The Planetary landing and planetside missions discussion Thread

[Tinman]

Working on the expansions since 2013? How do you know this. FD released a dev update video 'The Future of Elite'. About 4:47 Ben Parry mentions that he's looking forward to doing planetary landings and that it's going to be a 'terrifying undertaking'. This doesn't sound like they've been working in it since 2013, it sounds like they haven't even started yet!

Depends how you look on it I guess...the planets are already procedurally generated even if the generated data hasn't been used as displacement maps yet. The same code that is already creating the planets will just be expanded on to generate more and more detail as we get closer. Something that is already happening in the current version of the game.

As for them working on expansions we know they have been working on that at least since the beginning of this year in parallel with development on the core game.

Taken from the first Dev Update (Jan 8):

We’re proud of the fantastic game that we released before Christmas but intend to keep growing and developing it. To make this happen we’re expanding the team working on the game so that we can maintain a regular schedule of updates as well as working on paid expansions.

 

[Smugallo]

Depends how you look on it I guess...the planets are already procedurally generated even if the generated data hasn't been used as displacement maps yet. The same code that is already creating the planets will just be expanded on to generate more and more detail as we get closer. Something that is already happening in the current version of the game.

As for them working on expansions we know they have been working on that at least since the beginning of this year in parallel with development on the core game.

Taken from the first Dev Update (Jan 8):

Yipee! Would love to see what they're playing with though :S

 

[W4rSkuLL]

Depends how you look on it I guess...the planets are already procedurally generated even if the generated data hasn't been used as displacement maps yet. The same code that is already creating the planets will just be expanded on to generate more and more detail as we get closer. Something that is already happening in the current version of the game.

As for them working on expansions we know they have been working on that at least since the beginning of this year in parallel with development on the core game.

Taken from the first Dev Update (Jan 8):

Tinman you are truly up to date with information Its good, because I cant always remember everything

 

[chesdj]

I've trawled through the first few pages of the thread and imagine what i'm going to say has already been covered and i've missed it.

Just my personal view before i get flamed:

It's a Space Sim landing on Planets whilst nice should be that, there is a spaceport you have to fly down a prescribed route to, similar to docking or this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dXc2W1uWck

Aliens (US vers) on the C64 did a good example of how to work this into a game...
https://youtu.be/YKq1b9CzToE?t=215
Sequence starts at 3:45 in the video if the link doesn't work properly, entering the atmosphere and safe trajectory shouldn't be easy.


Any planet would have controls on entry and exit points in the same ways we have country border controls now, if you enter elsewhere it's illegal, which is my next point Air traffic Control. you fly the 'pipe' land but you have to stay in controlled airspace.

Weather and environment as like today; weather could impact your ability to launch, as a gameplay mechanism for all of this, for example as they haven't had the cost of transporting the produce to the outpost/ station for export, on planet prices would be lower but you have the risk of landing and then being stuck there if a serious weather/atmospheric condition hits randomly. (Risk and reward...)

Massive fuel cost for launching; you need to escape the planet's gravity well and reach escape velocity that's a long burn (And basic Physics) Every Ton you have is going to cost you dearly.

This whole Idea of Buzzing around the planet i don't like if i wanted MS Flight SIM i'd but it, also the cost of using a spaceship inside the atmosphere for plane like flight is impractical, just hire a plane planes and spaceships are completely different beasts, if you think a Cobra is going to handle like a F14 Tomcat within the atmosphere you're kidding yourself, in the same way an F14 wouldn't work in space.

Let us land but in a proscribed way, if people are desperate to wander round the planet, give them a free horse when the dock.

 

[Alien]

Working on the expansions since 2013? How do you know this.

It's been mentioned somewhere during the Kickstarter, either in a video (unlikely) or in the kickstarter chat (and I am not trawling through that to find it.)

 

[Mashchax]

Planetary landings?

Guys, just a quick noobie question, I haven't been following Elite for a while and I'm not up to date. Are planetary landings still going to be a thing or have they given up on that idea? Thanks for letting me know .

 

[PsychoFish]

One day - in the distant future. We just got a new update (Powerplay) yesterday and have to learn a whole new mechanic to the game.

