WTP through the ages

The former-turn ledger

A former-turn is one former working for one turn. Every terraforming job has a price in them, and some are far better buys than others.

Score = 1.0·N + 1.5·M + 0.5·E. Build times, yields, and weights come from the game files. Those weights are the AI's, and your governor's. They price a mineral at three energy, so a governed base builds a production town, not an energy town.
Tile or action	Opens	FT	Score	Per FT	Verdict
Fungus, fully teched: 3-1-3 (Gaians +1 nutrient)	E10	0	6.0	—	Free. Nothing else is.
Rainy farm: 2 from rainfall, +2 from the farm	start	4	4.0	1.00	Best paid tile
Forest under Tree Farm + Hybrid Forest: 3-2-1	B7	8	6.5	0.81	The forest you already planted, upgraded
Forest under Tree Farm: 2-2-1	B4	8	5.5	0.69	And it spreads free
Forest: 1-2-1, before spread	start	8	4.5	0.56	Plant sparingly, let it spread
Echelon Mirror, six adjacent solars: +12 energy	E5	16	6.0	0.38	Only if clustered
Thermal Borehole: 0-2-6	C3	16	6.0	0.38	An energy tile now
Condenser: 0–9 N from the farms it waters, itself plus 8 neighbours	E5	16	0–9.0	0–0.56	Usually 4–5 N (~0.28/FT) — scores its neighbours, not itself
Soil Enricher: a flat +1 nutrient	B8	8	1.0	0.13	Worst buy on the board
Rocky mine	start	8	—	—	The default mineral tile; +2 with a Genejack Factory
Solar collector	start	4	—	—	Energy by elevation; what a mirror multiplies
Sensor array	start	4	—	—	Cheapest combat multiplier: +25% attack and defence
Road	start	1	—	—	Makes every other job cheaper

The social engineering table

Effects come from the game files; marked terms changed from vanilla.
Model	Opens	Effects	Verdict
Politics
Police State	C2	+2 SUPPORT, +2 POLICE, −2 EFFIC	Unchanged. EFFIC costs at most half your energy now, so anyone can open with it
Democratic	B2/E2	+2 GROWTH, +1 EFFIC, −3 SUPPORT, −1 PLANET	Still the boom's +2 GROWTH; EFFIC halved, so Demo + Green is +3, not +4
Fundamentalist	D2	+2 PROBE, +1 MORALE, +1 INDUSTRY, −3 RESEARCH	A modest economy now, not just a war posture; −30% labs
Economics
Free Market	B3	+2 ECONOMY, −5 POLICE, −3 PLANET	Unchanged. The only model that reaches +2 ECONOMY alone
Planned	D3	+1 GROWTH, +1 INDUSTRY, −1 ECONOMY, −2 EFFIC	GROWTH halved; still one of the +6 boom's points
Green	E3	+2 EFFIC, +2 PLANET, +1 RESEARCH, −1 GROWTH	Better than vanilla: labs added, growth penalty halved
Values
Power	C5	+2 SUPPORT, +2 MORALE, −2 INDUSTRY	Unchanged
Knowledge	B5	+3 RESEARCH, +1 EFFIC, −2 PROBE, −1 INDUSTRY	+30% labs, but 3 INDUSTRY behind Wealth: no longer the safe default
Wealth	B5	+2 INDUSTRY, +1 ECONOMY, −2 MORALE, −2 PLANET	The production pick; it cancels Green's PLANET
Future Society
Cybernetic	D9	+2 EFFIC, +2 RESEARCH, +1 PLANET, −3 POLICE	PLANET halved; still the late pick in most faction arcs
Eudaimonic	E9	+1 GROWTH, +1 ECONOMY, +1 TALENT, −4 MORALE	Gutted, and INDUSTRY gone, but the only model with TALENT: it feeds both halves of the boom
Thought Control	E9	+2 MORALE, +2 POLICE, +2 PROBE, −3 SUPPORT	Unchanged

Colonizing

Vanilla premiseYou have little options yet. The best way of economic expansion is ICSing with colony pods, and placing crawlers all over the place.

WTP opens on

Game start, with a bigger kit: +2 formers and +1 colony pod for every faction, and 2 bonus nutrient tiles.

