Elite Dangerous: Horizons - How to Make a Real World Livestream on our official YouTube Channel 7PM BST 14th Oct
- Thread starter Edward Lewis
- Start date
Is it too early for a Tinman beta release date prediction? Are you still on 100% on that?
I'll open the guesses with 17th November...
I have now doubt that they are aiming for a mid November release for the Beta (so that Tuesday is a likely candidate). A month Beta phase seems reasonable to give them time to sort of issues while at the same time not dragging it out too long and thus "torturing" the ones who doesn't have access yet.
If that might turn into a late November release is anyones guess depending on potential issues showing themselves.
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Is it too early for a Tinman beta release date prediction? Are you still on 100% on that?
I'll open the guesses with 17th November...
30th Oct here i think, fingers crossed!
I was wondering how common the multi channeled canyons shown in the stream were, and lo and behold what do Nasa publish today? Pictures of the north pole of Enceladus. Now I can't wait to drive my skimomobile down one of these http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19660.jpg
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19660.jpg
Not in the initial release of Horizons, but at a later point.
I have now doubt that they are aiming for a mid November release for the Beta (so that Tuesday is a likely candidate). A month Beta phase seems reasonable to give them time to sort of issues while at the same time not dragging it out too long and thus "torturing" the ones who doesn't have access yet.
The other aspect to consider is that the Beta needs to be long enough so that those that paid the extra 10GBP for Horizons Beta (let's be honest, they are paying for early access) get their money's worth. IMO anything less than 3 weeks and they will probably feel cheesed-off.
I may be late to the party but want to chime in here: it is, like, ultra-ultra-ultra-rare that an impact happens ever at a 90° angle - yet almost all of them are circular, and that is because the crater is formed by the impact shockwave, which spreads equally in all directions even at very shallow impact angles. So it is really not even needed to consider them in the first place.
I thought the impact angle affected where the ejecta tended to end up?
Somebody posted a link above - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-impact-craters-al/ - explaining why the vast majority are circular.
Howdy folks.
I wanted to try and explain a little more about our system to hopefully lay some concerns to rest. For a plate-based tectonic system on a planet, a large enough temperature gradient is required to have a phase difference between a relatively thin crust and the deeper innards. That temperature gradient can be driven by things such as gravitational compression on a large enough body, or gravitational stress from orbiting a much larger body closely.
So yes, smaller terrestrial worlds, unless under rather specific conditions, will likely have crustal plates too thick for a tectonic mask to make sense. However, tectonic interactions is not the only way in which surface features can be formed.
Asteroidal impacts can create shockwaves across an entire planet's surface, deforming the crust in interesting patterns. The formation of a planet from the cataclysmic merging of two planetoids would liquify most of the material, but there is the chance for old solid outcrops to survive or influence the shape of the resulting body. Gravitational stressed can be enough to drive volcanism which forms mountain ranges on a surface. An event in a planet's past might alter its orbit from the previously stressful one to a wider/eccentric one, solidifying the new features. Impacts can cause rifts, ridges, and hill ranges as well as the expected crater.
To get back on topic, our 'tectonic mask' system takes into account various factors from Stellar Forge, such as:
expected gravitational stress / sibling and parent orbits
gravitational compression heating
material of the planet
size of the planet
tidal locking state
expected core, mantle, and crust temperatures
viscosity of mantle
deformability of the materials
age of the system
expected frequency and magnitude of meteorite collisions
nearby sources of regular debris
and more
The system creates masks for areas of potential crustal deformation activity. Those areas may reflect the shapes and activities of tectonic plates if it's sensible for that particular planet.
It may reflect other shapes if the sources of those deformations isn't bona fide tectonic activity. The same system is used for large and small planets, and adapts as it needs to.
We ended up calling it the 'tectonic mask' because it's short, snappy, and places the same kind of visual features (even if what physically would have generated them might have been different).
TL;DR "tectonics mask" is a shorthand way we've been describing all the regions of crustal major deformation from a variety of sources.
(p.s. similar thing with the limestone material on an oceanless planet question. Limestone is a short, relatable name for development compared to "calcium carbonate rich analogues"
I was just about to wade in with a series of criticisms of the science and you've stolen my thunder. Nice work. Perhaps inadvisable to use 'techtonics' as a shorthand for crustal deformation in front a bunch of science geeks!
Active techtonics should include volcanism however.
I'd expect to see more central peaks in craters - (e.g. under lunar conditions they will always form at 120km diameter or greater)
Very pleased to see Tidal locking in that list - bravo!
Cheers,
Drew.
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I was just about to wade in with a series of criticisms of the science and you've stolen my thunder. Nice work. Perhaps inadvisable to use 'techtonics' as a shorthand for crustal deformation in front a bunch of science geeks!
Active techtonics should include volcanism however.
I'd expect to see more central peaks in craters - (e.g. under lunar conditions they will always form at 120km diameter or greater)
Very pleased to see Tidal locking in that list - bravo!
Cheers,
Drew.
Apart from the spelling of tectonics the rest of this stuff is way over my head
Really enjoyed the stream presentation and all the details you guys mentioned. The potential for realistic-but-alien worlds seems great
(On a side-note, do you know if there are any plans for planet composition to affect lava colour when vulcanism comes in? Blue lava on a sulfur-rich planet would be cool
)
You guys need to get over to this thread:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=192171
NOW! DB has posted another sneak peak
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=192171
NOW! DB has posted another sneak peak
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Since we've only really seen rock surfaces in detail (except briefly a rubbish pixelated not-yet-finished ice surface) for ED Horizons, I don't see how you can compare them to ice surfaces of Enceladus... Yes, they might look similar with black & white pictures of ice surfaces, but the processes that lead to those features in rock & ice are quite different.Take a look at this NASA page about Cassini and Enceladus.
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/closest-ever-views-of-saturns-moon-enceladus
Now remind me, am I looking at an image from a space probe, or in-game screenshots from Horizons?
But given how great the rocky planet surfaces like in Horizons, I'm sure the icy ones will look just as great once FD "finish" them.
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Thanks for the AWESOMELY DETAILED description. I fully accept that my concerns were unfounded
Going by past experience, the length of the Beta period is flexible (down to as little as a week), but the Release Date is set in stone & cannot be delayed (and could be as late as 18th December IMHO).I have now doubt that they are aiming for a mid November release for the Beta (so that Tuesday is a likely candidate). A month Beta phase seems reasonable to give them time to sort of issues while at the same time not dragging it out too long and thus "torturing" the ones who doesn't have access yet.
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Sure it is flexible, but considering the rather substantial addition of new assets, features and gameplay (in many respects another game on top) I would assume that the aim is to have a longer Beta period than the "standard one" of 1-2 weeks. So the second half of next month makes sense to me.