Landing on a planet

[M00ka]

Trolling through the forum this morning a read several posts about having the ability to land on planets (and the dire consequences that will happen if FD doesn't implement this straight away!)

It got me thinking - why would you want to land or even cruise around a planet?

ED is a space sim, first and foremost right? For FD tried to implement landing on planets they would have to create millions (if not billions) of different planet surfaces as each planet would have to be different. Cities would have to be rendered and each city, each structure would have to be different otherwise there would be a backlash of people complaining that the city on planet X was the same as the one on planet Y and that just isn't damn well acceptable!

And what benefit would it bring, apart from the ability to fly over landscape? None really unless players want to build their own cities and act like some demi-god over the inhabitants.

The effort involved for FD to implement this would be staggering, let ED stay a space sim. We already have a Sid Meyers Civilisation module implemented in Power Play, do we really need anything more?

The only out of ship experience I would like to see (and this is a not a request, just a 'wouldn't it be nice') is the ability to walk around my ship in the hangar and maybe have a common room/bar on each station where you can meet up with fellow commanders and maybe chat away. But even that would be difficult as how would you display each commander, would there be a generic model, could you create your own image?

Please FD, concentrate on what made Elite so good and resist the urge to try to be all things for all people, you will never win that race.

 

[kapparomeo]

I have to agree. I understand the nostalgia pull of Planetary Landings for older players because you could do it in Frontier (even if they're viewing it through rose-tinted lenses when you remember that 99.5% of each planet was just blank empty space), but really, I find the sheer passion people have for Planetary Landings to be utterly baffling. Other than all the technical problems you mention, it seems thematically wrong. Elite is a game about exploring the outer limits of the cosmos... why are people in such a rush to chain themselves back down to gravity again?

 

[GriM_AoD]

It would open up more exploration, more mission types (like attacking a ground facility or something making a supply drop ect).
And I highly doubt it would be the entire planet, but more like certain zones of a planet.. something akin to dropping into a RES.

And that's just me picking stuff of the top of my head, so I'm sure it opens up far more than I let on.

Though I agree other things should take priority.
(As you said, walking around ships/stations would be nice.. as would be creating my own look for the cmdr)

 

[DangerousLarry]

Braben himself in a video said he would love to be able to visit planets and get in a buggy to explore the planet so... Yeah.

Personally, I would just love to have the change in flight mechanics to soar through canyons and dodge in and out of rock formations and what not. Dog fighting in that environment would surely be exciting but to be honest... I think it would be better if FD had massive asteroids ships could fly around on and inside caverns and stuff. It would just be pure fun to duke it out in that... plus asteroid outposts.

 

[Muss]

Or meeting up with an NPC/Cmdr to transfer illicit cargo

 

[Schmack]

Trolling through the forum this morning a read several posts about having the ability to land on planets (and the dire consequences that will happen if FD doesn't implement this straight away!)

It got me thinking - why would you want to land or even cruise around a planet?

ED is a space sim, first and foremost right? For FD tried to implement landing on planets they would have to create millions (if not billions) of different planet surfaces as each planet would have to be different. Cities would have to be rendered and each city, each structure would have to be different otherwise there would be a backlash of people complaining that the city on planet X was the same as the one on planet Y and that just isn't damn well acceptable!

And what benefit would it bring, apart from the ability to fly over landscape? None really unless players want to build their own cities and act like some demi-god over the inhabitants.

The effort involved for FD to implement this would be staggering, let ED stay a space sim. We already have a Sid Meyers Civilisation module implemented in Power Play, do we really need anything more?

The only out of ship experience I would like to see (and this is a not a request, just a 'wouldn't it be nice') is the ability to walk around my ship in the hangar and maybe have a common room/bar on each station where you can meet up with fellow commanders and maybe chat away. But even that would be difficult as how would you display each commander, would there be a generic model, could you create your own image?

Please FD, concentrate on what made Elite so good and resist the urge to try to be all things for all people, you will never win that race.

I see a lot of presumptions without explanations. The stations aren't much different, we land there. Just put a different sign at the landing site "Miller World" and all else can be exactly the same. Even then, you can reproduce Miller World every other system. How is that any different than what's happening now?

Space is nothing without reference. No one wants to fly "space", they want to fly between points, this system and that, this planet and that, this station and that... and anything in space is something other than space. Else we could have a black screen and pretend we are doing every maneuver we want. Yay... no stuttering, and that annoying LED at on my "on/off" button on my monitor is no longer annoying me, for some reason.

ED showed montages of people walking in stations and landing on planets. Saying now "we don't need that" is saying no one saw what they wanted in the ad material. I guess we don't single player either. Just advertise what you think will sell, then give us what you want to. Someone will come along and disclaim any desire that the devs meet the advertised material.

- - - Updated - - -

I have to agree. I understand the nostalgia pull of Planetary Landings for older players because you could do it in Frontier (even if they're viewing it through rose-tinted lenses when you remember that 99.5% of each planet was just blank empty space), but really, I find the sheer passion people have for Planetary Landings to be utterly baffling. Other than all the technical problems you mention, it seems thematically wrong. Elite is a game about exploring the outer limits of the cosmos... why are people in such a rush to chain themselves back down to gravity again?

