The Planetary landing and planetside missions discussion Thread

No, we'll be landing on airless moons and planets. Having an atmosphere is not a requirement to enter the definition of a planet, and it's entirely possible for a higher gravity rocky world to be without an atmosphere for whatever reason, be it a lack of magnetic field, presence of a high gravity neighbor that "stole" the atmo (both apply to Mars, btw), or something else.

Whatever the case, lack of atmo does not necessarily equal low gravity so the op's question is valid.
 
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?

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net...si-moon.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140510024803
"I thought my ego was stronger than gravity. Guess I was wrong..."


I would imagine that people would not populate planets with gravity mucg greater than what we enjoy today - and we fly out and back .....
 
My solution to this would be for FD to state in the system map what the planets gravity coefficient is in relation to Earth (i.e. "G"s).
Then, ship vertical thrust would have to be rated in Gs for a given set of thrusters.
Problem solved. Also, maybe a towing limpet so a fuel rat could potentially pull you out of a sticky spot with a towing ship build (small ship, big thrusters).
 
I would imagine that people would not populate planets with gravity mucg greater than what we enjoy today - and we fly out and back .....

What about explorers? Players won't just be landing on populated worlds. We'll be taking our SRV's for a ride on previously unexplored worlds, too.. I think this can add another layer of complexity, you having to be aware of your ship's thrust to weight ratio, and knowing which worlds you can land on and which have too strong gravity for your ships. Much like having to make sure your route has enough scoopables in it to not run out of fuel. This would add another factor to the equation of what makes a good explorer ship, other than jump range, scooping capability and heat management. Could add some variety to exploration fleets.. someone may argue that their FDS doesn't have a great range, but it can take off from almost any planet - that sort of thing.
 
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My solution to this would be for FD to state in the system map what the planets gravity coefficient is in relation to Earth (i.e. "G"s).
Then, ship vertical thrust would have to be rated in Gs for a given set of thrusters.
Problem solved. Also, maybe a towing limpet so a fuel rat could potentially pull you out of a sticky spot with a towing ship build (small ship, big thrusters).

Planets have mass listed, but you have to scan them first

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I would imagine that people would not populate planets with gravity mucg greater than what we enjoy today - and we fly out and back .....

Doesnt have to be populated for people to try landing on it....
 
Large planets can actually have smaller gravity than Earth. Gravity reduces with the square of the distance from the center. Hence a planet with twice the mass and twice the radius of Earth would have only 1/2 the surface gravity of Earth.

What you should worry about is not the size or the mass, but the density. A planet with the same mass as Earth but 1/2 the radius would have 4 times the surface gravity! But I wouldn't worry about it too much. FD is unlikely to strand players on planets since gameplay trumps physics every time.
 
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?

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net...si-moon.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140510024803
"I thought my ego was stronger than gravity. Guess I was wrong..."

I hope devs add stuff like that to the game, like u will have to have extra upgrades to takeoff. and be more careful when landing.

And i hope that there will be no safeguards, there should be consequences for what u do without thought after all.
 
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A human can survive 4g max for a prolonged period of time. If a planet's gravity is too high for our ships to take off, we will probably be crushed to death anyway. At 2-3 g it will already be almost impossible to get out of our seats to enter our SRVs.
 
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They should add a red warning if escape velocity required is stronger than what your ship can provide.

It should also take into account your fuel and cargo mass... because the ship might be powerful enough to go into orbit... once empty...
themartian-2-640x330.jpg

"The fuel rats say their agent should be there in four year... Time to grow plants... I only have these weird onions... Wonder if they taste good..."

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A human can survive 4g max for a prolonged period of time. If a planet's gravity is too high for our ships to take off, we will probably be crushed to death anyway. At 2-3 g it will already be almost impossible to get out of our seats to enter our SRVs.

Elite Dangerous : New Horizons with Exo Skeletons. That would rock.
 
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If free flight is impossible on those planets for technical reasons, you'd have to request landing permission from space, and then follow a landing vector, and would be shot down for violating airspace if you strayed too far from the designated path.

nice solution to the impossibility of creating fully populated planets. I don't think this would break the immersion.
 
What about explorers? Players won't just be landing on populated worlds. We'll be taking our SRV's for a ride on previously unexplored worlds, too.. I think this can add another layer of complexity, you having to be aware of your ship's thrust to weight ratio, and knowing which worlds you can land on and which have too strong gravity for your ships. Much like having to make sure your route has enough scoopables in it to not run out of fuel. This would add another factor to the equation of what makes a good explorer ship, other than jump range, scooping capability and heat management. Could add some variety to exploration fleets.. someone may argue that their FDS doesn't have a great range, but it can take off from almost any planet - that sort of thing.


yes, you make a good point......
 
Any idea if planetary landings will require buying add-ons?

With the coming Horizons add-on I'm quite looking forward to being able to drop down onto planets and explore some alien worlds.

But, will I need to buy some add-ons for my ship before I can do that? Right now I'm exploring near the rim and out along one of the arms, and I'm along way from a supply base. I'm not really keen on having to head back to buy stuff to head back out again so I can land on planets so far out.

Has FD said anything on if we're going to need to kit our ships out for planetary landings?
 
Yes, they've said there will be modules required for that.
Definitely one for the SRV, and I'm almost positive they said so as well for planetary landing capability.
 
As far as i understand the Buggy at the very least will take up module space so you might be heading back to civilization.............
 
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