Planned Better Solar Systems (More Cool Stuff!)

[Woodz Gaming]

The Problem:
The current configuration for the solar systems in Starmade is good, but redundant and uninteresting. Players spend more time building ships to fight and conquer the galaxy than to research and explore it. Who can blame them? There really isn't anything else to do. The universe is repetitive and predictable. More variation in the universe can encourage players to explore, research, and investigate the galaxy rather than only conquer it.

The Solution:
Add new objects and life to the universe to make things unique and interesting!

• Moons: Giving planets moons will draw more attention to them. A player might know what the type of planet is like, but whats on the moons? These objects would be much smaller than the planets they orbit but larger than asteroids. They would also have gravity!
• Comets: These would have to be entities with physics similar to that of stars because of potential collision with players's ships, but they would fly through the galaxy.
• Nebulas: These would be the size of solar systems and would be void of planets, but full of asteroids.(Perhaps they would be the creators of new stars...)
• Super Novas!!: Stars that, a certain length of time after being born from nebulas, die. The stars would slowly grow larger and darker until it explodes. (To give players time to leave). It would have to take a very long time for stars to supernova from the start of a world or server so that settlers of a system don't get vaporized right after they build their base.
• Rings: To help make planets less boring, add wrings to a rare amount of them. The rings would have to be a texture that could be flown through, and nothing more, to avoid server lag from ship collisions.
• Gas Giants: Planets that could be flown through since theoretically they would consist of only gas. Gravity would be questionable because it would be unnecessary to have a solid core.

Are there any other features that could make the universe more interesting? Let me know what you think or anything that I might have missed

 

[Mariux]

The Problem:
The current configuration for the solar systems in Starmade is good, but redundant and uninteresting. Players spend more time building ships to fight and conquer the galaxy than to research and explore it. Who can blame them? There really isn't anything else to do. The universe is repetitive and predictable. More variation in the universe can encourage players to explore, research, and investigate the galaxy rather than only conquer it.

The Solution:
Add new objects and life to the universe to make things unique and interesting!

• Moons: Giving planets moons will draw more attention to them. A player might know what the type of planet is like, but whats on the moons? These objects would be much smaller than the planets they orbit but larger than asteroids. They would also have gravity!
• Comets: These would have to be entities with physics similar to that of stars because of potential collision with players's ships, but they would fly through the galaxy.
• Nebulas: These would be the size of solar systems and would be void of planets, but full of asteroids.(Perhaps they would be the creators of new stars...)
• Super Novas!!: Stars that, a certain length of time after being born from nebulas, die. The stars would slowly grow larger and darker until it explodes. (To give players time to leave). It would have to take a very long time for stars to supernova from the start of a world or server so that settlers of a system don't get vaporized right after they build their base.
• Rings: To help make planets less boring, add wrings to a rare amount of them. The rings would have to be a texture that could be flown through, and nothing more, to avoid server lag from ship collisions.
• Gas Giants: Planets that could be flown through since theoretically they would consist of only gas. Gravity would be questionable because it would be unnecessary to have a solid core.

Are there any other features that could make the universe more interesting? Let me know what you think or anything that I might have missed

Most of these has been suggested already, but it's the first time someone suggests dynamic star life cycles... Maybe if the base is far enough from the star (but still within its system) it's safe from it going supernova?

 

[AtraUnam]

I'm a little unsure about the ease of which someone could fly through a gas giant, All of the ones we know about IRL have liquid or even solid cores.

 

[Pacific_Jim]

Currently moons would seem a bit redundant, since planets are already pretty small. These are really good ideas though, something I would like though is something to do with planets beyond strip mining them.

 

[Woodz Gaming]

Most of these has been suggested already, but it's the first time someone suggests dynamic star life cycles... Maybe if the base is far enough from the star (but still within its system) it's safe from it going supernova?

I kind of thought that most of them have been mentioned before, but I just wanted to have them all in one place lol.
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Most of these has been suggested already, but it's the first time someone suggests dynamic star life cycles... Maybe if the base is far enough from the star (but still within its system) it's safe from it going supernova?

Yeah! I was thinking that it should be something to avoid, but not something to be seen as a dooms day scenario.

 

[Winterhome]

I'm a little unsure about the ease of which someone could fly through a gas giant, All of the ones we know about IRL have liquid or even solid cores.

I propose an alternate solution to gas giants - a set gravity distance above the non-block core, and an inverted gravity "bouyancy zone" under the set distance, with a "normal zone" between. The result is that ships sink in, hit the normal zone where the planet repulses the ship itself, and float there, while astronauts experience gravity. Astronauts experience an out-of-ship kill zone far higher than the "normal zone", so that any astronaut not aligned to or in the gravity of a ship rapidly loses HP and dies from the atmospheric pressure and temperature.

A gas planet core exists far inside the planet interior and may or may not be invulnerable and solid.

 

[Woodz Gaming]

I propose an alternate solution to gas giants - a set gravity distance above the non-block core, and an inverted gravity "bouyancy zone" under the set distance, with a "normal zone" between. The result is that ships sink in, hit the normal zone where the planet repulses the ship itself, and float there, while astronauts experience gravity. Astronauts experience an out-of-ship kill zone far higher than the "normal zone", so that any astronaut not aligned to or in the gravity of a ship rapidly loses HP and dies from the atmospheric pressure and temperature.

A gas planet core exists far inside the planet interior and may or may not be invulnerable and solid.

