An early look at what can be the planet landing

[Skizomeuh]

Hm. Extrapolating Earth's appearance that far into the future is quite a task in itself. I would think currently available datasets would be a sufficient starting point. After that, Earth too would mostly come down to clever procedural generation. Come to think of it, the same urban growth algorithms could be used to form both extraterrestrial planetary settlements and future Earth. Just that the former starts from zero while the latter has a very specific and familiar beginning.

Basically that's what I meant Take the current data, rise sea levels, focus on an array of emblematic locations, add sci-fi and/or destruction make-ups. Tadaa* !

*Well I know that's not _that_ simple

 

[Dalkeith]

Seamless planetary landings hey? I'll just leave this here, if a single man with no budget can achieve this then I'm pretty sure FD shouldnt have to much of a problem
[video=youtube;rswRCT3097g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rswRCT3097g[/video]

But that's the thing about programming its about how good you are and your complete grasp of the technology. There are actually advantages to having everything under control of fewer people.

There are plenty of examples of projects that went nowhere despite vast budgets.

 

[Mucka]

The whole "We could do landings now but there would be nothing to do and we want to make it amazing" excuse is fine for paid for DLC but it should not excuse atmospheric flight and landings on lifeless planets in the gamma before content is added as DLC. It certainly hasn't bothered them with every other aspect of the game which is pretty much bare bones with content "coming soon"

It would of been more than enough to be able to fly low to alien surfaces if they had more quality PG than now complete with height maps etc and have the different gravity have an affect on the flight model. I would of been more than happy to fly down and land on some alien mountain peek and look out upon the landscaped vistas. To watch the sun set and rise over an alien horizon. To fly low over an alien landscape and explore it. To suggest players would of been disappointed with that so it wasn't worth doing is completely disingenuous - they just didn't want to invest the resources and development time to provide it as a core game experience because they wanted to save it all for paid content. If people were happy and able to land on lifeless planets they would be less likely to buy the chance to land on life populated planets.

Don't believe me. Check out how many people are blown away by space engine that offers the basic ability to do these things and it is FREE.

This is made all the more obvious by the idea that they will now even break up landings into separate paid content.
Extremely disappointing for me as being limited to space and the cockpit of my ship is well erm limiting the experience.

Who knows when landing will finally arrive but when they do they had better blow me away to make the expense and wait worthwhile and rekindle my interest in what by then will probably becoming old hat. It already is and I have barely played it but I'm hoping the persistent dynamic universe we are supposed to have will kick in along with basic multiplayer features to give the game such needed content.

 

[SnugglySocks]

what does everyone think we will actually see in a planetary landing/atmosphere entry. Assuming that it is a seemless transition.

So far I think that :
due to having shields there will be no fiery atmospheric entry. But maybe shields wont work in the atmosphere (because of planetary magnetic fields or something)
The 'star sky' will gradually fade to the appropriate colour according to the atmospheres main gas contents.
the manoeuvrability of ships will be affected. So sluggish ships will get even more sluggish (don't take an anaconda down there ) and nimble ships like the eagle (which seems to have some aerodynamic qualities) will be better off.

having no shields in atmosphere could make things more interesting too. maybe something that could be incorporated into the gameplay.

 

[Soliloquy]

what does everyone think we will actually see in a planetary landing/atmosphere entry.

My first question is whether this will be a supercruise or conventional-drive event. If it's conventional drive, it may take a while. (The space shuttle needed about an hour from orbit to landing.) I don't know how much real orbital mechanics Elite uses, but realistically, you'd have to first turn around and use your main engines to slow down from several km/s and then let gravity pull you down. If there's an atmosphere, it can help you air-breaking, but with the tremendous mobility of Elite ships, that may be moot. Without air-resistance, it will take about five minutes to free-fall from low Earth orbit altitude. (But then you'll hit the ground at almost 3km/s.)

Assuming that it is a seemless transition.

Oh, I think it absolutely has to be.

So far I think that :
due to having shields there will be no fiery atmospheric entry. But maybe shields wont work in the atmosphere (because of planetary magnetic fields or something)

Don't shields make some pretty cool visual effects when they're stressed, though? Could still look spectacular, if a bit different from real atmospheric entries.

the manoeuvrability of ships will be affected. So sluggish ships will get even more sluggish (don't take an anaconda down there ) and nimble ships like the eagle (which seems to have some aerodynamic qualities) will be better off.

Yeah, I'm wondering how they imagine the ships will fly close to planetary surfaces. Are the vertical thrusters enough to lift a ship in Earth-like gravity, or must your main engines point downwards? Do you have to get some sort of aerodynamic lift? Few of the ships appear to have any functional wings. And what about planets without atmosphere? Lots of questions.