Chasing Comets

[Caduceus Raptor]

Although it would be a nice visual I doubt that any gameplay within the current mechanics would really work. Nice idea having something really dangerous to do that nets really rare G5 mats though, unfortunately I'm in one of those awkward positions where I criticise one thing but can't offer an alternative.

I would love to see the odd comet flying around a system but would also love to see other space phenomenon, including accretion disks for black holes and even an occasional supernova.

 

[Red River]

comets and asteroids should be that way instead of what we got right now... most planetary rings and asteroid belts aren't chockfull of giant boulders the way portrait in this game...

 

[Bryan K]

comets and asteroids should be that way instead of what we got right now... most planetary rings and asteroid belts aren't chockfull of giant boulders the way portrait in this game...

Actually Saturn’s rings are quite dense. I’d say the game gets it pretty close.

 

[Leadfoot]

There actually are invisible comets in game, they are pretty cool obscure hobby.

Yes, there are comets. They fly very, very high so you cannot see them.
There are comets that fly close to the ground, but they are invisible.

---- M'aiq the Liar​

 

[M00ka]

Wonder if the OP realises that a comet only emits a tail when it is in proximity to a star, the rest of the time it is just an out of control asteroid that decided to leave home!

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Yes, there are comets. They fly very, very high so you cannot see them.
There are comets that fly close to the ground, but they are invisible.

---- M'aiq the Liar​

I need to look for that cat in ESO, once the servers work again.

 

[Sapyx]

"Invisible comets" are already in the game: space stations that appear to be "orbiting around nothing" are actually orbiting around one of those invisible comets. For evidence, go to the Pareco system, find the six space stations that are orbiting nothing, and do what this guy did.

FD have always said that "comets were already in the game, just invisible" - until that thread was posted, we had no proof of this. Apparently, they are waiting until some kind of "unique and fun things to do with comets" is thought of.

Comets are not magical places where weird laws of physics apply, They're just really, really small planetoids on eccentric orbits. So, apart from the whole faster-than-light super-dangerous thing, the OP is pretty much accurate in terms of FD's plan for introducing comets.

 

[Marklar_]

I hope these invisible comets don't have collision detection, that would be a difficult death to figure out

 

[BinakAlgo]

Someone actually found a comet, and it had like 2 stations orbiting, but it was impossible to follow.

"Invisible comets" are already in the game: space stations that appear to be "orbiting around nothing" are actually orbiting around one of those invisible comets. For evidence, go to the Pareco system, find the six space stations that are orbiting nothing, and do what this guy did.

FD have always said that "comets were already in the game, just invisible" - until that thread was posted, we had no proof of this. Apparently, they are waiting until some kind of "unique and fun things to do with comets" is thought of.

Comets are not magical places where weird laws of physics apply, They're just really, really small planetoids on eccentric orbits. So, apart from the whole faster-than-light super-dangerous thing, the OP is pretty much accurate in terms of FD's plan for introducing comets.

EDIT: Only god knows how the people on those stations live, if they live at all.

 

[Stealthie]

I know I keep saying the same thing but (repeat after me), FDev could do worse than look at the way KSP deals with comets.

In KSP, comets are way out in the middle of nowhere and you usually have to wrestle them back to somewhere sensible and then you can build stuff on them to mine them or, failing that, you can try to de-orbit them and try to get them to crash into your space-centre.
That 2nd thing might not be an entirely good idea, though.

Be kind of nice to have something similar in ED.
Go find a comet, grapple it, tow it to a refinery platform and then dump it there so miners can swarm all over it.
Or, maybe, crash it into something if you're that way inclined.

*EDIT*

Regarding basic stuff that I just figured out, I just realised, a couple of days ago, why my shields keep going off-line at stations, requiring me to wait a short while before I launch so they can recharge.

It's the outfitting screen!

When you're in the outfitting screen, that's not just a "representation" of your ship.
It really is YOUR ship, with all it's hardpoints deployed and all it's modules powered-up.
That being the case, if you've got a ship that requires power-management, you'll often get "shields offline" messages and get the "freezing up" noises while you're outfitting your ship.

Neve realised that until last weekend.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

Unfortunately (for the gameplay), comets don't travel that fast... (average speed is between 10-100 km/s), so they would be handled by the game like the USS's...

 

[Hanerib]

"Invisible comets" are already in the game: space stations that appear to be "orbiting around nothing" are actually orbiting around one of those invisible comets.

When you're in the outfitting screen, that's not just a "representation" of your ship.
It really is YOUR ship, with all it's hardpoints deployed and all it's modules powered-up.

It's this sort of stuff where space madness truly begins. Even ships in supercruise really are there. It's just that we have this comfortable perspective to things, which then dictates what we see.

 

[DeathFish]

Faster comets

Unfortunately (for the gameplay), comets don't travel that fast... (average speed is between 10-100 km/s), so they would be handled by the game like the USS's...

Useful - but if that’s the average, then there should be faster ones, and so (since it is only a game) it should be possible to tackle them with a very fast ship in normal space. The slower ones can have lesser grade or zero mats (-:

I just kinda enjoy the idea of hurtling after a small target that is going very fast and is very dangerous even if you do hit it!

 

[Para Handy]

Useful - but if that’s the average, then there should be faster ones, and so (since it is only a game) it should be possible to tackle them with a very fast ship in normal space. The slower ones can have lesser grade or zero mats (-:

I just kinda enjoy the idea of hurtling after a small target that is going very fast and is very dangerous even if you do hit it!

You either just find it impossible to accept that you are wrong or you don't understand what people are telling you.

 

[Alec Turner]

Just wanted to pop in here and say that, although the bright fast moving comet like trails you see are indeed just other ships in supercruise, Stellar Forge (the software engine responsible for generating the ED galaxy) does actually include the concept of comets even tho' the game currently has no graphical representation for them. The best example of this is probably in the Pareco system where a ring of 5 or 6 separate stations are allegedly in orbit around a comet.

See here for more information: Comets-are-already-present-in-the-Stellar-Forge-you-can-drop-into-normal-space-close-to-them!

 

[Red River]

that thread is 2 years old and they still can't put some simple graphic together for already existing comets generated by their engine... sad.