News Sneek Peek #5 - Slow zoom from the edge of a misty crater

Cheapchips

Cheapchips
Wasn't expecting clouds of volitiles in craters. They look great.

As far as I can see on my phone they've really smoothed out some of the lod transitions?
 

Toumal

Toumal
Great to see haze effects being added in. Also good to see that it's not just "on by default everywhere", but actually depending on location, altitude, etc.

This is making me all the more curious how and where the instance boundaries are placed. I fear there might be some sort of pause like when dropping out of supercruise.

Speaking of that pause, I'd so LOVE to have that pause completely gone or at least obscured a little better ;)
 

[SI] Bobdelion

[SI] Bobdelion
Toumal said:
This is making me all the more curious how and where the instance boundaries are placed.
Click to expand...
This is going through my head as well. If they are really going to do away with the 'hard' transitions currently seen in the game what will this mean for non-landable planets, and also can we also infer that things are also going to be changed up with things like asteroid fields and planetary rings? For instance, at the moment there is a hard load when moving from the sprite version of planet rings to the polygon version. If these kinds of loads are going away for planetary approaches will that be the same for rings, and can we expect to see a more seamless transition when dropping down into them?

So many questions, questions, questions... the more I see the more I want to know!
 

tntfoz

T
Beautiful work by Frontier.

I'm still in awe when docking at a Coriolis station, but planetary landings at a starport are going to be something else. This will never get old.

Out of interest, what's the plan with Gas Giants?

They wouldn't feature in planetary landings due to the extreme pressures before you get all the way through the atmosphere, but are there plans for stations and resource sites within the atmosphere?

Although they are atmospheric planets, I guess there's no concern about life on the planet itself so which season might gas planets be modelled in?
 

Oddball

Oddball
This is by far the most impressive bit of technology in the game so far. I have been waiting to see something like this in an Elite game for the last 25 years or so.
Very impressive and worth the wait.
 

wstephenson

wstephenson
I am impressed by the angle of the crater shadows being correct even across several level of detail changes - great surrounding, graphics team.

Will the dark side of planets be properly dark, especially further away from the core?

Will the amount of light provided by the main system star vary with distance from that star, so Mercury would be blinding whereas Pluto would be rather murky even at midday?

Will the placement of settlements take into account bodies with very long day/night cycles, or that are tidally locked to a star? Can't imagine many colonists wanting to live in perpetual darkness (or the market for Antidepressants and Sun Lamps will be amazing) or OTOH in eternal scorching sunlight on bodies close to intense stars. Would make more sense to put bases around the terminator, unless other reasons dictate otherwise.
 

xondk

X
wstephenson said:
Will the amount of light provided by the main system star vary with distance from that star, so Mercury would be blinding whereas Pluto would be rather murky even at midday?
Click to expand...
This is a tricky thing, you know how a bright winter sun can still provide next to no heat? probably a lot of situations where the lighting is fine, but the actual temperature is very low?
 

dannysquid

dannysquid
wstephenson said:
Will the amount of light provided by the main system star vary with distance from that star, so Mercury would be blinding whereas Pluto would be rather murky even at midday?
Click to expand...

This is a thing I don't know enough about. If I was standing on Pluto would it be very, very dark or would it be just as bright as standing in Brazil on a sunny day? Is it to do with how big the Sun is in the sky or is it just about light travelling unimpeded in every direction. The old idea that we should be blinded by all the light from all the stars in the sky if it wasn't for Einstein.

Can a cleverer person explain?
 

Spdrmn7

S
Clips like this make me wonder why people worry about others finding their ships. Lol. I am so not worried about it at all. Planets are HUGE and we are tiny. Even a ship the size of a skyscraper would be difficult to locate on the surface of these planets...unless the new scanner gives away our positions no matter where we are. Then...I take back my non-worries. Lol. This clip is great! So looking forward to my Thanksgiving Break. It will consist solely of ED...and food. :)
 

marty2756

M
Complete newbie here. Wasn't expecting this quality.
Now I really undertand why atmosphere planets and all the things on them will get into another season.
Speechless.
 

nexxo

N
And I be like:

for+squee.gif
 
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dannysquid

dannysquid
A pedantic criticism you're already probably very aware of: the rocks/boulders seem to be lit differently to everything else.

Just saying it in case you're thinking "nobody will notice this too-bright-boulder thing". :)
 

Colonel Kenney

Colonel Kenney
Nobody doubts the skill of the modelers or physics people, or the sound people. They already made this universe and now its time to fill it up with worthwhile places to visit and things to do. I'm just hoping that this will be worthwhile to actually go down onto the planet. This is a good step in the right direction. Definitely. I'm finally starting to think that my money I spent may be becoming worthwhile once this is complete. It may take until next year before some of this pans out. But fixes to the trading interfaces, the missing exploration and content engine needs some serious work to make it less dry. I know there is plan on crafting which will give us unlimited possibilities. That is what we need. But it needs to be rewarding. This game really has no reward feedback loop.

And powerplay and the politics of the galaxy are an utter and complete disaster which make no sense to anyone except possibly a madman. Hopefully when they bring in thargoids or some sort of adversary into story this game will streamline the politics and the galaxy into an understandable and worthwhile endeavor.
 
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