The Sakkra, Mrrshan, and Klackon have Uber planet abilities that allow them to transform certain biomes. The Sakkra can convert Swamp planets into Tropical planets, the Mrrshan can convert Desert planets into Grasslands planets, and the Klackon can convert Arid planets into Cavernous planets. The latest Early Access build now allows for Custom races where you can select any of those three abilities (Tropical, Grasslands, Cavernous) or the capability to convert Volcanic planets into Infernao planets.

The technology for Uber Biome transformation comes with [Xenobiotics, Tier 3] which means you only need to research three technologies: [Biology, Tier 1], [Biotechnology, Tier 2], and [Xenobiotics, Tier 3]. Sakkra and Klackon start with Biology so they only need to research two techs. In contrast, you need two additional technologies, [Genetic Engineering, Tier 3] and [Genetic Mutations, Tier 4] beyond Xenobiotics before you can Terraform. And Gaia Transformation is a long way off with [Trans Genetics, Tier 7].

It only takes 250 production to complete the Uber planet transformation, which is identical to the first level of Terraforming (also 250) and half that for Gaia Transformation (500).

Uber planets are competitive with Gaia planets. They have the same farming yield values, but before [Astro Biology, Tier 6], they may have slightly fewer farming slots available (leading to a slightly smaller population size). Once you research Astro Biology, Uber planets have identical farming values and slots as Gaia.

What is most notable about Uber Biomes is that they have substantial tolerance to pollution which essentially makes them immune. Gaia planets, on the other hand, are extremely sensitive to pollution. Even with a Toxic Processor [Xenobiotics, Tier 3], Atmospheric Renewer [Molecular Manipulation, Tier 2], and Pollution Processor [Nano Technology, Tier 7], you will still have to deal with pollution. It is a long way to the Core Waste Dump [Tectonic Engineering, Tier 9] and even then, an Uber planet with Deep Core Mining is probably better than a Gaia planet with a Core Waste Dump.

Overall, this means that Uber planets are much better than Terran (and any other lower class planets). Although Uber planets are officially considered "Class B" and can actually be transformed into Gaia, for most purposes they really should be considered "Class A." I would rarely, if ever, consider transforming an Uber planet into Gaia. And although Gaia planets currently cannot be transformed into Uber, if they could, I would occasionally consider it.

Gaia planets do have one advantage though. They allow the building of Deep Sea Cooling colony structures. Previously they were only available to Ocean, Terran, and Gaia planets and provide a +25% research bonus. The latest build has moved it up to in the tech tree but now they only provide a flat +3 research bonus, and are buildable on Ocean, Terran, Gaia, and Swamp planets.

Overall, this means that Gaia planets are slightly superior for research because they can get an extra +3 bonus, while Uber Biomes are superior for production because of their immunity to pollution.

One complaint about past MOO games was that you would reach the point where there was no reason to not turn every planet into Gaia. At least with the Uber Planet mechanic, there are reasons to keep some planets Gaia and some planets Uber.

Currently, Uber Biomes are all functionally the same. Tropical, Grasslands, Cavernous, and Inferno planets have identical characteristics. Previews indicate that there may eventually be some differences, such as a Solar Kiln colony structure that is only available to Deserts and Grasslands.

Also note that the Uber Planet trait is an Empire ability. All races treat Uber Biomes the same. So an Alkari colony within the Sakkra empire can also transform a Swamp planet into Tropical and will benefit from it as much as Sakkra citizens would. At a more competitive level, this also means that other players may be able to conquer your Uber planets and benefit from your racial advantages.

So what are the game differences when using Uber planets?

Drawing upon my Planetology 101 guide:
steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=636951301 Let's look at the different stats for different planets for:

A. Sakkra
B. Mrrshan & Klackon
C. Starting Planet Considerations

We will start with Large and Medium planets since those will likely be the most common types you will be colonizing. Biome affects the values of farming slots but not mining slots, so we will only look at the former. It also affects the pollution tolerance of the planet (value given at 1 production).


A. Sakkra

Large Swamp (X = 2, Y = 1 with Biomorphic Fungi)
12 Population (15 with Biomorphic Fungi)
4-3-3-2-2-X-X-Y
-2% pollution/turn

