They are very impressive but without some kind of instanced transistion how will we keep the people who down have Horizons out?
The Planetary landing and planetside missions discussion Thread
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Hmmm having just played with Outerra they have a long way to go. Doing a straight fly in from space results in awful blobs that end up taking an ages to pop into being close in graphics. Once there the generation down to grass level is lovely but its that transition from space that needs to be better. Going up into space is much better of course as you are taking detail away and that looks superb. If FD can do this and make it playable then I am very excited to see the future of ED.
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As the caves might be very narrow for your SRV, it would be fun to fly through them by launching a small drone from your SRV and remote piloting it. 
I was really psyched for planetary landings but Horizons has really disappointed me even before I have seen it, I know, I know but bear with me.
All the things that excite me about landing upon and exploring alien worlds is conspicuously absent from Horizons and yet they want to charge the same a same full priced game and just to confirm this is a money grab even though I paid for Beta access £50 I now find that if I want Beta to the expansions I have to pay on top of even a full priced expansion all over again - ain't going to happen.
We won't get planets with atmospheres and alien weather, no clouds, no rains, no storms to fly through or alien wind storms to escape from on the surface by racing to a nearby cave (no caves). No rivers to forge, no waterfalls, no lakes, no seas to cross or submerge into or explore or sunsets to reflect upon (no sunsets).
No life, no grass, no trees, no animals, no aliens.
No geology, no volcanoes, no earthquakes, no natural dangers.
But we will get rocks!
Yes we can land on one barren planet with rocks or another barren planet with rocks which begs the question how much diversity will there be on the surfaces and if the only gameplay elements that are not engine driven or unique such as bases and enemy NPC's then what are we really paying for?
I can drive any manner of vehicle in any kind of environment already just by using the free assets of Unity - it does not a game make.
If FD prove me wrong and Horizons gives us great content and variety despite all the missing elements (I mean dollar signs in FD's eyes) I will be the first to admit and I will buy it and enjoy it.
No chance of me pre-ordering or buying a lifetime pass though or even paying for the "privilege" of beta testing and finding bugs for them or making suggestions that would improve things for little overhead that just go ignored and instead we get half baked ideas like power play and community goals - smoke and mirrors to disguise the fact we never got the persistent but dynamic universe we were promised.
All the things that excite me about landing upon and exploring alien worlds is conspicuously absent from Horizons and yet they want to charge the same a same full priced game and just to confirm this is a money grab even though I paid for Beta access £50 I now find that if I want Beta to the expansions I have to pay on top of even a full priced expansion all over again - ain't going to happen.
We won't get planets with atmospheres and alien weather, no clouds, no rains, no storms to fly through or alien wind storms to escape from on the surface by racing to a nearby cave (no caves). No rivers to forge, no waterfalls, no lakes, no seas to cross or submerge into or explore or sunsets to reflect upon (no sunsets).
No life, no grass, no trees, no animals, no aliens.
No geology, no volcanoes, no earthquakes, no natural dangers.
But we will get rocks!
Yes we can land on one barren planet with rocks or another barren planet with rocks which begs the question how much diversity will there be on the surfaces and if the only gameplay elements that are not engine driven or unique such as bases and enemy NPC's then what are we really paying for?
I can drive any manner of vehicle in any kind of environment already just by using the free assets of Unity - it does not a game make.
If FD prove me wrong and Horizons gives us great content and variety despite all the missing elements (I mean dollar signs in FD's eyes) I will be the first to admit and I will buy it and enjoy it.
No chance of me pre-ordering or buying a lifetime pass though or even paying for the "privilege" of beta testing and finding bugs for them or making suggestions that would improve things for little overhead that just go ignored and instead we get half baked ideas like power play and community goals - smoke and mirrors to disguise the fact we never got the persistent but dynamic universe we were promised.
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Maybe I missed something, but can you quote where it is stated we will never get those items you list? My understand, which I can quote a link to, is that Horizons purchase is a season of expansions. Not a single expansion. The first one will include non atmosphere planet landing, then later expansions within the Horizon's season, will include such features.
Like I said, maybe I am missing something. Links?
Javert
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Not quite. I think they confirmed on this forum that there will be no other planet types to land on during Season 2 - earth like worlds and worlds with life and so on will be in later seasons.
If that is the case, then my question is what else will be released with the Horizon's Season pass besides gas less planetary landings?
You might want to read this:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=172362
I think things are looking pretty well.
Good read! Thanks!
Whatever this is, and if included in Horizon's season, is a big question...
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Well can't quote it but I remember over a year ago during a video interview with Chris Hanley DB stated it would probably be necessary to do the Planet Landings in phases -(plural). During this interview he mentioned the first phase would have rocky bodies and moons; DB went on to explain the need to spend more time and tech to bring seamless landings in atmospheres as well as the generation of fauna and flora. This information from DB, although not continuously updated, has been around for some time.
If I remember correctly he gave the distinct impression that it was something within the Horizons release.
To be fair quite a large amount of the universe's planets are almost certainly rocky and featureless (from a life, atmosphere, water, liquid) anyway. Its not like its going to be any different if were able to do this in reality.
Planets with active volcanism and planets where some sort of liquid exists (but probably not water) will almost certainly be next pon the list and not that far behind. So personally I am not worried.
Space is mostly made up of lifeless rocks with a smattering of 'interesting' worlds, thats the reality of the universe we live in.
Yeah, i see that in the read that was linked to me.
It's not really that disappointing to me though.
Nothing is, after going through the Offline Mode debacle. Nothing has even paled in comparison with regards to elite. It took some time, but that wound has "healed" and I get what enjoyment I can out of the title. FD is actually doing a great job, compared to many of the other game developers out there. So I continue to support them.
I think there is a bright future with Elite Dangerous. Just gonna take some time.
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Strangely I don't particularly care if there's blobs or not in transition, as long as when you get to the surface there's actually something logical and interesting to do. My fear would be beautiful graphics and effects but on arrival localised, meaningless, self contained mini-game mechanics with no real depth...
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I agree. The blobs as currently on Outerra are unplayable as a game though. The transition from nothing but massive blobs to detailed terrain took a good 20 to 30 seconds by which time I had flown right into the ground. My pc isn't something pixar would use but it isn't a slouch by any stretch of the imagination. It just couldnt load in the more detailed terrain map fast enough. When it did load though the decent from say 50k feet to ground level worked very well and I can see a bright future if FD can do it justice with their engine. As you say though there has to be content at the end of that lovely decent or else it will be a very short term buzz.
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Answer to your concern: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51107&page=182&p=2688193#post2688193
In the entire galaxy of course. Though I guess you'll find most planets "out there" not as populated as the ones in the, well, populated area of space.
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Planetary landing : gravity limits?
It occured to me that landing on some planet can be problematic on big planets with large gravity.
In the sense that if your ship barely managed to soften the landing, it might not have enough thrust to lift off afterward...
So I wonder if there will be some kind of safeguards in the ships that will avoid that kind of sticky scenario?
"I thought my ego was stronger than gravity. Guess I was wrong..."
It occured to me that landing on some planet can be problematic on big planets with large gravity.
In the sense that if your ship barely managed to soften the landing, it might not have enough thrust to lift off afterward...
So I wonder if there will be some kind of safeguards in the ships that will avoid that kind of sticky scenario?
"I thought my ego was stronger than gravity. Guess I was wrong..."
