They've already done it with asteroids in ring systems. That isn't the problem.
They've shown they have this kind of tech already in many previous games.
Atmospheric Worlds. A Start?
- Thread starter Mav359
- Start date
They've already done it with asteroids in ring systems. That isn't the problem.
They've shown they have this kind of tech already in many previous games.
I think it will be cool to fly spaceships in the atmosphere of gas giants. But I'm sure you'll call it stupid and grind and blabla.
Problem is that with games you can't usually just plug in a bit of old code and turn it on. So much depends on clever trade-offs that allow you to get away with things that should really be impossible. I imagine the world sizes in ELITE would make it hard to simply re-use things from Planet Coaster or JWE although obviously lots of bits of them will come in handy.
There should be MORE things one is able to do on an airless moon when those other things get boring, which they do.. very quickly.
* Map terrain; discoveries could include rare mineral deposits, alien ruins, deep crevasses, exploring caves (both with an SRV and with a remotely controlled probe)
* Limited base building; both personal, and faction or PowerPlay orientated. E.g.: You might want to set up a mining operation. Either on your own, or for a faction/Powerplay mission. Or perhaps set up an observatory to monitor an interest star, or parent planet or whatever.
* Drill deep into an ice moon; uncovering million year old secrets, or better yet, manage to drill through an ice cap and discovery a body of water beneath - where you then launch a probe to explore/collect samples (both for cash ("Science Guild" .. kinda like Stellar Cartography, but for science nerds), or your own experiments).
* Harvest gas vents which can be sold at market.
* Harvest from those heat vents; charging power adapters or batteries or something; which can also be sold at market.
Driving around an airless moon, collecting rocks .. not my idea of a good time.
.. I think the underlying problem is that "good enough" is just not good enough.
"Good enough" in development means "the bare minimum that can be released" - and that is something I simply cannot stand.
Absolutely yes. You nailed that...
* Drill deep into an ice moon; uncovering million year old secrets, or better yet, manage to drill through an ice cap and discovery a body of water beneath - where you then launch a probe to explore/collect samples (both for cash ("Science Guild" .. kinda like Stellar Cartography, but for science nerds), or your own experiments).
* Harvest gas vents which can be sold at market.
* Harvest from those heat vents; charging power adapters or batteries or something; which can also be sold at market.
Driving around an airless moon, collecting rocks .. not my idea of a good time.
The thing is that this theorycrafting sounds cool at first glance, but what does any of this mean in terms of gameplay? What 'million year old secrets'? And how is 'drilling' and 'harvesting' a huge improvement over 'shooting rocks'? Thats the problem, we need to describe suggestions in actual gameplay terms, that are feasible and fun. 'Harvest from heat vents' sounds suspiciously similar to 'hold button'.
NMS, Space Engineers, etc. don't kill most machines, don't look absolutely terrible and were not made by big teams. That being said, I too think they will most likely start with the basic ones.
That's. So. Awesome. I. Can't. Wait.
TL;DR : Yes I'd love to see partially developed / low detail / unfinished atmospheric worlds... run on a permanently accessible public development progress server.
I'd love to see the roadmap, complete with bulletproof disclaimer, and a feedback mechanism that would allow the community to vote on priorities (I realise that there have been plenty of user generated polls). I feel that they've made the right decision about what to do with season 3, although I fear that it could so easily be stretched out based on diversion of resources to the next shiny new revenue generator (Xbox One X, PSVR etc, who knows).
I think that FDEV do an amazing job with a small team and I am loath to ever criticize. I guess they've been whetting my appetite for so long that I'm now really hungry for getting closer to what they have already created without hitting the "too close" dropout.
Having happily played for many months through the original public beta, I'd be more than happy to see rolling (alpha/beta/whatever) servers where we could taste (and/or test) their progress and essentially promote trust that FDEV are moving towards more types of accessible planets. Given the resources they have assigned to everything from CQC to Thargoids, I'm not entirely sure that I'd be justified in believing that atmospheric anything is really on the horizon (pun unintended).
I'd love to see the roadmap, complete with bulletproof disclaimer, and a feedback mechanism that would allow the community to vote on priorities (I realise that there have been plenty of user generated polls). I feel that they've made the right decision about what to do with season 3, although I fear that it could so easily be stretched out based on diversion of resources to the next shiny new revenue generator (Xbox One X, PSVR etc, who knows).
I think that FDEV do an amazing job with a small team and I am loath to ever criticize. I guess they've been whetting my appetite for so long that I'm now really hungry for getting closer to what they have already created without hitting the "too close" dropout.
Having happily played for many months through the original public beta, I'd be more than happy to see rolling (alpha/beta/whatever) servers where we could taste (and/or test) their progress and essentially promote trust that FDEV are moving towards more types of accessible planets. Given the resources they have assigned to everything from CQC to Thargoids, I'm not entirely sure that I'd be justified in believing that atmospheric anything is really on the horizon (pun unintended).
Yes, I was thinking about a one. Maybe you have something better?
Whilst I get what you are saying, I can and do, quite happily sit, sweeping over planetary rings, getting as close as I can and still be in supercruse, rolling side on and watching the planet roll past overhead, in VR listening to something like Loss Aversion by Carbon based life-forms, and grinning from ear to ear, simple because it looks so cool. There are things in the game that don't really do anything, and yet, make for very rewarding experiences.
Why get excited over pictures from Pluto? Hubble shots of far away nebulae? Detection of gravity waves and NS colliding? Can you cook an omelette with em?
I would say that when designing a world with an atmosphere you need to be clever about it.
Basically you can hide stuff in 3 layers, first layer would be high mountains where the base is covered with clouds. Then areas with dense vegetation, then water and on top of all that cloud layers.
Big cities could be controlled by flight restrictions, you enter the zone, then you ask for landing clearance when received you must active the docking computer and it will take you down.
If you disengage the DC you will get shot down. This way no one can do funny stuff in the cities and the illusion will be intact.
Basically you can hide stuff in 3 layers, first layer would be high mountains where the base is covered with clouds. Then areas with dense vegetation, then water and on top of all that cloud layers.
Big cities could be controlled by flight restrictions, you enter the zone, then you ask for landing clearance when received you must active the docking computer and it will take you down.
If you disengage the DC you will get shot down. This way no one can do funny stuff in the cities and the illusion will be intact.
by the way, to those wondering whether realistic ELWs are possible (for unrealistic ones, don't look further than NMS), check out the Outtera/Anteworld demo/sandbox ( http://www.outerra.com/ ).
Oh, yeah... I feel the same. I can simply fly over for a while, just admiring the sky, rolling between ring ice, mapping some weird planets. Very rewarding experiences, by themselves.