Stars are too small

The current implementation is great for gameplay, but sacrifices the sense of scale.

I wish they could find a way to add the sense of scale in, but not sure how they would do it?

As someone pointed out, I doubt we'll ever be able to get a true sense of scale (small star vs large one) due to our limits as humans to perceive such incredible sizes, but it would actually be relatively easy to make stars feel appropriately big in general, as well as actually enhance gameplay. THIS is how fuel scooping should be done IMO [yesnod]

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

(The actual mechanics of scooping, not all the melodrama mixed in, LOL)
 
As someone pointed out, I doubt we'll ever be able to get a true sense of scale (small star vs large one) due to our limits as humans to perceive such incredible sizes, but it would actually be relatively easy to make stars feel appropriately big in general, as well as actually enhance gameplay. THIS is how fuel scooping should be done IMO [yesnod]



(The actual mechanics of scooping, not all the melodrama mixed in, LOL)


Yeah - right around 10-11 seconds is pretty awesome, where as Elite looks more like around 2 seconds.

I should add that fuel scooping in Elite today is SUPER convenient for a gamer with time constraints like myself.

But I'd love to take on some scientific or rescue missions which required me to get super close like you see at the 10 second mark ;-)
 
If expressing an opinion is complaining then so be it - I have as much right to express my opinion as you do, however only one of us has resulted to using insults, and you know what they say about insults being the last refuge of...


I think you might want to take a look at the game yourself - the average sun, while hundreds of times bigger than the average planet, can never be viewed as big in game (i.e. take up more windshield space) as the average planet can (if you have Horizons)


Concerned about my driving? More than happy to put my driving skills and my old 2011 Dodge Charger MAX up against whatever you're currently driving - why don't you come up to the Berkshires so we can compare real life driving skills on the Taconic Trail. Warning - Racing up mountain passes is not for the faint of heart...

Hi - I stated a fact, and fired no insults. If you perceived that as such, that sounds more like a you problem, than a me problem. You are certainly welcome to voice an opinion, as is everyone, but when that opinion is shown to be factually incorrect, then you should perhaps reconsider its validity.

I will happily concede your point if someone can provide me with a location where I can, at the same distance, make a planet fill my canopy as much as, or more than, a star does.

Any non-gas-giant planet, and any visible star.

I look forward to visiting such a place. With this many star systems, it's not impossible that such a thing does indeed exist, though I do think it would be rare gem, and worthy of a POI.

Riôt
 
Totally agree. The 'on-screen' size is roughly the same for a big star as a small star when you get 'close' to them, so they don't even really feel different sizes (other than the time it takes to fly round one). You don't feel dwarfed by them at all, planets feel bigger as you come in to land on them.

^^^This
We jump in(or go close to) , and nearly always we have the same size star. Obviously done for heat purpose reasons ?(or gravity?).
Changing it can be difficult as a star like canis major has a diameter of over 6600 ls.
 
I agree that we should be able to be much closer to these stars. it hurts the immersion when they're all the same size and feel relatively small due to distance.
 
Yeah - right around 10-11 seconds is pretty awesome, where as Elite looks more like around 2 seconds.

I should add that fuel scooping in Elite today is SUPER convenient for a gamer with time constraints like myself.

But I'd love to take on some scientific or rescue missions which required me to get super close like you see at the 10 second mark ;-)

I was thinking this myself. Per my Sense Of Scale thread, I've struggled with getting a true sense of the size of our ships, as well as stations and outposts. I realized a large part of this is the exaggerated acceleration our ships have. I've been compensating for this by diverting all pips away from engines when taking off and landing, and going easy on the throttle and thrusters, and it does help with the sense of scale and immersion!

And yet, when I was in a hurry to get things done, I threw all that realism out the window and gave myself whiplash docking my ship as quick as possible, LOL.

So to your point, if we had to dip into the star like Destiny in that video on every jump, that would become tedious pretty quickly. Personally I'd like to see our fuel last a whole lot longer, so that fuel scooping would be a rare but exciting (and dare I say "dangerous") activity, instead of the almost annoying minigame it currently is. With this in mind, make fuel expensive, thus making scooping worth the risk for those who dare. Refueling a FTL spaceship should be more like refueling a nuclear submarine than pulling into a petrol station to refuel our cars IMO.
 
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