The Planetary landing and planetside missions discussion Thread

There's going to be something called Orbital Cruise which they described as being like supercruise but around the planets instead of in space, so I suspect you'll drop out of supercruise into orbital cruise (really hope they find a better name), the question for me is how orbital cruise will interact with other ships and bases, hopefully they can make it seamless at those points, but I'm currently sceptical as it sounds like the orbital cruise will be faster than normal flying speeds.

Orbital cruise sounds like a slower version of supercruise but it essentially could be the same mechanic but slower and at the press of a planet land button.

Oh and i always think hyper-insertion is a better name.
 
You're contradicting yourself.

Entering and exiting supercruise IS a loadscreen right now, it isn't seamless at all it takes about 3-8 seconds to enter an instance or leave one. If it was seamless there would be no loading time, it would be instantaneous which it isn't.

So my curiosity stands and how they will make it "seamless" for appraching planets.

Yes, there is a loading screen between SC <-> normal space *but* you can fly seamlessly from one station to another (try this between the two close stations around earth) in normal space, and if you are in open you'll find players at both.

Now I'm not sure if that means that you can leave and enter instances seamlessly, or if it's simply players leaving and entering your instance during your travel between two spots in normal space.

As I understand it, the "loading screen" will be between SC and Orbital Cruise when approaching the planet, and the entry/landing will be seamless from there. (I assume that max speed in Orbital Cruise is higher than the actual max speed in normal space and lower than min speed in SC)
 
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The loading screen might come from the transition from ship to Scarab though. Just saying. Not that it would bug me but it might be how they are doing it.
 
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Yes, there is a loading screen between SC <-> normal space *but* you can fly seamlessly from one station to another (try this between the two close stations around earth) in normal space, and if you are in open you'll find players at both.

Now I'm not sure if that means that you can leave and enter instances seamlessly, or if it's simply players leaving and entering your instance during your travel between two spots in normal space.

As I understand it, the "loading screen" will be between SC and Orbital Cruise when approaching the planet, and the entry/landing will be seamless from there. (I assume that max speed in Orbital Cruise is higher than the actual max speed in normal space and lower than min speed in SC)

Lets hope.

Either way if FD show actual landing gameplay tomorrow then we'll know the real answer.
 
Never doubted

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Why are you posting this here? Elite did this two decades ago already. You have to tell the SC guys, they don't know such a thing is possible ;)

SC = Cutscenes in space fps shooter
 
If you can enter an SRV, then how will this happen seamlessly if there isn't walking around ships? So one could assume that there will be a loading screen for this interaction until the walking around ships expansion is bolted on. ... Or did I miss something? :)

PS: And what about underwater exploration? That would be awesome too. ;)

Oh boy did you miss something. Not sure what an SRV is other than Stevie Ray Vaughan. I had figured Frontier was going the console arcade route after the non-existent seamless galaxy, and the USS only mission structure, but they are still claiming seamless planet landings.

Not sure what walking around has to do with planet landings. There was no walking around in Elite Frontier, but there was an actual seamless part of a galaxy.
 
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I'm sure you'll have to fly in at a certain vector to prevent damage, kind of like a interdiction minigame while the loading screen does its job in the background.
 
I would guess that it will be "seamless" in the same way that dropping out of super cruise is"seamless".

Kinda, but not really
 
Why are you posting this here? Elite did this two decades ago already. You have to tell the SC guys, they don't know such a thing is possible ;)

Who is going to tell them that their game is outdated even before it is released? :)

I would guess that it will be "seamless" in the same way that dropping out of super cruise is"seamless".

Kinda, but not really

By the way Braben mentioned something like orbital/planetary supercruise in the Gamescon vid?
So I guess you go from normal supercruise into orbital supercruise before being able to land.
EDIT: I see it was already mentioned in the thread :)
 
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Maybe you will drop out of supercruise into the planets or moons orbit, then the flight towards the planets/moons surface will be seamless.
 
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Planetary landings - yay!

What an exciting statement! I read it while exploring and nearly flew into a sun in the process - completely forgot about throttling down after jumping to a new system.

So we will get to dive into the gravity wells and set down on the least complicated ones - the atmosphere-less balls. Good news indeed, and the expansion I was hoping for. That, in my opinion, is the part of the core gameplay that has been missing to get this on par with the Frontier series of games. Were thargoids to show up instead, we would be on par with the original Elite. But that might not require a full expansion to pull off. Interaction with the surfaces of the planets will make the gameplay seem less shallow.

