Cities and populated places in Elite Dangerous, including Walk around.

[lysan]

I've been reading some threads on reddit and here regarding cities etc. How will that be handled in Elite.
First, let us confirm that we will not see that in Horizons. It will be a part of the season with the atmospheric landings.

The speculation from my, and others would be season 4. Its a massive undertaking, however not impossible. There are
many examples of cities created for games, even old games have it. Creation of flora is not the most difficult part. The true challenge would be to create the human and Alien worlds made constructions.

Spoiler

They will of course use the experience from other games made by FD, one example would be the crowd behaviour from planet coaster. The Outside is also a game where FD will use the experience gained during the development of that game.

The wildlife that will be added, FD will use experience from Zoo Tycoon I reckon.

So, we know it can be done, we know that it will be within a reasonable time line, and we will most likely be busy during season 2 - 3 during the waiting for this part to become a reality.

Deep breath, where is my buggy??

 

[AnnuverScotinExile]

First, let us confirm that we will not see that in Horizons. It will be a part of the season with the atmospheric landings.

Even that is an assumption. Or, rather, several assumptions. They may be true, but they are assumptions none the less.

I would not be at all surprised if the expansion with planets with atmosphere precluded planets with life, or at least life capable of building cities, etc. We do not yet know the difficulties introduced by atmospheres and weather. Certainly I would be surprised if we could land on Earth, or perhaps any Earth-likes. There is also no guarantee from FD that walkies will come in parallel with atmospheric landings. It may well be the case, but it is a big assumption.

 

[Serapo]

The speculation from my, and others would be season 4. Its a massive undertaking, however not impossible.

I bet you it will appear in season 3. (I am an optimist underneath my grumpy nature).

Hey, they must be working on something amazingly cool and complicated for them to ignore easy enhancements and basic game fixes, right?

 

[Mechanist]

Regarding wildlife: something like in "No Man's Sky" could be done (without the cartoonish gfx of course )

 

[lysan]

I bet you it will appear in season 3. (I am an optimist underneath my grumpy nature).

Hey, they must be working on something amazingly cool and complicated for them to ignore easy enhancements and basic game fixes, right?

It would be wrong to give the majority of ED players that impression, even though it is a possibility. All things considerer a season 4 is a realistic forecast.
If FD is to pull it off sooner, well cake to everyone

 

[PhanttoM]

Something to remember as part of the consideration was the old 'roadmap'.

We do intend to release small, free updates after launch, but expansions that include significant new features and content will be charged for separately. For example, our current roadmap is to add (in no particular order):

• Landing/ driving / prospecting on airless rocky planets, moons & asteroids
• Walking around interiors and combative boarding of other ships
• Combat and other interactions with other players and AIs in the internal areas of star ports
• Accessing richly detailed planetary surfaces
• Availability of giant ‘executive control’ ships to players

Source: Newsletter # 29 - http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dcbf6b86b4b0c7d1c21b73b1e&id=1824c0b05a

 

[Herik]

Even that is an assumption. Or, rather, several assumptions. They may be true, but they are assumptions none the less.

I would not be at all surprised if the expansion with planets with atmosphere precluded planets with life, or at least life capable of building cities, etc. We do not yet know the difficulties introduced by atmospheres and weather. Certainly I would be surprised if we could land on Earth, or perhaps any Earth-likes. There is also no guarantee from FD that walkies will come in parallel with atmospheric landings. It may well be the case, but it is a big assumption.

Alien ruins and rubble perhaps of questionable detail, would be possible and appropriate quests involved to and/or from such debris.... Perhaps a stretch?.

I also think with the vast numbers of worlds being generated, especially atmospheric ones, the necessity to bug-fix will require some sort of 'bot' development that can run on the servers, (ala 'No Mans Sky' -interview between Insomniac developer/CEO and Hello Games Sean Murray).

