Planet Dive

[DCello]

Hello! I had a couple of friends over recently to try Elite at home, and one of them had the idea while doing the Training missions to try and fly into a planet. The gravity well pulls you out of Supercruise around 13mm out, and engaging it further while aiming at the planet causes you to drop out of SC seconds after you entered with zero progress towards the thing. Flying the old fashioned way has an ETA of 13 hours, which is not something I am willing to do right now even for science =P

Has anyone tried crashing into a planet to see what actually happens? I know that stars burn you out lightseconds away, and the result of flying into a planet should conceivably be "you die" in a normal game, but given that Elite plans to have planetary landings somewhere on the future and it has such a strong focus on "scientifically accurate stuff", I wonder if we already have some sort of atmosphere entry before exploding or another cool effect. =)

 

[GrimThara]

That's a fair question.

I hope someone dedicates a few hours of their life to find out, for science.

I remember back in the Beta I saw a guy claiming to have flown (glitched) beneath the cloud layer of a planet (posted screenshots, seemed legit to me). It looked blurry and low-res as you'd expect, but it seemed possible.

Maybe someone can clarify it better, post some info or go and find out.

 

[5PIDER]

After a couple hours you will fly into the planet and it will disappear there is no collision, i did this about a month ago

 

[FoxTwo]

Once you spend enough time flying, you'll get so close to the planet that it just......

..... vanishes.

Yes, poof! Gone from your screen.

If you back up a little it'll pop back into view.

It's probably due to textures not being present for that low altitude

Example video of planetary "landing" -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM3Tm7e94lY

I have tried to land on a planet back in Gamma, same thing still happens - the planet vanishes when you get too close.

 

[Daeron]

If you go very slowly, like taking a year or so doing it, you might be able to see land*.


*Might need to go to the cash shop first.