Underwater
- Thread starter tanman
- Start date
Since playing Subnautica I've become ever more enticed at the idea of plunging into alien water worlds in elite dangerous to see what lies beneath the depths. There's a whole game's worth of extrapolation there (as evidenced by the fact there's already a game revolving around exploring an alien ocean world) so it'd probably be the thing that requires its own dedicated expansion.
As for underwater dogfighting, I can't imagine particle weapons or projectiles would work very well (if at all), but this could be the niche that missiles and torpedoes have been longing for since they got nerfed. As it happens, explosions work very well underwater, as opposed to vacuum where they're all but useless.
As for underwater dogfighting, I can't imagine particle weapons or projectiles would work very well (if at all), but this could be the niche that missiles and torpedoes have been longing for since they got nerfed. As it happens, explosions work very well underwater, as opposed to vacuum where they're all but useless.
With others saying that as long as you have shields up you'll be okay, I have to wonder. The reason I say that is because when we lose the canopy and get into a spaceport we can breathe again, even with shields up, so low turbulence air (a fluid) can pass through them. What's to say low turbulence water (a fluid) cannot also do the same? The reason I'm qualifying this with 'low turbulence' is because our shields protect us from high energy weapons and unyielding solid barriers. A high pressure jet of gas localised enough can act like a solid (to a certain degree), just as smashing into liquid becomes more like hitting a solid wall when the impact speed is increased.
Now if our shields could be upgraded to provide supercavitation effects... that'd be cool!
Now if our shields could be upgraded to provide supercavitation effects... that'd be cool!
OK as far as I understand it space ships have vacuum to deal with not external pressures so to work in an ocean or gas planet they would have to be designed with this in mind from the outset and that's not to say they would work like a submarine , if you do any research you will know it's hard to survive at many atmospheres.
As for projectile weapons none of them would work in a liquid end of story only the fragment cannon point blank and missiles doing the torpedo.
As for projectile weapons none of them would work in a liquid end of story only the fragment cannon point blank and missiles doing the torpedo.
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Good point about water vs shields. I hadn't thought of that. It'd be interesting to hear a developer's opinion to get an idea of FD's stance.
@Lunithy, our spaceships in Elite would be perfectly capable of maintaining internal pressure underwater (up to a certain depth). It's a question of whether or not exposed components like engines would be able to function while submerged.
@Lunithy, our spaceships in Elite would be perfectly capable of maintaining internal pressure underwater (up to a certain depth). It's a question of whether or not exposed components like engines would be able to function while submerged.
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a high pressure jet of gas... hmmm... like on Jupiter...
#dogfightsingasgiants
Yeah I figure the shields only kick in to stop high energy impacts from kinetic and laser weapons. Your landing gear can still touch the floor when you dock, so they can't be a completely impermeable bubble. Also if your shields were a bubble of air or vacuum and your ship isn't making any contact with the water, you'd probably sink or float helplessly.
I imagine you'd need to completely retrofit a ship that's not outright designed for underwater operations. Skintight, waterproof shields to protect the hull from impacts or high pressure, replacing the thrusters with an impeller system, buoyancy and ballast control systems, underwater weapons, underwater sensor and navigation equipment, running lights, the works. This is another way to tie it in as an expansion to planetary landings. Land at a spaceport that's also a shoreside naval dock and if you have the DLC you can fit your ship with submarine equipment and launch from there.
Going deep on water worlds that don't have a platform for you to reconfigure your ship would be the domain of specialised exploration craft, like the Moray Starboat which would presumably come equipped for space, air and sea travel.
Yeah that got me thinking more about gas giants and corrosive effects on the hull sensors ect.
I really like this take on it, but I think anyone should be able to "hide" just a bit under the surface. Possibly require shields to be shut down, hardpoints retracted etc. to prevent flooding of internals, and if you go below a certain depth, pressure valves in the engines are overwhelmed by water pressure resulting in a loss of thrust, sinking, and destruction. That would make the need for a refit readily apparent.
I also wonder - many ships in Elite appear to be designed for atmospheric flight, but many others appear not to be. I assume those ships would be capable of limited maneuvering in atmo (using their thrusters), but how many would be effectively treated to counter rust/corrosion from exposure? Maybe all of them, considering station atmosphere. Forgot about that.
It'd be neat to see Anacondas with rust on the hull showing through the paint. More variety...
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Question is, how much pressure can our ship take.
[video=youtube;O4RLOo6bchU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4RLOo6bchU[/video]
[video=youtube;O4RLOo6bchU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4RLOo6bchU[/video]
Gah i quickly scrolled down to find the vid but did not read anything. seems like the first 2 post beat me to it ><
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My thoughts exactly. Sure, you can plunge your ship underwater for a time to evade enemy sensors, but if you want to actually go deeper than 100 metres (on your average Earthlike) you're going to need more specialised equipment. The ships in elite are very rugged and versatile, but they're also heavily specialised, and some would be able to go deeper than others before requiring modifications. An Eagle is compact and durable, it should be able to swim a lot deeper than an Anaconda, but if that Anaconda gets dedicated pressure shielding and underwater thrusters you'd best find somewhere else to hide, or get very very good at staying very very quiet.
I'd love to hear what Frontier's audio team make of an underwater soundscape though. One thing about subnautica that impressed me was how noisy the alien ocean is. Sound travels further in water than air so you can hear the calls of native lifeforms from miles away, over the creaks and groans of your hull plating.
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The soundscapes would no doubt be incredible. Audio is something Elite definitely has down pat. Imagine the visuals! Coming out of the ocean would look awesome from first and third person alike with water rolling off your canopy glass and spraying out of your thrusters. And I'm sure they'd be able to pull something interesting off with refraction.
Imagine water starting to seep through a slowly cracking canopy as you sink too deep. The only light at depth comes from the flashing pressure warnings.
I want this now. I probably shouldn't let myself get this excited.
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