What binds

Former-turns and tile minerals. Founding a base is easy; making it productive is the work.

Economy & growth

Pods still win; crawlers have left the age

Stock base spacing still allows a close lattice, so Maniac's pod half survives. His crawler half doesn't: Supply Crawlers moved to B5 and cost more than a pod. The brakes are bureaucracy drones and specialists that need size 5. Pop cap is 7 until the Hab Complex (C2). Go to sea early: every sea base gets a free Pressure Dome.

Terraforming

A terraforming race, not a scouting one

Two extra formers make the opening a race for improved tiles. Farms, solars and sensors take 4 turns; mines and forests 8. Default: rainy farms and rocky mines, with forest planted sparingly and left to spread. There are no yield restrictions from turn 1.

→ former-turn ledger

Social engineering

Every level-1 model lands at tier 2

Police State (C2), Democratic (B2/E2) and Fundamentalist (D2) arrive together; Planned, Free Market and Green one tier later. Negative EFFIC costs at most half your energy, so Police State + Planned is a viable early pick for anyone. Democratic now carries −3 SUPPORT: one free unit per base while pods and formers fill the queue.

→ social engineering table

Research

Cost follows the target's tier, not your tech count

Broad, cheap research isn't punished; beelining is. Starting techs don't raise later costs, so a two-tech start is a permanent lead. Tier 1 leans EXPLORE: four of its eight techs. A Biology Lab (E1, +4 labs) offsets thin early labs. Librarians and the Network Node wait for tier 3.

War & diplomacy

Defence is cheap

Taking a base costs the attacker 2–3× the defender's minerals, so turtling works, and rovers lost their open-ground bonus. Perimeter Defense (C2) gives +100% against land. The AI expands without limit, favours coastal sites and buys bases outright: keep one slow probe in each border base. Diplomacy and leader personalities are vanilla.

Secret projects

Four projects in reach, all dearer than vanilla

At tiers 1–2: The Merchant Exchange (B1, now a commerce project), The Weather Paradigm (E1), The Human Genome Project (D2) and The Command Nexus (C2). Projects cost 2–5× vanilla, and the AI spends reserves to hurry them.

Planet

Natives are deadlier and pay nothing

Worms win about half their fights and planetpearls are gone, so don't hunt. Fight natives from bases, two defenders each, and kill spore launchers next to improved land at any cost. Escorting pods is a choice with no wrong answer. Eco-damage can wait: the clean ceiling is 16 minerals per base.

Popbooming

Vanilla premiseAfter having Ethical Calculus … and Ecological Engineering … or Environmental Economics … the biggest bottleneck for growth becomes how you can produce the most nutrients the cheapest way.

WTP opens on

Ethical Calculus (B2/E2: Democratic, Children's Creche) + Planetary Networks (D3: Planned), with Nonlinear Mathematics (C2: Hab Complex). Tier 2–3, against vanilla's 4–5. The condenser tech (E5) opens nothing now.

What binds

The Golden Age: drone and talent control. A boom needs a Golden Age and +6 GROWTH, for every faction.

Economy & growth

Two gates: a Golden Age and +6 GROWTH

Democratic +2, Creche +2, Planned +1 and Hab Complex +1 make +6 at tier 3. The last point is worth the most: +5 to +6 adds 50 points of growth rate. Psych now works across the whole slider, so a Golden Age can be bought with energy. Specialists come only from talents and normals, never drones.

Terraforming

Condensers stopped feeding booms

The Condenser lost its +50% nutrient multiplier: it only adds rainfall now, and takes 16 turns. Rainy farms plus rocky mines stay the default. A Tree Farm (B4) makes forest 2-2-1, competitive with a rainy farm and better on arid ground, and its +25% psych helps the Golden Age. The Echelon Mirror (E5) doubled to +2 energy.

→ former-turn ledger

Social engineering

Democratic plus Planned is the boom stack

Democratic (+2 GROWTH, −3 SUPPORT, −1 PLANET) plus Planned (+1 GROWTH, −1 ECONOMY, −2 EFFIC). Planned shares the Economics slot with Green and Free Market, so booming gives up Free Market's +2 ECONOMY breakpoint. Police State + Planned controls drones better but forfeits Democratic's +2 GROWTH.

