SimEarth: The Living Planet/Main menu

View

 * Exit: Cancels menu.
 * Alt (Landscape Display): A bare rock overview of the planet showing the altitude of land mass and depth of oceans. Land of higher altitudes appear more grey, lower altitudes appear dark brown.  Oceans range from light blue to dark blue with increasing depth.
 * Events (Events Display): Color-coded squares represent occurring events.
 * Magma (Magma Vector): Arrows display the direction of magma flow.
 * W. temp (Water Temperature Indicator): Color-coded display of water temperature.
 * W. cur (Water Current Indicator): Arrows showing direction of water currents.
 * A. temp (Air Temperature Indicator): Color-coded display of average air temperature.
 * Rain (Rainfall Indicator): Color-coded display of average rainfall.
 * A. cur (Air Current Indicator): Arrows showing direction of air currents.
 * Biome (Biome Indicator): Colored dots represent biomes based on type.
 * Life (Life Indicator): Colored dots represent lifeforms based on type.
 * Civil (Civilization Indicator): Colored dots represent cities based on level of technology.

Mode

 * Map: An overview of your planet in which you can observe objects and events. You cannot interact with the planet.
 * Edit: A zoomed-in look at your planet in which you can place objects and perform interactive actions.
 * Globe: Essentially, this is the map mode window displayed as a view of the planet from space. You cannot make changes to the planet.

Control panels
Calling up any of the control panels costs 100Ω whether you make changes or not. In most scenarios, all of the control panels except for the civilization control panel will be disabled, however they will remain viewable.

Geosphere

 * Volcano: Size and frequency of volcanic eruptions.
 * Erosion: The amount of effect that rain and wind have on shaping and smoothing the terrain.
 * Meteor: Size and frequency of meteor impacts.
 * Continental Drift: Speed at which landmasses move with respect to magma current directions.
 * Core Heat: The temperature of the core. Increasing this causes more heat to be radiated from the core, raising the planet's overall temperature.
 * Core Formation:
 * Axial Tilt: The tilt of the planet's axis. The more vertical the tilt, the less seasonal variation.  The more horizontal the tilt, the more seasonal variation.

Atmosphere

 * Solar Impact: The amount of solar energy that gets through the atmosphere to the planet.
 * Cloud Albedo: The ability of the clouds to reflect solar energy before it reached the planet's surface.
 * Greenhouse Effect: The relative amount of greenhouse gases.
 * Cloud: The relative amount of clouds.
 * Rainfall: The average amount of rainfall on the planet. Increasing rainfall increases the appearance of tropical biomes.
 * Surface Albedo: The ability of the surface to reflect solar energy.
 * Thermal Transfer: The transfer of water to clouds, and clouds to rain through evaporation.

Biosphere

 * Tolerance: The ability to withstand heat.
 * CO2 Absorption: The amount of CO2 absorbed by plant life.
 * Reploduction (sic): The rate at which lifeforms reproduce.
 * Advance: The rate at which lifeforms evolve to the next level.
 * Mutation: The rate at which lifeforms mutate to other beings (such as carniferns).

Civilization
Energy Investment Energy Allocation
 * BioEnergy: Energy obtained by burning wood and performing physical labor.
 * Sun/Wind: Energy obtained through the use of windmills, solar panels, and wind farms.
 * Hydro/Geo: Energy obtained from hydroelectric dams, water wheels, and geothermic heat.
 * Fuel: Energy from burning fossil fuels.
 * Nuclear: Atomic energy.
 * Moral: Morality and goodwill. Higher allocation reduces wars.
 * Tech: Science and technological advancements. Higher allocation allows for faster advancement of technology.
 * Food: Farming and irrigation. Higher allocation causes populations to increase faster.
 * Medic: Medicine advancements. Higher allocation prevents plagues.
 * Art: Art and recreation. Higher allocation reduces wars and increases quality of life.