Horizons Atmospheric landings?

[krylite]

I think ED should just go with what was had before in FFE. Basically FFE had "atmospheric shielding" which was some form of heat proof panels that "absorb all the friction buffeting". Only costs "180 credits", so it's fairly trivial by the time of FFE and probably already has been so for prior centuries in Elite lore. How it would look in ED I have no idea. Perhaps its maintenance is already included in the "hull integrity" repair costs or it could be something else added.

http://www.wischik.com/lu/senses/ffemanual.pdf#page=188&zoom=auto,-234,842
http://www.wischik.com/lu/senses/ffemanual.pdf#page=58&zoom=auto,-234,842

Seemingly, ED ships would be like "ufo"'s today with highly advanced materials technology and supercruise would look very "ufo"-like. The atmospheric aerodynamics and friction problems would have long been solved long ago in light of ED's current civilization. yes, of course FD's hurdles in implementing atmospheric planets in the game has more to do with current dev tech and fidelity challenges of the massive galaxy scope and persistence among at least millions of ELWs, all of which to make it work without breaking the mmo structured game or turning into a jerky slideshow.

imo, I would hope they start out easier initially with bare planets with atmosphere, i.e. desert planets like "Dune", icy "Hoth", or a "Riverworld" type with no major distinction except a worldwide snaky canyon terrain with river.

 

[ChipStar65]

The only crazy thing is saying we can't have it cause of physics. It's a game, a sf game, cause it's not based in real life cause nothing moves faster than the speed of light in real life, there's no such thing as a FSD so get off your high pony.
The Devs should do whatever the fan base want so that the game is as much fun as possible!
Right now the game is inching closer to niche within a niche.
"Oh we can't do atmospheric landing bla bla burp"
But can we do FSD jumps ? Can we produce shields like in game? What are you on about ? Physics simulation game ahahahaha

Thanks for re-stating my point, which, if you had actually read the posts, would be redundant, but hey, I'm easy. Never said, "Can't do." Never said, "Shouldn't do." Only said, "Presents obstacles given the current game implementations," and everyone goes ballistic. I didn't kick your dogs, dudes/dudettes, why you actin' like I did? Makes me laugh.

 

[ChipStar65]

The atmospheric aerodynamics and friction problems would have long been solved long ago in light of ED's current civilization.

Which would be a very fair assumption if not for current game implementation details that say heat buildup is significant issue even with shields and Military Grade Armor. Which a little handwavium in the form of an Atmo Module or the like could solve perfectly well. Aerodynamics would have to be ignored entirely for many of the ship designs to function reasonably in an atmosphere, given that attitude jets and thrusters are the principal realspace propulsion systems rather than some sort of tech "like UFOs," but, so what? Nusuth, the game is what it is.

 

[IVAN__V]

Yes krylite.... Everyone talks about the game being realistic just to justify nerfing fun elements, but the game actually is a sf and not of the good kind.
Every single ufo case in real life time and time again described crafts that simply ignore friction with the atmosphere even to the point where these ufos are not only silent in operation but don't even have a sonic boom at any of the insane speeds witnessed by millions already.
But hey FSD is totally real... We can have that... Doing 30 c speed by bending or shifting space itself but it can't handle some planet's atmosphere.

 

[krylite]

Yes krylite.... Everyone talks about the game being realistic just to justify nerfing fun elements, but the game actually is a sf and not of the good kind.
Every single ufo case in real life time and time again described crafts that simply ignore friction with the atmosphere even to the point where these ufos are not only silent in operation but don't even have a sonic boom at any of the insane speeds witnessed by millions already.
But hey FSD is totally real... We can have that... Doing 30 c speed by bending or shifting space itself but it can't handle some planet's atmosphere.

Yes, ED ships could be very ufo-like considering how they enter supercruise or hyperspace from an outside perspective. The blue streaking still evident on approach on "planetary cruise" seems still in a semi mode of the jumpdrive. Notice it's in "cruise" approach while sc mode is called "super+cruise" meaning perhaps cruise mode still partially using the space warping effect. So it could be considered in advance of since 50 years ago in FFE's time, there would be less need to be worried (not completely but diminished greatly) about atmospheric re-entry burnup speeds with the ships limited to today's fighter jet speeds outside of supercruise and cruise modes. Well maybe with atmospherics implemented city skies will be a noisy place with all the ships booming past mach 1.

I actually do like the sci-fi aspects of ships themselves, while the game is still endeavoring to be more of a realistic space, astronomy and astrophysics simulator when you take it apart from the ships' ftl propulsion. The hyper and jumpdrive tech reminds me of the entire galaxy reaching tech of Asimov's "Foundation" series which takes place something like twenty thousand plus years in the future, while the rest of the advanced but mundane tech is more like Babylon5 or the Expanse where the weaponry of the ED universe is far less evolved than Star Trek or Star Wars. It's the best game, imo , to ever evoke the feeling of being in a sci-fi novel or movie world where the Elite franchise itself seems to be itself a fan of the hard sci-fi genre, ex: continued use of the 2001:"Blue Danube" music with the docking computer also used in FFE and Frontier.

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/q3oHmVhviO8?t=44s

 

[popuptoaster]

Yup, no handwavium there, nope. LMFAO.

Are you being dense on purpose? "Handwavium" is the popular term for a "scientific" explanation of a technology that does not yet exist NOT a catch all term for something that is not possible or that YOU don't understand.

My harrier example is a hypothetical situation that should make it easier for a normal person to understand how having excess power would effect a flying craft, there is NO handwavium in that sentence as I did not attempt to explain HOW such a thing would occur.

I suggest you drop the sarcasm and get back to school if you really struggle with the language quite this much although I suspect that, in reality, you have realised you made a mistake and resorted to appearing dense on purpose.

 

[popuptoaster]

Which would be a very fair assumption if not for current game implementation details that say heat buildup is significant issue even with shields and Military Grade Armor.

Heat build up is much more of a problem in space than it is in atmosphere, in a vacuum heat has to be radiated away by thermal radiation which is MUCH slower than in an atmosphere where objects cool using both thermal radiation AND convection.

Cooling in an atmosphere is limited by the ambient temperature while in space the ambient temperature may be much lower but if you are in an area filled with radiation such as in sight of a star then you may gain heat faster than you can lose it.

So even without any magic or handwavium the ships propensity to overheat in space does not imply they'd have the same trouble in an atmosphere where they could lose heat much faster.

Remember that most planes on earth that fly at any decent altitude have to have de-icing systems in order to keep them warm, heat is only an issue if you go fast enough to cause significant friction with the molecules in the atmosphere, which, as we have discussed in other posts is, while possible, not necessary for the in game ships.