Large Terran (X = 2)
15 Population (16)
5-4-3-3-3-2-2-X
-1% pollution/turn

Large Tropical (X = 2)
15 Population (16)
5-4-4-4-3-3-3-X
-40% pollution/turn

Large Gaia
16 Population
5-4-4-4-3-3-3-2
-1% pollution/turn

----------

Medium Swamp (X = 2, Y=1)
9 Population (11)
4-3-2-2-X-Y
-3% pollution/turn

Medium Terran (X = 2)
11 Population (12)
4-4-3-3-2-X
-2% pollution/turn

Medium Tropical (X = 2)
11 Population (12)
5-4-4-3-3-X
-66% pollution/turn

Medium Gaia
12 Population
5-4-4-3-3-2

----------

Small Swamp (X = 2)
7 Population (8)
3-3-2-X
-4% pollution/turn

Small Terran
8 Population
4-3-3-2
-4% pollution/turn

Small Uber
8 Population
4-4-3-3
-100% pollution/turn

Small Gaia
8 Population
4-4-3-3
-2% pollution/turn

----------

Huge Swamp (X = 1)
15 Population (18)
4-4-3-3-2-2-2-X-X-X
-1% pollution/turn

Huge Terran (X = 2)
18 Population (19)
5-4-4-3-3-3-2-2-2-X
-1% pollution/turn

Huge Tropical (X = 2)
19 Population (20)
5-5-4-4-4-3-3-3-2-X
-25% pollution/turn

Huge Gaia
20 Population
5-5-4-4-4-3-3-3-2-2
-1% pollution/turn

----------

Swamp planets are slightly worse than Terran (around 1 less food per farmer), but are still decent by themselves. Tropical planets are much better than Terran planets due to better farming yields and pollution immunity. Initially, Tropical planets have slightly fewer farming slots than Gaia but that equalizes once you have Biomorphic Fungi.


B. Mrrshan & Klackon

Large Desert (X = 1 with Biomorphic Fungi)
10 Population (14 with Biomorphic Fungi)
2-1-1-1-X-X-X-X
-3% pollution/turn

Large Arid (X = 1)
12 Population (15)
4-3-2-2-1-X-X-X
-2% pollution/turn

Large Terran (X = 2)
15 Population (16)
5-4-3-3-3-2-2-X
-1% pollution/turn

Large Grasslands or Cavernous (X = 2)
15 Population (16)
5-4-4-4-3-3-3-X
-40% pollution/turn

Large Gaia
16 Population
5-4-4-4-3-3-3-2
-1% pollution/turn

----------

Medium Desert (X = 1)
8 Population (11)
2-1-1-X-X-X
-5% pollution/turn

Medium Arid (X = 1)
9 Population (11)
3-2-2-2-X-X
-3% pollution/turn

Medium Terran (X = 2)
11 Population (12)
4-4-3-3-2-X
-2% pollution/turn

Medium Grasslands or Cavernous (X = 2)
11 Population (12)
5-4-4-3-3-X
-66% pollution/turn

Medium Gaia
12 Population
5-4-4-3-3-2

----------

Small Desert (X = 1)
5 Population (7)
2-1-X-X
-8% pollution/turn

Small Arid (X = 1)
7 Population (8)
3-2-2-X
-4% pollution/turn

Small Terran
8 Population
4-3-3-2
-4% pollution/turn

Small Grasslands or Cavernous
8 Population
4-4-3-3
-100% pollution/turn

Small Gaia
8 Population
4-4-3-3
-2% pollution/turn

----------

Huge Desert (X = 1)
12 Population (17)
2-2-1-1-1-X-X-X-X-X
-2% pollution/turn

Huge Arid (X = 1)
15 Population (18)
4-3-2-2-2-1-1-X-X-X
-1% pollution/turn

Huge Terran (X = 2)
18 Population (19)
5-4-4-3-3-3-2-2-2-X
-1% pollution/turn

Huge Grasslands or Cavernous (X = 2)
19 Population (20)
5-5-4-4-4-3-3-3-2-X
-25% pollution/turn

Huge Gaia
20 Population
5-5-4-4-4-3-3-3-2-2
-1% pollution/turn

----------

Desert planets are significantly weaker than Terran with only a fraction (around a third) of the farming yields. In addition, Desert planets are fairly scarce, meaning the Mrrshans may need to settle with Arid planets first. If you do colonize a Desert planet, you should prioritize Grasslands Transformation ASAP!


C. Starting Planet Considerations

Early previews indicated that some races might have starting planets that are non-Terran. When creating a custom race, you can select a Desert, Arid, or Swamp starting world.

For the Sakkra, this would probably be an advantage. You would have slightly less food production in the short-term, but Swamp planets are still agriculturally sustainable so eventually turning your homeworld into Tropical would be worth it. Plus, Sakkra start with [Biology, Tier 1] which gives them a headstart towards [Xenobiotics, Tier 3].

However, for the Mrrshan, a starting Desert homeworld would be disastrous. Since the farming yield for a Large Desert planet is: 2-1-1-1-X-X-X-X, there is only enough food to support 5 citizens, well below the 8 population you start with. In addition, it takes 4 farmers on a Large Desert world to produce the same amount of food that the first farmer on a Large Terran world produces. And to make things worse, Mrrshan start with [Engineering, Tier 1] which is probably the weakest Tier 1 technology since it doesn't offer any colonial infrastructure.