 

[Sterlino]

this is a very unusual and a new question never done...

 

[Mashchax]

this is a very unusual and a new question never done...

Yea I know, I just wanted to get an up do date of what is now, cause following what was said in the past it is obvious I would have learned there will be planetary landings as well as FPS mode, ships takeovers and lots of other things we will never see.

 

[Sterlino]

Yea I know, I just wanted to get an up do date of what is now, cause following what was said in the past it is obvious I would have learned there will be planetary landings as well as FPS mode, ships takeovers and lots of other things we will never see.

maybe something will be revealed at the E3... but don't expect too much...

 

[Martlet]

As a FFE vet, i'm not sure i understand the appeal of planetry landings. Sure there will be some great scenary but a lot of effort for that too (even procedural generated). The landing platforms, ports whatever will be essentially the same mechanic as current. A nice to have but way down the list.

 

[Myspace Kaitsu80]

Way how planetary flying should look? (Provided by Finnish Air Force)

http://www.iltasanomat.fi/kotimaa/art-1433554718853.html

Something like this at mountains of Norway when we get down to planets?

 

[Zenith]

Look up some videos of planes and the Mach Loop in Wales.
If you can get plane footage of it, even better.

 

[Dr Roly]

You can tell that pilot plays Elite - roll and pitch. Probably a n00b though as I'm pretty sure flight assist was on.

 

[Pete Clements]

Well i hope E3 has comments on this aspect of the game as well as the (possible) new frontier game announcement

 

[stevesideas]

I've trawled through the first few pages of the thread and imagine what i'm going to say has already been covered and i've missed it.

Just my personal view before i get flamed:

It's a Space Sim landing on Planets whilst nice should be that, there is a spaceport you have to fly down a prescribed route to, similar to docking or this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dXc2W1uWck

Aliens (US vers) on the C64 did a good example of how to work this into a game...
https://youtu.be/YKq1b9CzToE?t=215
Sequence starts at 3:45 in the video if the link doesn't work properly, entering the atmosphere and safe trajectory shouldn't be easy.


Any planet would have controls on entry and exit points in the same ways we have country border controls now, if you enter elsewhere it's illegal, which is my next point Air traffic Control. you fly the 'pipe' land but you have to stay in controlled airspace.

Weather and environment as like today; weather could impact your ability to launch, as a gameplay mechanism for all of this, for example as they haven't had the cost of transporting the produce to the outpost/ station for export, on planet prices would be lower but you have the risk of landing and then being stuck there if a serious weather/atmospheric condition hits randomly. (Risk and reward...)

Massive fuel cost for launching; you need to escape the planet's gravity well and reach escape velocity that's a long burn (And basic Physics) Every Ton you have is going to cost you dearly.

This whole Idea of Buzzing around the planet i don't like if i wanted MS Flight SIM i'd but it, also the cost of using a spaceship inside the atmosphere for plane like flight is impractical, just hire a plane planes and spaceships are completely different beasts, if you think a Cobra is going to handle like a F14 Tomcat within the atmosphere you're kidding yourself, in the same way an F14 wouldn't work in space.

Let us land but in a proscribed way, if people are desperate to wander round the planet, give them a free horse when the dock.

For me, buzzing around a complete planet visiting various landmarks, possibly mining, game hunting (as DB suggest), watching the weather change in real time, rain, atmospheric effects...sounds amazing ! Star trek managed to buzz around planets in a shuttle craft. For me the game wouldn't have to cater for such exact physics like propulsion to escape earth's gravity. This is what I'm most looking forward to in the game ! I hope they have rain effects and sound (similar to MS flight sim in actual fact). To have this and then soar above the clouds into space just sounds amazing...and to do it with the Oculus...I've just started dribbling !