What do explorers explore? Empty space? No, they explore things in space, like planets. So you're going 25KLY to explore nothing? There's planets and stars and such, and planets with water and that would sustain life should be visited. That's what explorers would do. That's what Star Trek did.

 

[CMDR Hagglebeard]

plus asteroid outposts.

You mean rock hermits?



Oh yes. Oh, oh yes. I would easily pay 50 million, or even 75 million for that. All it needs is a small-ship hangar and the ability to store an extra ship and some modules.

If price isn't tied to distance, I'd easily drop one in Merope. A place to retire, nice and quiet, and with FSD technology, only a short drive to town

 

[Herik]

Trolling through the forum this morning a read several posts about having the ability to land on planets (and the dire consequences that will happen if FD doesn't implement this straight away!)

It got me thinking - why would you want to land or even cruise around a planet?

ED is a space sim, first and foremost right? For FD tried to implement landing on planets they would have to create millions (if not billions) of different planet surfaces as each planet would have to be different. Cities would have to be rendered and each city, each structure would have to be different otherwise there would be a backlash of people complaining that the city on planet X was the same as the one on planet Y and that just isn't damn well acceptable!

And what benefit would it bring, apart from the ability to fly over landscape? None really unless players want to build their own cities and act like some demi-god over the inhabitants.

The effort involved for FD to implement this would be staggering, let ED stay a space sim. We already have a Sid Meyers Civilisation module implemented in Power Play, do we really need anything more?

The only out of ship experience I would like to see (and this is a not a request, just a 'wouldn't it be nice') is the ability to walk around my ship in the hangar and maybe have a common room/bar on each station where you can meet up with fellow commanders and maybe chat away. But even that would be difficult as how would you display each commander, would there be a generic model, could you create your own image?

Please FD, concentrate on what made Elite so good and resist the urge to try to be all things for all people, you will never win that race.

Well; it's a simulation/game of the galaxy. The galaxy has planets. And remember DB (wants) to have planet landing with associated content in the game. Also remember 2 out of 3 earlier 'Elite' spinoffs by FD had planet landings. The player base that played these games in the past, want planet landings in the game. I did/do as well.

- - - Updated - - -

I have to agree. I understand the nostalgia pull of Planetary Landings for older players because you could do it in Frontier (even if they're viewing it through rose-tinted lenses when you remember that 99.5% of each planet was just blank empty space), but really, I find the sheer passion people have for Planetary Landings to be utterly baffling. Other than all the technical problems you mention, it seems thematically wrong. Elite is a game about exploring the outer limits of the cosmos... why are people in such a rush to chain themselves back down to gravity again?

Because my butt is getting sore in this cockpit.

 

[barcode]

I'd love to be able to discover some random Earth-like planet way out there in deep space, land on the beach and go fishing.

I'd be surprised if FD didn't already have teams working on planetary landings and FPS mode.

 

[Osbo89]

I want to explore anything that I can whether that be stars, planets, asteroids and all of that with trading stations, the thing a space sim
or space in real life you get into space to go some where else be it planet, asteroid or stars..

 

[Bokugo]

I imagine cities could be made similar to this.

[video=youtube;-d2-PtK4F6Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d2-PtK4F6Y[/video]

 

[Fire70]

Big problem is that I'm not sure if any of the current ships could land on planets.. In the future I would imagine that you would have ships to shuttle you to the nearest space dock then a separate ship to get you around in space..

 

[M00ka]

I see a lot of presumptions without explanations. The stations aren't much different, we land there. Just put a different sign at the landing site "Miller World" and all else can be exactly the same. Even then, you can reproduce Miller World every other system. How is that any different than what's happening now?

Space is nothing without reference. No one wants to fly "space", they want to fly between points, this system and that, this planet and that, this station and that... and anything in space is something other than space. Else we could have a black screen and pretend we are doing every maneuver we want. Yay... no stuttering, and that annoying LED at on my "on/off" button on my monitor is no longer annoying me, for some reason.

ED showed montages of people walking in stations and landing on planets. Saying now "we don't need that" is saying no one saw what they wanted in the ad material. I guess we don't single player either. Just advertise what you think will sell, then give us what you want to. Someone will come along and disclaim any desire that the devs meet the advertised material.

Schmack, for starters there are only, what, 4 different types of stations, they are man made so of course they are all going to be the same for each type. The only difference is some are painted, some have advertising etc. But planets are different, each would have to be modelled to show the various environmental areas like polar caps, mountain ranges, oceans, islands, human (or alien) structures. It would be a monumental task would it not?

As for what the advertising arm of FD released at the onset, it was just that, advertising. If you truly believe everything you see in a promo for a game then I guess you will be constantly disappointed in just about every game you buy. When was the last time that the pre-release 'in game footage' clip looked anything like the real game??