The following changes could make a starting Desert homeworld more feasible:

• If the starting population is significantly decreased.
  
• If the Mrrshan start with Biology instead of Engineering.
  
• If Fieras gets a food resource (Red Fungus or Seagrass).
  
• Alternatively, making Fieras Arid and Rich might be a reasonable compromise. Arid ensures that the homeworld can degrade to Desert (whereas a Terran planet could degrade to Swamp instead of Arid), and Rich would speed up the pollution degradation. You might recall that the Mrrshan had a Rich homeworld in MOO2. However, inexperienced players would probably be confused about why Fieras is Arid instead of Desert.

For a Cavernous race, a starting Arid homeworld is probably going to be beneficial in the long run since it guarantees you can transform it into your Uber biome. However, for the Klackon this is less useful because their starting world is Poor. That means it will be harder to generate the production needed to transform it, plus you are already motivated to de-centralize your operations away from your Poor homeworld.

The Sakkra are a strong race. Their population growth ability complements their desire to colonize quickly and secure Swamp planets to turn into Tropical. When colonizing a new Swamp planet, their ability lets them hatch new Sakkra citizens quickly which provides additional workers to contribute towards Tropical Transformation.

Also, in term of yields, Swamp planets are quite good by themselves (in contrast to the harsh Desert worlds that Mrrshan need).

Galaxy generation seems to favor a lot of good Swamp planets. Most games, I find plenty of Medium or Large Swamp planets, often with resources (e.g. Artifacts) or which are Rich or Ultra Rich.

Since Tundra terraforms into Swamp, you could also colonize particularly good Tundra planets (e.g. Large/Huge planets which are Rich/Ultra Rich). Ocean planets are another option since they degrade into Tundra, which can then be terraformed into Swamp though that requires a lot of extra effort.

A riskier proposition is to degrade Terran planets through excessive pollution. Sometimes the planet will turn into Swamp but other times it will turn into Arid, which is not that useful for the Sakkra. You could also try terraforming Barren planets, hoping they end up as Tundra (instead of Desert) and then transforming that to Swamp but that is going to be a long process.

There has been mention that the orbit of a planet determines whether a Barren planet will upgrade along a wet (Tundra) or dry (Desert) path and will determine whether a Terran planet will degrade to a wet (Swamp) or dry (Arid) planet. The theory is that the first two orbits always result in a dry planet, the third orbit has a 50/50 chance of either, and the last two orbits always result in a wet planet. That would be consistent with why some planets always seem to have the same result while other planets have a 50/50 split. I am still investigating the mechanics behind this.

In my Sakkra playthroughs, I usually find enough good Swamp planets that I do not have to go through any terraforming tricks to get extra options. I would say the hierarchy of choices is:

1. Swamp
2. Tundra
3. Ocean
4. Terran

However, prioritizing Terran planets early may make sense if you are trying a denial strategy to prevent other Empires from claiming them.

The Mrrshan are a good race. They start with a Large homeworld which is nice, but it is Terran so you won't necessarily be able to transform it into Grasslands. The Extended Barracks is of marginal value. It makes it harder to invade their worlds or completely destroy their colonies through bombardment, and makes it easier to generate ground troops to invade other worlds, but none of this is too useful in the current Early Access game. The best thing about the Mrrshan is their Grasslands Biome ability, which converts Desert planets into Grasslands.

Unlike Sakkra and swamps, galaxy generation seems to disfavor a lot of good Desert planets. In my playthroughs, I often have to settle for a lot of Arid worlds, which I can eventually degrade to Desert. However, it takes time to built up enough production so that you generate noticeable pollution and then you need to accumulate enough pollution to reach 100% so that the biome degrades.

Like with the Sakkra, Terran worlds are risky to degrade because they could just as easily become Swamp (not helpful for Mrrshan) as Arid. However, in my last Mrrshan playthrough, I managed to degrade Firias into Arid, and then degraded it into Desert, before transforming it into Grasslands. It took awhile, but it was ultimately worth it since it was my home planet.

Upgrading Barren planets is another option. It is random whether a Barren planet becomes Desert or Tundra. If you are playing single player and are fine with saving/reloading, you can improve the chance that your Barren planets become Desert. Otherwise, keep the ones that turn randomly Desert so that you can make Grasslands, and either ignore the ones that end up as Tundra or build them up as research colonies once they become Terran/Gaia. This Barren terraforming strategy also makes Gas Giant Compression and Artificial Planet Construction [both Planetology, Tier 5] particularly interesting for the Mrrshan.

I would say the hierarchy of choices for the Mrrshan is:

1. Terran & Desert
2. Arid
3. Barren

Given the low food production of Deserts and the lengthy time it may take to degrade Arid and Terran planets, it is much harder for Mrrshan to do an all Grasslands strategy (as opposed to Sakkra who can easily do an all Tropical strategy). Thus, you may decide to keep some Terran planets (and eventually upgrade them to Gaia).

