Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is cloaked in a thick atmosphere while unterraformed, which is a yellow-tan color. It is also one of the five terraformable astronomical objects in the game. In terms of size, Venus is usually grouped with Earth, though it is noticeably smaller. Venus will be inherently hazardous to ships entering its atmosphere, as it rusts ship parts slowly upon entry. Venus has less metal and gas concentration than Mars as well, although due to its size and gravity, it is a great Earth substitute.
Appearance
The Venusian surface is hidden by its yellow-ish atmosphere. However, underneath the thick plumes lay a landscape that is predominantly orange in color, with splotches of bright yellow, streaks of dark gray, and some light gray spots. An unterraformed Venus also has strong winds and an overwhelming yellow fog.
Gameplay
Venus's gameplay is slightly harder than Mars. Drills are less efficient on Venus than on Mars, resources are scarcer, and gas only substantially exists after terraforming. Water is also nonexistent until at least one terraformer is placed. Despite this, it is not a terrible choice for colonization, as Venus has good gravity and is quite large, though most of its light side land will disappear after terraformation. While it's unterraformed, Venus will be hazardous to ships entering its atmosphere. Venus's atmosphere will not harm humans, although ships entering the atmosphere will become more and more damaged until they're practically useless. When basing Venus, you must plan ahead as one death can very easily lead to you losing your base, with little option to search for it.
Venus's main gameplay is as an alternative to Mars, as Venus is only a bit harder to colonize and terraform.
Colonization
Like Mars and Ganymede, Venus can be terraformed using Terraformers. This process may be reversed or slowed by detonating charges or placing drills.
Though it can be terraformed, Venus is not very fit for colonization due to several factors:
- It has less metal and gas concentration.
- The atmosphere will quickly destroy ships before it is nearly finished terraforming.
- Detonating explosives will not yield any type of rock.
- Water and natural gas don't exist in large amounts until terraformation begins.
Despite this, Venus remains a popular target for colonization, due to its relative difficulty while still not being as hard as Ganymede, its higher gravity and larger size, and its proximity to Mercury. Venus also forms into large clusters of islands after terraformation, which may be desirable for some users. While its proximity to Mercury is not a very large factor, the main factor is that it's generally unterraformed after Earth is destroyed. This means that it's uncolonized and is an obvious choice for colonizing next. People may desire Venus as they may wish to have a more "personal" planet, a planet with a higher amount of public factories, or a more private planet mostly depending on the state of Mars.
Process
During terraforming, the Venusian atmosphere will shrink away, revealing an orange surface underneath. Once you can see the surface from space, seas of tar that are a black color will rise and begin covering the surface, damaging any players that are caught in them. These seas of tar rise quite high and can kill players fast, so take extra caution on the dark side. As the Venusian atmosphere turns a transparent blueish gray with a cloudy texture, the orange terrain will begin to convert to a yellowish sand, and green grass. Server may lag for a few minutes because of terraforming terrain.
Late during terraforming, the seas of tar will convert to a transparent water, no longer damaging upon contact. This marks the end of terraforming, along with being able to breathe inside without a dome. From space after Venus is terraformed, it will have a few continents almost as large as those on Earth with islands and peninsulas, some continents having mountainous terrain. It will also have a lot of archipelagos on the dark side, consisting large amounts of islands. These archipelagos may be suited for bases that contain large amounts of wholly or mostly private industry for one person's sole use on one or two islands.
Gallery