Seamless landings? Great idea, but how will that fit in the current supercruise/normal space flight model separation? I'd imagine we would not be able to supercruise straight to the surface, it would violate the model of warping space as a means of propulsion. We would be too close to the point of gravity. Rather I thought we would get a new type of instance when dropping out of supercruise near a planet, one that would interact with the gravity well itself and allow us to land.

Stuff to do at the surface? Great! The photo ops would be endless, but other stuff to do is great as well. Will it mean more detailed information from the Detailed Surface Scanners (points of interest highlighted on the HUD display of the planet, perhaps)? Will it mean a Mass Effect mini-game racing round looking for stuff on a myriad of planets that all somehow appear the same?

Somehow I get the feeling we will have to learn to cope with different types of surfaces, with different gravitational pulls (racing round is fine, but don't accidentally put the Scarab back in orbit!). And will the physical environments be transformable? Will we be able to leave tracks, craters? Probably not for others to see (although crashing a Sidie at 30 km/s might realistically leave a permanent scar), as keeping track of all that havoc and the probable concerted efforts of some to turn such aspect into another Minecraft game will either require heavy policing by FD or an in-game agency to avoid it getting silly.

In any case, exciting stuff. Now where is the beta <cracks knuckles>

:D S
 
According to the twitch stream, there is going to be some sort of ''Orbit Cruise''.

I imagine there will be some way to find points of interest from orbit, using the scanner. The environments themselves are limitless though (well, only as large as the planet, of course).
 
Yup a transition, like the one from normal space to sc. or even the one from system to system (hyperspace jump). They are really stretching the seamless meaning here, but hey I'm not worried about the transitions. If it says 'orbital drive charging' and gives me the exact same countdown, I couldn't care less. Just make sure it is all tested first and don't rush out a bug ridden heap like haS been done with every other aspect of this game.
 
This is the expansion I was really hoping they were going to announce at Gamescom. Really happy they have!

Even if it's just rocky worlds at first, the things you can do on them (aside from just flying around admiring the view) are really interesting. I like the idea of discovering crashed ships. Mining. Maybe finding a resource that is desperately needed in another system, and taking it back (could maybe tie in with PP).

The other thing that I really liked from the trailer was the slightly foreboding atmosphere of it all. There's something very unsettling about landing on a desolate, distant dark world, knowing that you are probably the first person to ever have been there. Maybe on the edge of some dark crater or canyon, shutting down the ship's engines and then going out to see what's down there. Spooky-wooky!
 
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This is the expansion I was really hoping they were going to announce at Gamescom. Really happy they have!

Even if it's just rocky worlds at first, the things you can do on them (aside from just flying around admiring the view) are really interesting. I like the idea of discovering crashed ships. Mining. Maybe finding a resource that is desperately needed in another system, and taking it back (could maybe tie in with PP).

The other thing that I really liked from the trailer was the slightly foreboding atmosphere of it all. There's something very unsettling about landing on a desolate, distant dark world, knowing that you are probably the first person to ever have been there. Maybe on the edge of some dark crater or canyon, shutting down the ship's engines and then going out to see what's down there. Spooky-wooky!

Yes, the atmosphere-less world should be stark and desolate, and probably dusty. This will also be where the simulation gets truly complicated. I might be keeping a keener eye than usual since I'm a geologist in RL and work with prospecting and mining.

What kind of mining modules will we need? The same type as in Frontier/FFE that we left to do its work when we had found a good spot, to come back to later?

:D S

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According to the twitch stream, there is going to be some sort of ''Orbit Cruise''.

That might work. Otherwise it would take a long time to get down to the surface, at the current rate of travel near planets. And people seem impatient with SuperCruise as it is...

:D S
 
Yep, totally agree with you Sysmon - exciting stuff indeed! Can't wait to see how this pans out. It's going to be brilliant!
 

Deleted member 94277

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Players will explore new worlds, coasting over mountaintops, diving into canyons, landing on the surface and rolling out onto the surface in your SRV, all without loading times or breaks in gameplay.


Is this a question?

EDIT: Wrong quote, fixed.
 
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Planetary Landings - impact on exploration?

In the stream Mr Braben said that planetary landings can happen all over the galaxy (except in areas where there may be a permit required ... HMMM).

I wonder what that means for example if you land out in unexplored space ... will there be things to "discover" on the planet or moon and will there be an exploration payout and rank bonus?
 
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