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I

Aliens (US vers) on the C64 did a good example of how to work this into a game...
https://youtu.be/YKq1b9CzToE?t=215
Sequence starts at 3:45 in the video if the link doesn't work properly, entering the atmosphere and safe trajectory shouldn't be easy.

yay another aliens fan.. I loved that game back in the 8bit days, and indeed I myself have used that exact youtube video as what I would think would be a great way to base atmospheric entry in elite.

personally I think each ship should (and maybe does?) have 2 flight models.

space flight and atmospheric flight....

that way some ships may not right now stand out as brilliant space fighters but may make superb atmospheric superiority fighters.

imagine if I am in my eagle and being chased by someone in a cobra... I am outmatched in space, but if I jump to SC, and manage to get close to a planet and get into the atmosphere, maybe the tables would turn then?

indeed really bulky ships I do not think should be able to fly in normal atmosphere well at all. perhaps something like the python, all it can manage is to essentially land and take off and that is it, it has to escape gravity & atmosphere as soon as it can before its engines overheat &/or runs out of boost?. imagine the heat and energy that thing would need to fly?

maybe an anaconda cant enter the atmoshphere at all, and has to use a small dropship from its hull (again a bit like aliens)

I really hope atmospheric entry is complex, something we have to learn, where we are constantly tweaking power to engines and shield and need pinpoint ship control and reactions, and if we get it wrong we either burn up or bounce off the atmosphere.

Some people complain that too many people want easy mode if they do not like PvP (bear with me I am not going OT), where as I am not like that at all... the thing is, I have no interest in that kind of difficulty, but what really excites me is I want to feel like I am a space pilot. I want piloting my ship to be a real technical feat.

indeed ED was like that for me back in beta..... i remember the 1st time docking the conda from in my rift (this was back when you did not want to be hitting the station walls at all)... it was brilliant! I properly felt like i was captaining a massive oil tanker going into a small port.... but in space!..

I want to bring back that feeling. basically I want to be convinced I am in control of a massive space ship, with all the nobs and gadgets needing to be under my control, and if that takes a few weeks of practice to get right, even better.

if they want to add landing computers to do it for you, i am fine with that (better that than nerfing it - indeed make maunal docking harder again for me as well) but docking comptuers and landing computers should be much more inefficient, take power and lots of ship slots to give an incentive to learn properly.

just my 2p and i fully realise i am probably in a minority.
(FSX with spaceships would be perfect )

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

maybe an anaconda cant enter the atmoshphere at all, and has to use a small dropship from its hull (again a bit like aliens)

Perhaps that's the primary reason why the Anaconda can take a Sidewinder in it's "loading bay".

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Perhaps that's the primary reason why the Anaconda can take a Sidewinder in it's "loading bay".

indeed............. that could be another really cool technical skill..... getting your Anaconda into geostationary orbit, turning on a locator signal, jumping out of your seat** and into another ship.

and then on take off having to do the reverse, and having to boost out of the atmosphere towards your conda bay, threading the needle as it were.

I fully expect none of this to happen however I can live and dream .


** though I do see an issue here. IF it is your CMDR who does away missions, and he gets killed, then that means the whole respawn mechanism falls apart.
My solution here is quite simple however, in that it is a member of your crew who does an away mission (thinking star trek red coats - aka the people you knew would probably die!) (but you control him). This could give a whole RPG aspect to the game with their stats increasing with experience, and if they die, they die, and you have to find a replacement again.

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

indeed............. that could be another really cool technical skill..... getting your Anaconda into geostationary orbit, turning on a locator signal, jumping out of your seat** and into another ship.

and then on take off having to do the reverse, and having to boost out of the atmosphere towards your conda bay, threading the needle as it were.

I fully expect none of this to happen however I can live and dream .

I know, it would be really cool wouldn't it. I dunno, it's in the GDC trailer (well OK, it's an F63 not a Sidey but let's ignore that) so I'm somewhat hopeful it might happen one day in the not-too-distance future. Hmmm...perhaps this is the content that will supposedly be in the Xbox One release that will "make the PC crowd jealous" (Xbox One mag), after all that trailer was used to announce the Xbox One release and it is now used as the background on the ED website.

** though I do see an issue here. IF it is your CMDR who does away missions, and he gets killed, then that means the whole respawn mechanism falls apart.

Good point. Perhaps if you eject from the Sidey you will respawn in the Anaconda instead of the nearest station. Or perhaps this gameplay will only be possible if you have at least a two-man crew as you say.