Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!gatech!prism!ce1zzes
From: ce1zzes@prism.gatech.EDU (Eric Sheppard)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: SimEarth on PBS' Computer Chronicles
Message-ID: <18826@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Date: 18 Dec 90 06:52:50 GMT
References: <1990Dec17.163657.14194@ccu.umanitoba.ca> <9846@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Distribution: comp.sys.mac.games
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 31


I spent a few sleepless nights this week learning the ins and outs of 
SimEarth.  Maybe I'm a total enviro-idiot, but I can't seem to plug the right
combinations of gases and biomass to attain the goals of the terraforming
scenarios in the allotted time limit.  I could warm up Mars to an average of
-45 degrees and cool down Venus to about 100 degrees, but in each case, the
temperature practically hits a brick wall.  Planting biomes causes violent
swings in Oxygen/CO2 levels, but the temp then stabilizes at the previous
levels.  Forget about land life!  How can the levels be stabilized, or made
a little less sensitive to minor changes?

Other problems:

  Air pressure.  After I cool down Venus, I've got an enormous amount of
Oxygen in the atmosphere, at elevated pressures.  How can I vent off the
excess and reduce the pressure?  

  What's the fastest way to build air pressure on Mars?  How long will it
take?

  I had more fun building a planet from scratch, though.  I can imagine the
controversy it could cause with the fundamentalist crazies  (Build your own
Planet!  Be your own God!  Build life from nothing!  All from the comfort of
your own computer!)  Heh...

Eric, tinkerer-at-large
-- 
Eric Sheppard      Georgia Tech    |   "Of course the US Constitution isn't
Atlanta, GA                        | perfect; but it's a lot better than what
ARPA: ce1zzes@prism.gatech.edu     |             we have now." -Unknown
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