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

That's no moon...

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Two remarks/questions:

1. I take it this is a yes to dangerous surfaces and lava on the surface?

2. How can it be "misty" when there isn't supposed to be any atmosphere? Even if it's motes of dust, or silicates condensing right after they sublimate (on extreme high-temp worlds), permanent layer of particles above the surface is the definition of an atmosphere. What is FDev's standpoint on this?

Thanks
 
I guest they don't want to make real atmosphere planete right now because it will change the whole flight mecanic.

Also, atmosphere isn't an "on or off" kind of thing...even our own moon has an atmosphere. It's just very very very thin. ;)

If it's thin so no need to change flight mecanic than why not :)
 
I think for 'atmosphere' you should read anything that has a weather system (needs simulation) and a biosphere (needs a lot of simulation).
 
I guest they don't want to make real atmosphere planete right now because it will change the whole flight mecanic.



If it's thin so no need to change flight mecanic than why not :)

As mentioned above...flight mechanics isn't really the blocker as such. The need to make clouds, storms, rain and lightning is a bigger culprit. Significant atmosphere would also have pressure, which would allow wind and liquids in the form of oceans/lakes/rivers. This in turn would shape the landscape through erosion which means a lot more work on the terrain tech.
 
Here's another unedited video taken from Elite Dangerous: Horizons. Again, many things here are unfinished which I won't call out. This shows another slow zoom, but this time showing the effect of volatiles forming as a mist in a deep crater on a cold, rocky, uninhabited world:

https://youtu.be/0jE7UhIyRnA

I just came back from a long break and all I can say is "WoW". Amazing, and really enjoying David and the teams vision of Elite: Dangerous. Perhaps not too far from walking around on planets and carrying lasers? :eek:

Shok.
 
I think for 'atmosphere' you should read anything that has a weather system (needs simulation) and a biosphere (needs a lot of simulation).

Even localised pockets of atmosphere, such as ones we saw here, should have their physics simulated. In low flight atmosphere such as that one would have a whole lot of effects on the ship, which I don't think will be simulated, since atmospheric planets come in another season. Hence my question to DB asking how this will be handled.
 
I think for 'atmosphere' you should read anything that has a weather system (needs simulation) and a biosphere (needs a lot of simulation).

Or anything that would cause significant drag forces (and could cause heat damage if you flew into it too quickly from space).
 
Are asteroid belts going to get that kind of fogging back? Since either 1.3 or 1.4 they look a bit...naff.
 
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Some belts do have more fogging than others, it depends on their composition.
The original level of fog was a mistake in the shader giving a huge amount of over draw.
 
They did it, almost perfect seamless planetary landing on scale. Can't wait to test this.

Though, this works well as long as the planet is procedural. SOL planets are not, so what will be the RP excuse for not being able to land on them?
 
They did it, almost perfect seamless planetary landing on scale. Can't wait to test this.

Though, this works well as long as the planet is procedural. SOL planets are not, so what will be the RP excuse for not being able to land on them?

I think that if you couldn't land on Earth when landing on populated planets *with* atmospheres arrives, there would be much nashing of teeth and a lynch mod parked outside of FD's offices! :D
 
They did it, almost perfect seamless planetary landing on scale. Can't wait to test this.

Though, this works well as long as the planet is procedural. SOL planets are not, so what will be the RP excuse for not being able to land on them?

It seems kinda logical to me to start with airless worlds for landings. Worlds with atmospheres kick up a whole new set of complexities, that I believe FD want to implement properly and not in some half-baked fashion. For example, in an atmospheric world you'd have things like weather, winds, clouds, precipitation and so on and so forth. For those worlds which also support complex life, you have to add in plants and animals (perhaps oceans as well) and so on and so forth, and for worlds with large populations and cities - there all all the extra complexities that go along with that - A massive undertaking I would think.
I don't think the issue is mixing hand-crafted and PG content together, it's just anything beyond a small airless world with a few outposts is going to take a lot of time to get right, and FD want to start giving us the whole planetary landing experience now. I'm sure FD will solve the problems required to make more worlds accessible, and done really well, and I'd rather have a limited set of places to land now, than have to wait until it is all implemented to be able to land anywhere.
Best to be patient. As far as I have seen so far (from Alpha 1 in Dec 2013), FD have consitently delivered a constantly improving game (with bugs & hiccups and niggles, but generally moving in a positive direction).
 
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