 

[JeffRyan]

I've been reading some threads on reddit and here regarding cities etc. How will that be handled in Elite.
First, let us confirm that we will not see that in Horizons. It will be a part of the season with the atmospheric landings.

The speculation from my, and others would be season 4. Its a massive undertaking, however not impossible. There are
many examples of cities created for games, even old games have it. Creation of flora is not the most difficult part. The true challenge would be to create the human and Alien worlds made constructions.

Spoiler

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d7/9c/bf/d79cbf6d1e4efc67fe0c1b592e07af46.jpg

They will of course use the experience from other games made by FD, one example would be the crowd behaviour from planet coaster. The Outside is also a game where FD will use the experience gained during the development of that game.

The wildlife that will be added, FD will use experience from Zoo Tycoon I reckon.

So, we know it can be done, we know that it will be within a reasonable time line, and we will most likely be busy during season 2 - 3 during the waiting for this part to become a reality.

Deep breath, where is my buggy??

Let us confirm what? I'm sorry without a source, I'm expecting atmosphereless planets with their cities. Now I'm not that bothered about it and if it isn't there, fine. But people confirming when they have no knowledge (unless you do in which case I apologise!) more than I do is a little tiresome.

I confirm that yes, I will indeed, be proclaimed Emperor.

 

[JeffRyan]

So we don't have cities 'per se' but we do have outposts we can land at. According to todays development post they're also place the people live on the atmosphereless worlds. Bigger places are planned for release in season 2.

 

[ShimEnki]

I bet you it will appear in season 3. (I am an optimist underneath my grumpy nature).

Hey, they must be working on something amazingly cool and complicated for them to ignore easy enhancements and basic game fixes, right?

Here's a huge can of spinach for that one CMDR

 

[nexxo]

I would imagine that a bunch of mechanics need to be in place before we get cities:

- non-breathable atmosphere with weather systems
- walking around on ships and stations (no point in having breathable atmosphere planets with biosphere if you can't get out the SRV or ship and walk around, and interaction mechanics on the station are the foundation for interaction in cities)
- biospheres with flora and fauna (the latter of which will be a big challenge, but their behaviour dynamics are a foundation for crowds) and outposts
- biospheres with big cities with crowds (the challenge being creating stuff to engage with in those cities)

I for one would really like to be able to visit Merlin again:

Wouldn't that be cool?

 

[Ryuto]

I certainly hope it'll be Season 3. I'd like something more to do than stare out my cockpit all the time.

 

[Alric]

I expect being able to visit a city on an Earth-like planet would be season 4 at the very earliest - my guess would be later than that.
That said, DB did say the other day than larger and larger settlements would come during season 2.
So like with most things, I don't think it will be a big bang release where you can suddenly go stroll around Tokyo. But there could actually be inhabited, city sized settlements in the game well before we can land on Earth.

 

[Katejina]

I can't comment on the relevance of FD's other games, but I'm sure this next year of work on Horizons will pave the way for a lot of new features that they either didn't know how to implement or didn't think of before. The latest Q&A did mention "things larger than cities" and that domed cities will be an eventuality. Definitely not in Season 2, but they are likely to begin implementation of related features, whether openly or not, to prepare for it later on.

 

[who?]

In the Q&A yesterday, DB stated domed cities will be introduced during season 2, but I can't see that being too likely. I'd love to be wrong!

There was an old Dev post suggesting interiors /FPS are coming in "update 2" - which I'd assume is season 3. I don't know if it's still the plan.

 

[Katejina]

In the Q&A yesterday, DB stated domed cities will be introduced during season 2, but I can't see that being too likely. I'd love to be wrong!

There was an old Dev post suggesting interiors /FPS are coming in "update 2" - which I'd assume is season 3. I don't know if it's still the plan.

Will we see an equivalent to the large cities under domes we saw in Frontier?

There are ever bigger settlements coming, there are things in 2.0. Big cities will not be in 2.0 but they are coming.

Doesn't guarantee there will be domed cities, just establishments bigger than the generic outposts we will see on initial release.