Always a tricky one, making things convincingly alien. Weird for the sake of it doesn't always work, too Earthlike, just a few blobs and changed colours doesn't either (although there are plants on Earth with different-coloured leaves, e.g. copper beech).
What kind of syfy are you?
- Thread starter CMDR-ss47ply
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Individual countries can have quite widely varying architectures amongst them, and even more so in places that have been inhabited for quite a long time, and some of these planets have been inhabited for many centuries. I hope we see a bit of variation even on the same world (mind you the real world is going depressingly could-be-anywhere-ish with buildings).
Personally I'm not expecting this level of fidelity, but I agree it would be nice
I'm thinking more along the lines of the current station interiors/exteriors & ground base permutations in terms of variety, enough to give a bit of flavour but not so much it bogs the game progress down. A few unique assets would go down well, just as adding the CQC assets to the game did.
This is how I see cities on populated worlds looking like...not even needful to have space legs/Elite feet... tho that would be nice:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0EKdy44fE
Or Destination Void which IIRC was the original.
Brian Aldiss did some very alien worlds.
And for life aboard ships and stations as well there is CJ Cherryh, Voyager in Night and Port Eternity might fit well with Destination Void and The Jesus Incident.
Great books!
you and me both. It's "sci-fi" and there's nothing that desperate, pandering TV network can do about it!
Thank you commanders my reading list got bigger and if fdevs vision is close to all the ideas placed here the game is going to look awesome. I also learned and will reframe from using 'syfy' in the future lol fly safe o7
Yes but Multicannon!
Picking up on old ducks pretty enlightened views there, most of which I agree with, but I want to clarify my interpretation on the comparison to NMS. Essentially I don't want other procedurally generated ecosystems to look like something out of a psychedelic comic book ala NMS, nor do I want a repeat of "the great beigeificaiton" where all planets turned beige, due to FDev remodelling planets based on "realistic colourations derived from their mineral compositions". However earth is inand of it self pretty unique, in that most organic chemistry is russet (reddish) in colour, however our ecosystem flipped its composition due to the proliferation of cyanobacteria. This then made our atmosphere such that green plants were the norm for photosynthesis. However, in another planet where the gas mix in the atmosphere, or the stars wavelengths are conducive to purple grass, make it so.
So like NMS I'd like to see procedurally generated diverse ecosystems, but I'd like that procedural generation algorithm to have a credible, but somewhat loose, base in science; ie: not necessarily absolutely factual, as the Devs would need some leeway to create dramatic, alien, landscapes in future atmospheric worlds, rather than just "Earth 339,647.0", and counting... But I trust this could be done without just making them look random because, RNG, and "cartoonz are kewl"...
So like NMS I'd like to see procedurally generated diverse ecosystems, but I'd like that procedural generation algorithm to have a credible, but somewhat loose, base in science; ie: not necessarily absolutely factual, as the Devs would need some leeway to create dramatic, alien, landscapes in future atmospheric worlds, rather than just "Earth 339,647.0", and counting... But I trust this could be done without just making them look random because, RNG, and "cartoonz are kewl"...
A good starting point would be to take the insides of Coriolis/Orbis stations as a basis and go from there. Also current planetary bases would be part of the considerations.
Ok, Li Lu - you can put that weapon away now.
[HINT]Reference to the Fifth Element for those that may not get the joke.[/HINT]
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I think it depends on the world. There may be quite a range of differences even within the 'Earth-like' bracket. For example, how might things change for worlds with 0.5g? What would evolved plants and animals on such a world by like? What about those with 1.5g? How about ELWs with 6 atmospheres? You are going to need a rebreather there, and woe betide you if you get stuck out in a thunderstorm. The sound waves would blow out your ear drums.
There is also the question of terraformed worlds vs natural Earth-likes. Terraformed should be easier to live on. Natural Earth-like worlds could be lethal given you would have zero immunity to things in it's biosphere. But then you might be just a lethal to things in that biosphere for the same reasons (plus we are humans, and tend to kill everything we meet). But I expect a very healthy dose of handwavium in this regard and people will be just fine. At least we can envisage these issue... unlike the 'Martians' in War of the Worlds, who can cross space, but 'forgot' about biohazards of an alien biosphere.
As for legs, it will be Stargate and it's 101 magical temperate planets with 1g, perfect atmospheres, 1 au distance from stars etc etc...
There is also the question of terraformed worlds vs natural Earth-likes. Terraformed should be easier to live on. Natural Earth-like worlds could be lethal given you would have zero immunity to things in it's biosphere. But then you might be just a lethal to things in that biosphere for the same reasons (plus we are humans, and tend to kill everything we meet). But I expect a very healthy dose of handwavium in this regard and people will be just fine. At least we can envisage these issue... unlike the 'Martians' in War of the Worlds, who can cross space, but 'forgot' about biohazards of an alien biosphere.
