Planned Asteroid belt immersion

[nightrune]

I know its not likely we'll get more asteroids (I can always hope) but one cool trick for later on might be to have a client side particle system or shader system that had small micro meteorites hitting the shield or taking up more of the view port while in an asteroid belt.

 

[kiddan]

This would be a neat little addition! Not only would it help with immersion but you would also know when you're in a belt (so good for spatial recognition), maybe there could be some strategic use (wrecking non-shielded ships quickly or something? A player could fly into an asteroid belt area to hinder enemy warheads), and there could be a different look to the particles/micro-'roids depending on how close to the sun a belt is.

I feel it wouldn't be a waste of time to develop, it would be nice to have space look a little nicer and spice up the scenery when exploring.

 

[Captainredfox]

I totally agree with this, maybe even another dusty layer added to the skybox. (spacebox?) I don't know if hitting the shield and making it glow would be too great, though.

 

[nightrune]

I totally agree with this, maybe even another dusty layer added to the skybox. (spacebox?) I don't know if hitting the shield and making it glow would be too great, though.

Just every so often is what I imagined. Give a little bit more of a feeling of danger as particles bounce away dissipate.

 

[Madman198237]

Yeah, neat. Micrometeorites are one of NASA's nightmares about a mission to Mars. One puncture, and the crew dies, or the mission ends, etc.


So yes, unshielded vessels WITH NO ARMOR should be capable of suffering damage, RANDOMLY, in an asteroid field/belt.
Also, present asteroid densities are unrealistically huge. Although, given that this is a game where the sun is smaller than the Death Star and a planet is smaller than some spaceships, it's not entirely unrealistic.

 

[HolyCookie]

They should be actual random things that do a good amount of damage but they shouldn't occur very often. Also, maybe something about small ships not being hit or the bigger the dimensions of a ship the more often meteorites hit. Don't forget about the first day in the game where you mine asteroids, don't want to be wrecked with pretty much all you have.

 

[Blodge]

Also, maybe something about small ships not being hit or the bigger the dimensions of a ship the more often meteorites hit.

Agreed.

 

[Madman198237]

That's not a micrometeorite. That's also not a very good image of what would happen........unless Star Destroyers use reactive shields (Reactive armor explodes when hit, dissipating the force from the projectile away from the vehicle as much as possible) in case of Rebel rammers.

 

[kiraen]

do a good amount of damage

I disagree. The damage should be minimal.

The basic 220 shielding should be able to protect a ship from this. Which means a single recharger or a friend with a supply beam. Mind you, multiple hits with out a recharge should be still be a problem

Also, advanced armor should practically negate most of the damage.

 

[kiddan]

We must remember, though, asteroids don't only spawn inside the belts in-game. A player still in the early stages of survival can still get enough materials to make shielding and all that without going into a belt. A higher amount of damage, then, wouldn't be too bad. Players could build bases inside belts to maybe get more protection from unshielded enemies (like warheads) but in return would need a bit more power to manage those shields for harder mini-'roid impacts.

 

[HolyCookie]

I disagree. The damage should be minimal.

The basic 220 shielding should be able to protect a ship from this. Which means a single recharger or a friend with a supply beam. Mind you, multiple hits with out a recharge should be still be a problem

Also, advanced armor should practically negate most of the damage.

If you make it that small the damage would be neglectable thus there would be no addition to having meteorites hitting you. If this becomes a thing there should be a formula that takes the size of ships to calculate how common and how big meteorites will be. The bigger your ship the more likely a meteorite will hit it and the harder it would be to dodge gigantic ones, thus resulting in more common and more damaging strikes.
Smaller ships have less chance of being hit and are able to dodge gigantic meteorites, so meteorites are less common and do less damage.

Of course, it shouldn't be like sun damage as that is just crazy, meteorites should create craters much like missiles do. If you want to take advantage of terrain then you first need a terrain that gives advantages, say you are are going to ambush a titan by leading it into an asteroid belt where 4 comrades are waiting for you. The terrain then has more disadvantages for the titan than for you guys (assuming you have smaller ships) but most likely in this scenario you would still lose :P

 

[sayerulz]

That's not a micrometeorite. That's also not a very good image of what would happen........unless Star Destroyers use reactive shields (Reactive armor explodes when hit, dissipating the force from the projectile away from the vehicle as much as possible) in case of Rebel rammers.

Probably the asteroid was vaporized when it hit the star destroyers particle shields, and fragments of it were what actually hit it.

 

[BJammin]

unless Star Destroyers use reactive shields .... in case of Rebel rammers.

If so, it definitely worked out rather well for them... lol

 

[Madman198237]

Yeah. Everyone on that bridge is dead. Not necessarily because of the explosion, the crew pit would've been some protection (Happened before that Imps survive bridge decompression/explosions from running to the turbolifts at the back of the crew pits) but the decompression would've almost certainly killed all the surprised fools, because the atmosphere is going to be gone within milliseconds.


Also, HAHAHA, NOOBS!
I enjoy Star Wars

 

[HolyCookie]

Yeah. Everyone on that bridge is dead. Not necessarily because of the explosion, the crew pit would've been some protection (Happened before that Imps survive bridge decompression/explosions from running to the turbolifts at the back of the crew pits) but the decompression would've almost certainly killed all the surprised fools, because the atmosphere is going to be gone within milliseconds.


Also, HAHAHA, NOOBS!
I enjoy Star Wars

And if somehow they survive that they still need air :P

 

[Madman198237]

Actually, if the shrapnel doesn't get them, the blast wave probably won't, because the atmosphere is thinning out so fast that there's nothing to transmit the blast. However, I mentioned that as soon as the air's gone everyone within starts suffering from decompression issues. Including, but not limited to, instant freezing, burning, and exploding of internal organs and the circulatory system.

Have fun!

 

[kiddan]

Actually, if the shrapnel doesn't get them, the blast wave probably won't, because the atmosphere is thinning out so fast that there's nothing to transmit the blast. However, I mentioned that as soon as the air's gone everyone within starts suffering from decompression issues. Including, but not limited to, instant freezing, burning, and exploding of internal organs and the circulatory system.

Have fun!

Yet Starmade's Dave floats around with his helmet off and can sit on top of his ship while leaving the atmosphere... Dang, he's got superpowers!

 

[Madman198237]

He must be Superman's alter ego's alter ego.

That or Dave hasn't read Breathing for Dummies yet.

 

[Criss]

I am personally going to mark this as planned, even if not consulting with other team members (Duke don't fire me plz). Why? Because it makes sense, won't impact server performance, and also makes sense. If we can't have full-er asteroid fields then we should simulate them better. Particles are something we have discussed recently, but we have a few things that need taking care of before someone can get around to looking at them. EVE utilized asteroid particles to great effect about a year ago. I imagine we can do the same.

 

[calani]

There are several non-trivial portions that make implementing this more difficult.
Still, I would like to see this implemented in some fashion as it would definitely improve the sense of immersion. (and it could be so pretty)

I'm not going to mark it as planned, but I'll definitely say it's a good idea.