→ social engineering table

Research

The boom kit is all tier 2–3

Tech cost follows the target's tier, so the whole kit is cheap, but it spans all four directions: C, D, and a B/E tie. Planetary Networks brings Librarians (8 labs); Optical Computers (D3) the Network Node (+50% labs). Tech trading needs far weaker relations than vanilla, so techs spread fast.

War & diplomacy

Hold the border, grow behind it

With attackers paying 2–3×, hold a border with part of your production and put the rest into growth. The AI won't assault without 2.5× superiority. Sensors (4 turns, ±25%) are the cheapest combat multiplier. The boom stack offends Yang, who forbids Democratic, and Morgan, who forbids Planned, but SE friction now bites 4× less often.

Secret projects

The Human Genome Project becomes critical

+1 talent in every base (D2), critical now that Golden Ages gate booming. The Virtual World (D3) lets Network Nodes help with drones. The Ascetic Virtues is B7: by then the Habitation Dome (B5) has already lifted the cap. The Cloning Vats gives +2 GROWTH, not a permanent boom.

Planet

Democratic's −1 PLANET has a price

Negative PLANET cuts fungus yield, and at 0 or below you lose the capture clause. Eco-damage multiplies by 3 − PLANET, so Democratic takes a 0-PLANET faction from ×3 to ×4. Tree Farm and Hybrid Forest each halve terraforming damage. Planet's own clock runs on turns, not techs.

III

Specialist

Vanilla premiseSky hydroponics labs, soil enrichers and super formers make it very easy to produce nutrients. … All the citizens in the base can be engineer specialists or borehole workers.

WTP opens on

Quantum Power (D7: Engineer, 12 energy) + Mind/Machine Interface (C8: Thinker, 12 labs). Maniac's three techs sit at D4, B8 and D9. The Habitation Dome (B5) lands first, so this age overlaps the next.

What binds

Nutrients, still. Every specialist eats 2 and works no tile, and the superfarm, cheap crawlers and early Sky Hydroponics are all gone.

Economy & growth

Specialists are an output, not a last resort

A Technician makes 8 energy from base size 5; the Engineer (D7) makes 12, the Thinker (C8) 12 labs, and specialists sit outside psych. Each needs 2 nutrients of surplus from worked tiles: roughly one rainy farm apiece. The mod's own advice: use them on poor land, or when no work spots remain.

Terraforming

The condenser superfarm doesn't exist

The Condenser adds rainfall only; the Soil Enricher (B8) is a flat +1. A farm, condenser and enricher stack costs 28 former-turns for one extra nutrient. The Echelon Mirror (+2 energy per adjacent solar) is the surviving force-multiplier. Boreholes are 0-2-6 energy tiles, so Maniac's borehole workers now make energy.

→ former-turn ledger

Social engineering

Knowledge and Wealth arrive with the Dome

Knowledge (B5: +3 RESEARCH, +1 EFFIC, −2 PROBE, −1 INDUSTRY) and Wealth (B5: +2 INDUSTRY, +1 ECONOMY, −2 MORALE, −2 PLANET) land at tier 5. Specialists train from talents, so talent sources matter: the Human Genome Project (+1 per base), the Paradise Garden (+2, E8), Eudaimonic (+1 TALENT, E9).

→ social engineering table

Research

Science projects now lift every base

The Supercollider (+10%, D6) and Theory of Everything (+20%, C7) apply empire-wide, not to their host base. Lab facilities cluster here: Fusion Lab (D4), Nanohospital (D6), Quantum Lab (D7). The Thinker (C8) makes 12 labs per specialist. Beelining this deep is expensive.

War & diplomacy

— No doctrine specific to this age; Age II's turtle posture holds, and a specialist economy suits it.

Secret projects

Ascetic Virtues' pop half arrives too late

The Ascetic Virtues (B7) relaxes a cap the Dome (B5) already removed; its +1 POLICE still counts. The Planetary Energy Grid (B6) puts an Energy Bank in every base. Every project carries zero maintenance, destroyed ones can be rebuilt, and the AI hurries them with reserves.

Planet

Fungus feeds specialists at zero former-turns

Centauri Meditation (E5) makes fungus 3-0-2, and Centauri Genetics (E8) 3-1-2. It needs no former, so it is free nutrient for specialist bases. Negative PLANET cuts it point for point, and Wealth's −2 PLANET bites here. Clean minerals rise to 32 with Centauri Preserve (E5), 48 with the Temple of Planet (E8).

