aka Class Y planets. They are only found through a discovery in the Collective theory lab in legion bases. Artifact name is Thermionic intensifier.

• Plasma world, not much known about it yet, the plasma world is a transformed gas planet from the Phasic-Chain Ionizer. this artifact is gained through a discovery in the CT-Lab.

Extremely Rare Planets

• Exotic – can be any size, and richness. Observed up to 15x of any resource, and Very Massive size (but it could be higher resources possible). Rarity observed by one player was 6 exotics in 4400 planets.

• Gaia - special type of Terra Planet, only available through the mission The Drannik Extinction, with +1 size and +2 to all resources added.

• Sentient - Converted barren planet with passive bonuses to attack and defense, adding +1 size and +2 resources.

Mythical Planets

• Dyson - amazing production of all resources (x mega rich or better), always Colossal

Planet Sizes

Planet size determines how much space the planet has available for buildings. Some buildings take up more space than others, so this number is good to know. From smallest to largest, the planet sizes (and available space) are:

• Size - Title - Space
• 01 - Very Tiny - 21
• 02 - Tiny - 27
• 03 - Very Small - 33
• 04 - Small - 39
• 05 - Average - 45
• 06 - Large - 51
• 07 - Very Large - 57
• 08 - Massive - 63
• 09 - Very Massive - 69
• 10 - Colossal - 75
• 11 - Mega Colossal - 81**

** NOTE:

"Mega Colossal" No longer shows as "Colossal":

• This is because the game itself was not initially populated with a planet of this size, but players have determined how to expand a planet past the soft limit of the game's mechanics. Initially this caused the planet to still show inn people's lists as "Colossal" with no prefix to distinguish it from it's cousin.

Naming Controversy:

• Because the planet had not specifically given a title, showing only as "Colossal", players have been given to referring to them as "Extremely Colossal", "Very Colossal", "Mega Colossal", "Titanic" and "Gigantic". Given the naming conventions for other planets the proper name should be "Very Colossal". However Dan decided to break with tradition on this planet when he made it an officially accepted size in the game, instead calling it "Mega Colossal" <-- ** Verified **

How to obtain a "Very Colossal"/"Mega Colossal" Planet:

• Obtain any Ice-world, and use the Quasi Spacial Expander artifacts on it until the planet reaches the maximum size you can increase them to by using the expander (The maximum size reachable this way is, 09 - "Very Massive"). At that point use a "Mass Surface Melter" Artifact on the planet, this will change your Icy planet into an oceanic planet, and also increase the planet size by 2, as well as increasing the resource abundance of all available resources by two.

Resources

Every planet has resources that can be harvested. Those resources are what help you progress further in the game. The resources for each planet are:

• Mining, which produces Minerals
• Artifact, which produces Artifacts
• Research, which produces Research Points

Resource Availability

The resource availability modifier is added to the resource production for a given resource on the planet. In order from worst production to best production, the availabilities are:

• Extremely Sparse, -75%
• Very Sparse, -50%
• Sparse, -25%
• Average, +0%
• Abundant, +25%
• Very Abundant, +50%
• Extremely Abundant, +75%
• Rich, +100%
• Very Rich, +125%
• Extremely Rich, +150%
• Ultra Rich, +175%
• Mega Rich, +200%
• 1x - 48x Mega Rich, +225% - +1400%

Base Planetary Production

Do you need to know which planet you should colonize?

These charts show the base planetary production for a planet and do not include other multipliers (i.e. Development bonus, Race Bonus, or Chassis). The Charts do however take into account maximizing production. Sometimes you can only have 3 Level 3 facilities for example, but still have room for a level 2 or level 1 Facility.

Use these charts to determine which planet will yield the best results for you.

Hint: If you have two planets that will yield the same production level, the smaller one is the better choice as it will cost less to upgrade later! On the other hand, careful examination of the charts reveals that the smaller planets tend to stall at certain levels. So choose your planet locations wisely: A smaller planet may be easier to upgrade now, but it will be become much less useful than a larger planet later. Playing the game for the long haul can mean the difference between that Quantum Computer Grid and some defenses or only a Theory Engine. ;)

Happy Planet Hunting!

Now, on with the data!