Is the Sol system unfinished?

[Skizomeuh]

Someone in the forum shared that very useful link : http://www.altairvista.com/frontier.html

Please Someone: show yourself so I can rep you (again)

 

[Cmdr Jezath]

I agree if sol is now home to the rich and powerful I would expect to see some spectacular looking stuff in space there... maybe a drive in or 3 you know the kinda thing

Great link skizomeuh!

 

[Pomerlaw]

The solar system looks to be very much a wip, having said that Mars looks amazing terraformed, I'm sure FD will make the various astronomical bodies look like their real life counterparts, I hope they will add a few extra moons and generally "busy" up the system (capital ship dockyards etc)

Oh and still waiting on a specular map for the ocean planets, that blue texture sure looks flat

Yes, oceans look flat, I agree they need some specular maps! Gas giants and their moons could use some work too, I'm sure they will get another pass but since we know how they look like, it must be a lot of work for Frontier. I expect them to add things later on.

 

[Pille]

They made a big deal out of recreating our solar system (and pretty much everything they can of the milky way) with real world data and imagery. So I hope that this isn't the finished state of Sol, since it doesn't hold up yet.

 

[Pomerlaw]

They made a big deal out of recreating our solar system (and pretty much everything they can of the milky way) with real world data and imagery. So I hope that this isn't the finished state of Sol, since it doesn't hold up yet.

It's not a direct gameplay/debug element, so I guess it is not on top of the list.

We are definitly going to get lights on planets, they had that in a old newsletter... I'm sure planets will get another pass or two. They must!

 

[Ortikon]

They just aren't done. They did Earth and Mars first.
Earth for obvious reasons, and likely Mars was the other priority as it is terraformed so they needed to convey that look so that any change while we can see it would not be drastic. Mars looks fantastic, mixes of red planet with green areas and water in the recesses.
Looks like the others are just using the procedural system. I bet at least Jupiter will be accurate on release.

I get a laugh out of how moons and planets are both called planets strictly because the game refers to Pluto as a planet.
The Plutonians can keep mining.

 

[777Driver]

Forgetting about the textures on the planets. What about the economy? It seems totally dead in Sol, the only things exported are bio-waste and hydrogen fuel (both which will net you less than 100 credits per tonne profit, and that's as a crazy best case scenario).

The whole place seems to be starving also as all foods are major imports. A total lack of any decent ship upgrades (nothing but the most basic stuff) or ships (Mars High only had sidewinders for sale). Missions being given in Abraham Lincoln about Nationalists wanting weapons to overthrow the government.

Quite depressing really, given that it is the capital of the Federation. I wonder if it's possible to improve the situation there.

There will be little if any reason to go there if it doesn't change.

Are you kidding? I arrived in SOL half an hour ago, went to Galileo and found a commodity that will make 1000c per Ton, the station has over 1 and half million tonnes of the stuff in stock. Sounds like you need to learn how to trade.

Regarding ships and modules, around 11 light years away is a system with plenty of upgrades. I only visited 3 stations in SOL, best I found was a Cobra

 

[Starfish]

Are you kidding? I arrived in SOL half an hour ago, went to Galileo and found a commodity that will make 1000c per Ton, the station has over 1 and half million tonnes of the stuff in stock. Sounds like you need to learn how to trade.

Regarding ships and modules, around 11 light years away is a system with plenty of upgrades. I only visited 3 stations in SOL, best I found was a Cobra

It might be something they fixed when they rebooted the trade servers last night? (was causing the economy to stagnate in busy areas as I understand it). Has the situation improved at the other stations, such as around Earth and Mars? If so I'm glad to hear it. If not, it would still feel strange that the economy is so stagnant around these planets.

I'm not around there anymore to check, and not much desire to go back to check either.

 

[alexios]

Everything in the game is now absolutely final, and what you see is how it will remain for the next 15-20 years FD is done and wont touch it again. sorry

Can you support this with a URL or quote from FD or DB?

 

[777Driver]

It might be something they fixed when they rebooted the trade servers last night? (was causing the economy to stagnate in busy areas as I understand it). Has the situation improved at the other stations, such as around Earth and Mars? If so I'm glad to hear it. If not, it would still feel strange that the economy is so stagnant around these planets.

I'm not around there anymore to check, and not much desire to go back to check either.

I only had a brief look at the other stations. Well if you return be sure to head to Galileo, purchase superconductors for 6000c per Tonne, sell at the SAKSTAK system for 7500c per tonne.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Can you support this with a URL or quote from FD or DB?

Are you serious? He's being sarcastic..

 

[ZATZAi]

Quote from my previous thread on the matter...

Michael addressed this issue in another thread, quoting below...

Michael addressed this issue in another thread, quoting below...

I thought that Earth and Mars had been completely re-authored. Hopefully they're still work in progress as well as all the other bodies in the Sol system.

They have custom surfaces. Asteroidal bodies aren't supported yet.

Michael

The red spot isn't a permanent feature, it's a storm that we still don't understand, and since we don't yet fully understand what's fueling it, it's any one's guess as to how long it'll last. For all we know it could completely engulf Jupiter a 1000 years from now.

