Looking amazing and being amazing are two very different things.
[VIDEO] Obsidian Ant: The Importance of Atmospheric Worlds
- Thread starter VR SenseiMatty
- Start date
In Elite terms, NMS has at most three planet types. Small and airless, small with atmosphere, small with atmosphere and surface liquid. Arguably only one planet type since even those three are basically the same - same gravity, same sort of terrain, same sort of density of ground clutter. Sometimes there's 'grass'. Sometimes there are what one might kindly call 'animals'. Sometimes there are isolated buildings. That's it.
Once you've seen past the illusion, there's really nothing there. If Elite gets 'atmospheric worlds' like that I will be severely disappointed.
I grouped them by terrain complexity. In terms of thin atmospheres I agree we already have that (visual fog at least) but we don't have fluid erosion. By fluid I mean gas and/or liquid. With a fluid to act as a mixing agent & solvent the variety of life would theoretically expand enormously but I would certainly hope that's not what's stopping us from landing on more planet types.
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I personally don't care about NMS, but that comparison isn't really honest/fair. It's like saying Elite has only two types of planets. Landable, airless rocks and unapproachable, textured spheres. Sometimes there is a different gravity. Sometimes the terrain varies.
You'll notice that I carefully didn't claim that Elite was any better.
You'll notice that I carefully didn't claim that Elite was any better.
Yeah, Elite Dangerous planets have nice features for the ones that are able to appreciate them. I'm not gelology expert so I don't take full advantage of how canyons and valleys are generated in ED. I do appreciate the different gravity, which is a shame that it's comlpetely missing in NMS.
I feel a bit guilty for this but my feeling about ED planetary exploration is very similar to Zimms' simplification.
I agree with OA, Atmos is needed in ED and ED is falling behind when it should be leading. Its starting to become a dinosaur.
The 2020 update i have my fingers crossed.... but to be honest im very Meh now about Elite and im not holding my breath.
The 2020 update i have my fingers crossed.... but to be honest im very Meh now about Elite and im not holding my breath.
Yup. They turned a turd game into a slightly less turd game. But a turd game it still is. Not a great comparison in my view.
It's built by a small group of people and it seriously shows.
It's a thread where everyone jealous of those who have YouTube channels come on and mock said channels to compensate for their own feelings of inadequacy.
...then get yo aaaaz to
(or Enceladus in Sol, that was pretty good too)
(Also, check out my views on that vid! Time to give up the day job
I think I even had a subscriber once, poor fellow. Remember to get your thumb right up it and share it around, or whatever they say)
Nope, not at all.
Deleted member 182079
D
I'd buy that for a dollar!
So, I'm glad i'm not alone here. There would be trillions of planets in this game with atmospheres and millions (at least) with flora. I see no end of complaint about the RNG worlds as it is, so I have no idea what the expectation is for atmospheric worlds. There will be a few dozen types of weather, plants, floating things, and decorations to sprinkle about and anyone that explores is going to have seen all the variations in short order. The ferns will look like ferns on planet ######## #####-#### 3 and ###### ###-## 5. So I'm not all that jazzed for the development time to go into that. I'd much rather see some further development and depth to the places we can already land such that there is more to surface mining than just "Shoot lasers at thing".
One thing I would like to see is dynamic weather effects from space. If the atmospheric features changed over time, or you saw lighting in storms on the dark side that would really be a nice add I think.
Everything except AW, WW and ELW would only need a small variety of flora and no fauna.
FD rather shot themselves in the foot giving us flora on airless worlds. Now we will expect it on many atmospheric worlds too. In reality, there are several planets in our solar system that have significant atmospheres and the best guess is that we just might find life on one of them, hidden under kilometres of ice.
The only thing atmospheric planets really need is fluid erosion, but FD will probably feel the need for a handful of plants too. They would be totally justified in leaving out animals until we get AWs, WWs and ELWs. Those will need vastly greater amounts of flora and fauna, preferably procedurally generated to fit ecological niches.
FD rather shot themselves in the foot giving us flora on airless worlds. Now we will expect it on many atmospheric worlds too. In reality, there are several planets in our solar system that have significant atmospheres and the best guess is that we just might find life on one of them, hidden under kilometres of ice.
The only thing atmospheric planets really need is fluid erosion, but FD will probably feel the need for a handful of plants too. They would be totally justified in leaving out animals until we get AWs, WWs and ELWs. Those will need vastly greater amounts of flora and fauna, preferably procedurally generated to fit ecological niches.
But I see that as the issue... Just like planet colorations, and surfaces, you'll have seen it all in short order. One thing humans are exceedingly good at is pattern matching, and soon enough you'll notice this waterfall or clump of tubers looks like others you've seen yesterday.
I'm not at all discounting it as desirable to have more interesting landscapes and all... I'm just not convinced, given the existing evidence that it will be very engaging after the first 20hrs. I'd so much rather see some depth added to what we have. But that doesn't invalidate other people's desires.
Weather effects is an area where a relatively small number of assets could be repeated in different combinations without looking too repetitive.
I agree on life, no matter how many seeds it will get samey after a while, as with NMS.
Can't help thinking its going to be December 2021 before we get Atmospheric Worlds in this game.
I believe ED will be dead and buried by then.
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
So, Elite is literally doomed then?