Sky's the limit

Vanilla premiseAfter those are built, a base can popboom indefinitely … forests become good again … assuming you have plenty of land.

WTP opens on

Habitation Dome at Nanominiaturization (B5): cap 14 to unlimited, +1 GROWTH. It lands before Age III's techs, so the two ages overlap.

What binds

The boom gate: keeping a big base drone-free for its Golden Age while holding +6 GROWTH. Not the pop cap, and not land. The Dome is necessary, not sufficient.

Economy & growth

The cap is gone; the two-part gate isn't

Surplus people go off-tile: an Engineer or Thinker makes 12 from a citizen who works nothing. Satellites cost no maintenance and add +1 to every base: Sky Hydroponics first (D9), then Orbital Power (D10), then Nessus Mining (D11). Late help toward +6: Eudaimonic +1 GROWTH (E9), the Cloning Vats +2 (B11).

Terraforming

Forests never went away

Maniac's forest comeback isn't a pivot here: the Tree Farm moved earlier (B4), forest gained +1 energy, and the condenser farm it competed with is gone. Tree Farm plus Hybrid Forest (B7) makes forest 3-2-1. Work all 20 squares? A 12-output specialist beats most tiles, so big bases go specialist-heavy.

→ former-turn ledger

Social engineering

Eudaimonic feeds both halves of the boom

Future societies land at tier 9. Eudaimonic (E9) is the only model with TALENT: +1 toward the Golden Age and +1 GROWTH toward +6, at −4 MORALE. Cybernetic (D9: +2 EFFIC, +2 RESEARCH, +1 PLANET, −3 POLICE) is the late pick in most faction arcs. Excess ratings are wasted, except POLICE into INDUSTRY.

→ social engineering table

Research

Science projects stack to +60% labs empire-wide

The Supercollider, Theory of Everything and Universal Translator (E11) together add +60% to every base. The Network Node comes free at new bases from Applied Gravitonics (E11). Tech trading needs weak relations, so AI techs spread fast. Cost still follows the target's tier.

War & diplomacy

Stasis beats Singularity; Tachyon alone fails

Weapons and armour track 1:1: the Stasis Generator (26) beats the Singularity Laser (25), and only the String Disruptor (C12) beats Stasis. The Tachyon Field is +50%, useless alone against land; it tops Perimeter Defense up to +150%. The AI builds up to 20 of each satellite.

Projects & endgame

Four victories, and the sources barely cover them

Transcendence: The Voice of Planet, then The Ascent (500), both E12. Diplomatic: Supreme Leader from Mind/Machine Interface (C8), or Clinical Immortality (B10). Economic: from Adaptive Economics (B6), 20 turns to corner the energy market. Conquest: WTP's combat rebalance exists to stop it being the easy, early win.

Planet

Mineral eco-damage can now be zeroed

Clean-mineral ceilings stack 16 / 32 / 48 with Centauri Preserve and the Temple of Planet. The Quantum Converter (B9) cuts mineral eco-damage, and the Singularity Inductor puts one in every base; the Nanoreplicator no longer does. The 3 − PLANET multiplier runs ×1 at +2, ×6 at −3. Heavy eco-damage breeds popworms: station empaths in the dirtiest bases.

✦

The twelve

WTP faction files, grouped by the age each one peaks in. Traits are not repeated.

Peak in I, Colonizing

The Human Hive

Yang, the Conqueror

PeakColonizing WeakSpecialist

Still the best opening on Planet: +1 INDUSTRY and +1 GROWTH compound hardest while yields are small. WTP fixed your oldest weakness, too: everyone needs a Golden Age to boom now, and you reach +6 without Democratic. Mid-game energy is still your wall, and Police State + Planned now sits at −3 ECONOMY.

Cybernetic Consciousness

Aki Zeta-5, the Conqueror

PeakColonizing WeakPopbooming

WTP changedRESEARCH and EFFICIENCY halved, +2/+2 → +1/+1.