Clearly the current Jupiter was procedurally generated, as was all the other gas giants, and I doubt it'll stay that way. But it's also clear that this current Jupiter has a ring system, so that's where your missing moons are. Precisely how they have been pulverised is again any one's guess. Perhaps humans did it to make them easier to mine, or perhaps a very large Oort cloud object made it's way into the Solar system and brushed past Jupiter, knocking some of it's moons into a suicidal orbit. Either are quite plausible.

Same with Io. Clearly it's procedurally generated, and chances are it's just place holder. But again it's differences are quite easily explained by impacts, human activity, or both.

1000 years is often said to be a very short duration of time in cosmic terms, but that doesn't mean it can't see dramatic changes happen, especially when Humans are involved.

Mars and Earth are the only surfaces we're currently using custom textures for. We'll adjust the procedural system to better represent the other bodies where we can.

Michael

I was under the impression that the solar system would be handcrafted, why then use precious development hours on generating it procedurally? Also, I think it would be a big miss to generate the solar system, since we basically know everything about it. An Elite solar system that is different from the real deal would be a big immersion-breaker for me.

The system is set up by hand using real data.

Michael

So it looks like Earth and Mars will be the only ones with custom textures for now, and they'll tweak the procedurally generated settings for the other Sol planets in the mean time. This seems to indicate that maybe (Big maybe) that we might be able to expect more custom textures for Sol planets in the future. Though it would look like they do not have any plans to do that, just that they're not shutting the door on it (So don't hold your breadth I guess). The statements are a little too ambiguous to know exactly what they intend other than the line I have underlined above...

So it looks like Earth and Mars will be the only ones with custom textures for now, and they'll tweak the procedurally generated settings for the other Sol planets in the mean time. This seems to indicate that maybe (Big maybe) that we might be able to expect more custom textures for Sol planets in the future. Though it would look like they do not have any plans to do that, just that they're not shutting the door on it (So don't hold your breadth I guess). The statements are a little too ambiguous to know exactly what they intend other than the line I have underlined above...

 

[Pomerlaw]

"Mars and Earth are the only surfaces we're currently using custom textures for"

Keyword is "currently".

As for the other planets, I'm sure they can adjust procedural parameters on gas giants to make them look more like the real thing. I mean, they can't apply textures on gas giants - they are made of GAS, and the clouds are always moving.

I would really like to see Jupiter's red spot though, and the rings around the planet are way too big right now...

Enceladus geysers would be special too!

 

[Belisarius]

Not to forget Io with its sulphur volcanism which currently still looks like a normal rocky moon.
Guess it will become a great object of sightseeing if FD really implement sulphurvolcanic eruptions for Io (aside from the correct textures, of course)

 

[Rollo]

Not to forget Io with its sulphur volcanism which currently still looks like a normal rocky moon.
Guess it will become a great object of sightseeing if FD really implement sulphurvolcanic eruptions for Io (aside from the correct textures, of course)

Indeed. I only had a brief visit to Sol but I was a bit disappointed tbh. Earth, Mars and Moon are all cool and well, but the gas giants lack something of their true appearance too.

Another volcanic body that I was looking forward to see was Lucifer in the Sirius system. Not that I've been able to visit it yet! but it was known for it's many volcanoes, now listed as not having any atmosphere nor any volcanism. Perhaps everything is not quite ready yet? Let's hope so.

 

[Pomerlaw]

Aren't humans planning to send a probe to Europa to go under the ice and see if there is life there?

FD will have to model this!

 

[vonFelty]

Is the Sol system unfinished?

Jupiter looks all wrong, bland and uninteresting to me for a start. The rings of Saturn look like husks of what I am used to from photographs. Io was unrecognizable and nothing like the beautiful Io we see in the published pictures. etc.

Also I would have liked some unique space stations and constructions in the Sol system. Something to set it apart from what we have already seen.

Earth looks great though, although I really, really deplore the fact that there is no sign of habitation at all. I mean the night side of the planet should light up like a Christmas tree.

I don't recall seeing any planets with night sides showing human activity at all. Screenshots nor from personal experience.

 

[Pomerlaw]

The only thing we have is this pic from an old newsletter.

View attachment 2930

 

[Arindor]

I'm assuming that the Sol system is a WIP atm. I would expect FD to ensure it was a showcase system on 16 Dec., hence the lacklustre feel. I mean, both Jupiter and Saturn have far more moons than what we have at present (there are even systems that have more atm), and I would expect there to be far more stations and outposts.

All this IS wishful thinking of course, but one can hope!

 

[Brusilov]

The day and night cycle of Earth seems borked or not finished.
I was playing last night and while it was a pitch black night over here in game Europe and Africa were covered with sun. Perhaps it will get tweaked still.

 

[Gibbon]

I'm certainly not happy with the current textures in the Sol sector. I understand they will be hand crafted textures later but even so, they look terrible atm. Using Jupiter and Io as examples,

JUPITER ED
View attachment 2996

JUPITER REAL
View attachment 2997

IO ED
View attachment 2998

IO REAL
View attachment 2999

Fingers crossed they will improve. Curious also if the two major dwarf planets in the asteroid belt, Ceres and Vesta will be there, might already be but not seen them yet