Overall, I would recommend settling a mix of Terran planets (for immediate needs) and Desert planets (for long-term potential).

If you are going for the degradation strategy, you will want to favor Rich or Ultra Rich worlds and prioritize researching and building production structures such as the Automated Factory [Physics, Tier 1], Neutron Collider [Neutrino Physics, Tier 3], Robo-Miners [Cybertechnics, Tier 5], and Deep Core Mining [Tectonic Engineering, Tier 9]. You will want to assign as many citizens to production as possible. Now that production overflow is implemented, you can easily max out workers to speed up the pollution process.

When a planet degrades, pollution is reset to 0% (which is actually a disadvantage in this case). Also, the maximum population will likely decrease. When Fieras was a Large Terran world the max population was 15. That dropped to 12 as a Large Arid world and then 10 as a Large Desert world. When transformed into Grasslands, it returned to 15. But you can lose citizens when degrading to Arid and Desert if your current population is greater than the new maximum. One solution is to build Civilian Transports before the planet degrades and keep those excess citizens in orbit until the transformed planet is able to accommodate them. Or you can build several Colony Ships and send those extra kittens off to settle new worlds!

There has been mention that the orbit of a planet determines whether a Barren planet will upgrade along a wet (Tundra) or dry (Desert) path and will determine whether a Terran planet will degrade to a wet (Swamp) or dry (Arid) planet. The theory is that the first two orbits always result in a dry planet, the third orbit has a 50/50 chance of either, and the last two orbits always result in a wet planet. That would be consistent with why some planets always seem to have the same result while other planets have a 50/50 split. I am still investigating the mechanics behind this.

Cavernous and Infernal Uber Planets have been added to the latest Early Access build.

Cavernous races (like the Klackon) have similar strategies as the Sakkra, prioritizing Arid worlds (instead of Swamp) and possibly terraforming Desert worlds. Arid planets are slightly less productive than Swamp planets, but still have reasonable farming yields.

Inferno races need to overcome a major food problem. If you thought Deserts were bad, Volcanic planets by default have absolutely no farming slots so you are limited to the 1 food from the Colony Base, and then whatever colony structures you can build (e.g. Hydroponic Farms, Biospheres). I have also seen a few Volcanic planets with Red Fungus for +2 food. The best bet for Inferno races are if they do not need to eat food (depends on how lithovoric Silicoids are implemented) or need to eat significantly less food (like the cybernetic Meklars). Alternatively, if a race can generate significant amounts of credits maybe they can rush buy food and production buildings. Nonetheless, the main benefit to transforming Volcanic planets into Inferno would be to open up all of the farming slots and vastly improve those yields, which seems at odds with the fact that it is races that don't need to eat who can most easily transform those worlds. Also note that a hypothetical Volcanic homeworld would produce 0 food, which would be a problem for most races.

Although there doesn't seem to be an Uber planet that converts Tundra, such a trait seems within the realm of possibility. Of the base races, maybe Darlok seems most appropriate given the description of their dark homeworld and underground structures.

Given that Sakkra and Mrrshan/Klackon will be prioritizing completely different planets, in theory, the races should get along quite well and could benefit tremendously from working together in multiplayer.

They could partner up by terraforming Barren planets and degrading Terran planets. Tundra/Swamp gets handed to the Sakkra while Desert/Arid gets handed to the Mrrshan/Klackon.

Uber Planets is an excellent ability that really gives certain races a unique playstyle. The main benefits to this ability are:

• 1. Earlier access to transformation tech (before Terraforming and well before Gaia Transformation)
  
• 2. Cheaper cost (250 hammers for Uber Transformation vs 500 hammers for Gaia Transformation)
  
• 3. Uber planets are immune to pollution
  
• 4. Less competition for planets of your desired biomes

Tropical Uber Planets is definitely the best ability, because Swamps are the best planets of Class C or below. In addition, you can terraform Tundra, or degrade Terran or Ocean.

Cavernous Uber Planets are the second best, since Arid planets are still pretty good. You have the option of terraforming Desert.

A hypothetical Tundra Uber Planet would be next. You do have the advantage of being able to degrade Ocean or Swamp planets. Plus, Tundra has better yields than Desert.

Although Grasslands Uber Planets is still a good trait, it is much worse than the ones above. Yes, you could argue that there will be little competition for Desert planets but that's making lemonade out of lemons. By that line of reasoning, Inferno Uber Planets should be the best since Volcanic planets are close to useless for everyone else! However, adding the Solar Kilns to the game for Deserts and Grasslands would go a long way towards making Grasslands more competitive.

Inferno Uber Planets are the least useful of the Uber Planets because of the complete lack of food on Volcanic planets. In addition, since Volcanic planets are already immune to pollution, they don't gain much from becoming Inferno.