 

[Osbo89]

Schmack, for starters there are only, what, 4 different types of stations, they are man made so of course they are all going to be the same for each type. The only difference is some are painted, some have advertising etc. But planets are different, each would have to be modelled to show the various environmental areas like polar caps, mountain ranges, oceans, islands, human (or alien) structures. It would be a monumental task would it not?

As for what the advertising arm of FD released at the onset, it was just that, advertising. If you truly believe everything you see in a promo for a game then I guess you will be constantly disappointed in just about every game you buy. When was the last time that the pre-release 'in game footage' clip looked anything like the real game??

The thing is no matter what ED does people will moan about it as it's not to there way of thinking so the best thing for ED is to do is do it anyway for that
is what ELITE is all about...

 

[Cosmo]

Schmack, for starters there are only, what, 4 different types of stations, they are man made so of course they are all going to be the same for each type. The only difference is some are painted, some have advertising etc. But planets are different, each would have to be modelled to show the various environmental areas like polar caps, mountain ranges, oceans, islands, human (or alien) structures. It would be a monumental task would it not?

Exploring and landing on planets has been confirmed by the devs as an expansion. That was part of previous Elite games as well. Exploring space includes Landing on Planets, checking for alien life, mining resources on a planet, hunting wild game, docking at stations on the surface, dog fighting in the atmosphere and canyons etc.

It's not monumental, because all the planets are already procedurally created. The only thing lacking is detail when getting to the surface, and some gameplay features.

 

[glynie]

Well, many people want more than what the game currently is. I know several people who're interested in buying the game but are waiting for these expansions - and I even know some whom own the game already but barely play while they're waiting for new content. I'm also sure they would not have purchased it had they thought expansions such as planetary landings would never be included. Actually come to think of it, I've 10 or so friends whom own the game and only 2 of us (including myself) actually play regularly - the rest have not logged in once for several months.

 

[M00ka]

Exploring and landing on planets has been confirmed by the devs as an expansion. That was part of previous Elite games as well. Exploring space includes Landing on Planets, checking for alien life, mining resources on a planet, hunting wild game, docking at stations on the surface, dog fighting in the atmosphere and canyons etc.

It's not monumental, because all the planets are already procedurally created. The only thing lacking is detail when getting to the surface, and some gameplay features.

Regarding your bit I have highlighted in red: that isn't a big thing for the developers to do, come up with basically a FPS module?

Yes the developers mentioned it in the pre-release advertising, but I bet the also mentioned a lot of other things that aren't implemented yet like more ships etc. If planetary landing is down as an expansion, I seriously hope it is a long way off so said developers can concentrate on fixing the niggly little problems that are currently bugging the game.

Lets put it another way: You have a choice, the ability to land on planets (and fish and fly in canyons - why canyons lol) or have a the current game running smoothly?

 

[Aussiedroid]

Sometimes its better not to ask why, but why not?

I guess it will come down to what Frontier are planning to add on the surface. I heard mention of big game hunting some time back, but could be fun to simply explore an area and find a good location for a settlement. Could be mining opportunities or you might be able to setup a temp base or establishment. Perhaps there could be specific missions or other things to interest you down on the surface.

I hope there are also things like underwater or subterranean cities to visit, natural wonders to discover, places to hide cargo/treasure or ships outside of stations. Perhaps there could be blockades on systems providing some different combat opportunities.

Could also be very interesting fighting in an atmosphere, clouds or surface rather that in space. I could imagine the physics would change quite a bit which could add some interesting combat.

Will be a real game changer when this is deployed.

 

[JetJaguar]

Yes, we need this.

The next big thing I am/have been waiting for since the introduction of Wings is planetary landings. It would be awesome on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin. The sheer act of travelling through an atmosphere to land at a port would be amazing. I am an old school Frontier Elite player, so yes, it is one of the things I always presumed would be in a game that came out bearing the name "Elite". But I also believe it would add a huge amount of scope to the game.

I imagine scenarios where perhaps me and my wing mate take a military mission in a space station for a particular faction who is at war with another, where we have to go to an opposing system and to a planet where there is an on going conflict. Our task is to provide Close air support. Sweeping down out of the heavens, raining hell-fire on enemy positions/armored units/tanks. Possibly having to dog fight aerial defenders/AAA. (basically IL2 Sturmovick but in space ships ). There are others besides Combat too; Hunting(rare animals/trade), collecting rare flora, exploring (ancient artefacts), Scientific (Retrieving/placing discovery drones/rovers), mining on planets (planting oil derricks etc) having to return to collect after an amount of time), terraforming etc.

I would be happy if they started off with basic bodies, like Moons with bases on, or Mars like planets with Bio Domes etc.

Us older players who had this in Frontier Elite 2 don't just want this added for parity.....we want it added 'cause we know how damn cool it is and the "warm fuzzies" you will get when you lift off a pad with blue sky and clouds around you, as you head into the black void and then look back to see the blue dot and think.."I was just down there!". We want you to experience it too, you will thanks us!

 

[Stocker]

Well from what i have heard. They have already have tested populating a planet procedurally . So they can do it.