Still a strong opening: two techs, weapons unlocked, two techs from Impact Rovers, and a tech stolen from every base you take. The middle is thinner: −1 GROWTH puts your boom on a knife-edge +6, and you no longer out-research everyone without being bigger. The Cloning Vats fixes it.

Cult of Planet

Cha Dawn, the Hybrid

PeakColonizing WeakPopbooming

WTP changedNew −1 POLICE.

The opening is your one strong window: a free mind worm, cheap captures, and +2 PLANET worth 30% on attack and defence. No nerve stapling at neutral SE, though. The middle risks collapse as −1 INDUSTRY and −1 ECONOMY compound and natives fall off. The Wealth lock is lucky now: Wealth costs −2 PLANET.

Peak in II, Popbooming

The Spartan Federation

Santiago, the Conqueror

PeakPopbooming WeakColonizing

WTP changedNew −1 EFFICIENCY.

Free prototypes are worth double now that every prototype costs +100%. The rushbuy penalty is gone. −1 INDUSTRY on pods and formers makes the opening feast or famine: rush a close neighbour or fall behind. Your window is the middle, when Elite units meet bases making 30–40 minerals.

The Lord's Believers

Miriam, the Conqueror

PeakPopbooming WeakSpecialist

Your fanatics hit +50% now: the one faction answer to WTP's 2–3× attacker cost. Swing it mid-game, at tech parity. Knowledge is locked and worth +3 RESEARCH, so the specialist age is thin for you; Cybernetic finally lifts the research penalty late. Planetpearl bloom-farming is gone.

Peacekeeping Forces

Lal, the Builder

PeakPopbooming WeakColonizing

Possibly the strongest pure builder on Planet, once you survive the opening: your weakest phase, and the most rushable in the game. Booming is the payoff, and your extra talents feed both Golden Ages and specialists. Earlier Hab facilities dilute your +2 cap, and Democratic's EFFIC halved.

Data Angels

Roze, the Hybrid

PeakPopbooming WeakSky's the limit

WTP changedStarts with Doctrine: Flexibility + Polymorphic Software, not Planetary Networks; new −3 RESEARCH.

You're a probe faction now. The discount covers every probe action and probe armour costs half, so armoured probes and mind control carry your middle game. The penalty prices a tech-share you already had in vanilla. Knowledge only lifts you to zero RESEARCH while zeroing your +2 PROBE. Late, the penalty is a hard wall.

The Free Drones

Domai, the Builder

PeakPopbooming WeakColonizing

Nobody builds faster. Wealth gives +2 INDUSTRY now, so your +2 becomes +4: transformative. Industry no longer discounts rushbuying, and your Green lock costs more, since Green gives +1 RESEARCH. The opening is slow, so trade or steal for techs. The middle is yours.

Peak in III, Specialist

Gaia's Stepdaughters

Deirdre, the Builder

PeakSpecialist WeakColonizing

Your fungus bonus finally does something: WTP rebuilt fungus from 1-0-0 toward 3-1-3, so that +1 nutrient is live. PLANET now counts 15% a point on attack and defence. The danger is early: −1 MORALE bites in full with Very Green defence gone. Survive the opening and your efficiency compounds.

University of Planet

Zak, the Builder

PeakSpecialist WeakPopbooming

WTP changedRESEARCH +2 → +3.

+3 RESEARCH is +30% labs, and you hit the +5 ceiling on SE alone, so Green's point is wasted. Knowledge's −2 PROBE is free: you're already at the floor. Your extra drone per four citizens bites the moment bases grow, and a Golden Age wants none. Thinkers are your payoff.

Peak in IV, Sky's the limit

Morgan Industries

Morgan, the Builder

PeakSky's the limit WeakColonizing

WTP took your crawlers and gave back your cities. The crawler economy is dead, the largest negative change to any faction. But the Habitation Dome moved to mid-tree partly for you, and once it lands your −3 pop cap stops mattering. Survive the opening: −1 SUPPORT leaves zero free units under Democratic.

Nautilus Pirates

Svensgaard, the Hybrid

PeakSky's the limit WeakColonizing

Your defining bonus is gone twice over: no shelf mineral, no global aquatic mineral. Vel's "powerhouse" is history. Sea development starts slow, so beeline Adaptive Doctrine for the Naval Yard and Marines. Late, orbital and mineral-multiplier facilities turn modest sea bases into real producers.