As for legs, it will be Stargate and it's 101 magical temperate planets with 1g, perfect atmospheres, 1 au distance from stars etc etc...
It could be argued that anything that humans couldn't survive on with only standard levels of clothing needed for living on Earth and filters for allergens etc is insufficiently Earth-like to qualify.
Of all the places that need deckchairs.. It's Achenar 3. I for one would love a front row seat to watch the odd, very expensive ship faceplant itself to its demise.
Captain Fred Scuttle - Space Ace
(That's Benny Hill for those not in the know)
(That's Benny Hill for those not in the know)
Stargates were placed, not random, so the makers obs preferred 1g earthlikes.
Impossible to know, especially if we are using "syfy" as reference.
In general, nowadays Science Fiction focuses on the technological part of the future while leaving cultural, economic, and social aspects barely scratched or becoming something that we already know. For example, in ED we have governments that work pretty much like 21st governments: Democracies run by corporations, royal autocracies with symbolic parliaments, and union of states that together make a super-power but no one is sure how is working.
Battletech is another universe that comes to my mind, it started like a medieval feudal space opera that featured giant robots instead of knights on horses and wearing shining armor. It was interesting but nowadays the story is almost a generic sci-fi with monarchies.
This goes for the classics as well, Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" feature Martians that live in a fantasy environment and fantastic technology, but their families look a lot like a 50's American family with a male breadwinner and a female housewife. Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" has galactic empires and mind reading and manipulating mutants 20,000 years from now, but families still follow the nuclear model.
There are exceptions, like Huxley's "Brave New World" where all people are "created" and conceived to fulfill specific roles in a hierarchical caste system where everyone is happy to be on their place and is actually unable to work outside of that specific place, but that kind of "universes" are not pretty as we feel them unfamiliar and unsetting.
Now, technological advancements generally shape and it is shaped by social needs and it is allowed by economic circumstances. For example, 50 years ago, in what Hobsbawm would call "The Golden Decade of Capitalism" the greatest accomplishment of the human race in machine-technological terms was achieved, the landing on the moon. Back then, people imagined that we would have colonies on Mars by now. But 40 years of economic uncertainty and crisis have us on the stage of "We could be going back to the moon in the next 10 years... Maybe!". In 1977 smallpox was eradicated from the face of the earth and by 2020 they expected to have eliminated polio, measles and whooping cough, instead, about 800,000 kids still die of diarrhea and the Americans have to pay $275 USD for one vial of insulin. Not to talk about to the whole anti-vax, flat-earth, and climate change deniers.
So, how is going to be the world in 3305? Heck, that would need an incredible exercise of imagination, worth of writing a book about.
In general, nowadays Science Fiction focuses on the technological part of the future while leaving cultural, economic, and social aspects barely scratched or becoming something that we already know. For example, in ED we have governments that work pretty much like 21st governments: Democracies run by corporations, royal autocracies with symbolic parliaments, and union of states that together make a super-power but no one is sure how is working.
Battletech is another universe that comes to my mind, it started like a medieval feudal space opera that featured giant robots instead of knights on horses and wearing shining armor. It was interesting but nowadays the story is almost a generic sci-fi with monarchies.
This goes for the classics as well, Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" feature Martians that live in a fantasy environment and fantastic technology, but their families look a lot like a 50's American family with a male breadwinner and a female housewife. Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" has galactic empires and mind reading and manipulating mutants 20,000 years from now, but families still follow the nuclear model.
There are exceptions, like Huxley's "Brave New World" where all people are "created" and conceived to fulfill specific roles in a hierarchical caste system where everyone is happy to be on their place and is actually unable to work outside of that specific place, but that kind of "universes" are not pretty as we feel them unfamiliar and unsetting.
Now, technological advancements generally shape and it is shaped by social needs and it is allowed by economic circumstances. For example, 50 years ago, in what Hobsbawm would call "The Golden Decade of Capitalism" the greatest accomplishment of the human race in machine-technological terms was achieved, the landing on the moon. Back then, people imagined that we would have colonies on Mars by now. But 40 years of economic uncertainty and crisis have us on the stage of "We could be going back to the moon in the next 10 years... Maybe!". In 1977 smallpox was eradicated from the face of the earth and by 2020 they expected to have eliminated polio, measles and whooping cough, instead, about 800,000 kids still die of diarrhea and the Americans have to pay $275 USD for one vial of insulin. Not to talk about to the whole anti-vax, flat-earth, and climate change deniers.
So, how is going to be the world in 3305? Heck, that would need an incredible exercise of imagination, worth of writing a book about.
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That's true of great sci-fi too, like the masterpiece 2001 referenced in your avatar. The great technological advancement of the late 90s early 2000s was the ability to slowly download images of naked people over your land-line.