That sounds great! Its probably the only possible way for it to work. There would need to be some way to determine where one zone ends and one begins. Perhaps the gas could grow darker and there would be a loss of vision the closer you get to the core and the "kill zone". Something so that players know not to venture closer.

 

[Winterhome]

That sounds great! Its probably the only possible way for it to work. There would need to be some way to determine where one zone ends and one begins. Perhaps the gas could grow darker and there would be a loss of vision the closer you get to the core and the "kill zone". Something so that players know not to venture closer.

Bright fluffy clouds for the astronaut safe area, with the fog becoming thicker as you go in. As a rule, if you can't see several meters ahead of you, it's not safe to jump out of your ship.

Meanwhile, enterprising players with utility ships could theoretically pull wreckages out of gas giants with tractor beams.

I suggest that anything caught in the gravity of a gas giant, however, not have a visible nav marker on the HUD - just on the navigation screen. You know it's there, just not where.

 

[Woodz Gaming]

Bright fluffy clouds for the astronaut safe area, with the fog becoming thicker as you go in. As a rule, if you can't see several meters ahead of you, it's not safe to jump out of your ship.

Meanwhile, enterprising players with utility ships could theoretically pull wreckages out of gas giants with tractor beams.

I suggest that anything caught in the gravity of a gas giant, however, not have a visible nav marker on the HUD - just on the navigation screen. You know it's there, just not where.

I like it!

 

[jaws2002]

Even with these types of things in the game, which I WOULD really like to see, the universe is still so big that it will get repetitive. I think a system for people to mod in alien plant types and creatures and give them some kind of spawn pattern like distance from starting sector will help the most. In a universe that big, you could make content non stop and not fill it up.

 

[Winterhome]

Even with these types of things in the game, which I WOULD really like to see, the universe is still so big that it will get repetitive. I think a system for people to mod in alien plant types and creatures and give them some kind of spawn pattern like distance from starting sector will help the most. In a universe that big, you could make content non stop and not fill it up.

We're getting randomly generated animals some time, along with (much later) (unconfirmed) randomly generated plantlife.

 

[Woodz Gaming]

We're getting randomly generated animals some time, along with (much later) (unconfirmed) randomly generated plantlife.

Its going to be interesting to see which planets will get those first.

 

[Lidren]

Its going to be interesting to see which planets will get those first.

Pretty sure they all will at the same time, with planet type having some bearing on how they are generated.

 

[ifeastonblood]

I would love to see this feature implemented but you have to remember that this will cause alot more generation coding for one and two alot more lag for some players with not the best computers, and you have to remember that Gas giants are VERY unstable IRL so i would suggest that you have to get some Super Hull that can withstand the gas giants, and that Heat sync missles for example would not work properly due to magnetic field disruption and the fact that it could be super heated gas

 

[Winterhome]

I would love to see this feature implemented but you have to remember that this will cause alot more generation coding for one and two alot more lag for some players with not the best computers, and you have to remember that Gas giants are VERY unstable IRL so i would suggest that you have to get some Super Hull that can withstand the gas giants, and that Heat sync missles for example would not work properly due to magnetic field disruption and the fact that it could be super heated gas

https://trello.com/c/6hbRZZ7L/15-expanded-stellar-diversity

Already planned

 

[Lecic]

Moons: Giving planets moons will draw more attention to them. A player might know what the type of planet is like, but whats on the moons? These objects would be much smaller than the planets they orbit but larger than asteroids. They would also have gravity!

Moons are already confirmed! In the mean time, with a bit of rail trickery, you can put things like satellites and small moons in orbit. I haven't tried this myself, but I think with a bit of logic and rails, you could even make something with plates and gravity. Of course, gravity applied by area triggers can be buggy at times, and only applies to players.

• Nebulas: These would be the size of solar systems and would be void of planets, but full of asteroids.(Perhaps they would be the creators of new stars...)

• Super Novas!!: Stars that, a certain length of time after being born from nebulas, die. The stars would slowly grow larger and darker until it explodes. (To give players time to leave). It would have to take a very long time for stars to supernova from the start of a world or server so that settlers of a system don't get vaporized right after they build their base.

Dynamic star growth would be interesting, but I'm not sure if it's really valid within our time scales.

It would be cool if you could artificially produce a star with a massive amount of fuel, though. It'd have to take a while, be very costly, and be destroyable during the growth stages, though, to prevent people from spawning a second sun in their enemy's system. If you wanted to settle a void sector, though, you could do it.

 

[mo05mAn]

Most of these has been suggested already, but it's the first time someone suggests dynamic star life cycles... Maybe if the base is far enough from the star (but still within its system) it's safe from it going supernova?

you can add solar/radiation shields. people with huge bases can be protected from super novas. this would allow you to build inside a star though.

 

[Woodz Gaming]

you can add solar/radiation shields. people with huge bases can be protected from super novas. this would allow you to build inside a star though.

Something along those lines that would be compatible with logic would be practical...

 

[hunterRAE]

Woodz Gaming, I do enjoy the idea of many of these ideas, many which have been confirmed to be added as stated by a few, but I wish to talk about the viability of a few, because one thing that I don't see often on most conversations is the practicality of additions such as these.

Moons: easy enough to explain its viability, new form of resource pool and can be used as a staging ground for bases.

Comets: I had this idea at one point in my first thread, and as someone pointed out, you could just make an asteroid spawn with a velocity component. Like the moon, new resource pool and is a more interesting form of mining (needs to be valuable though, no one will chase something that is one worth a penny)

Nebulas & Super Novas: I agree that a dynamic universe would be great, but this server wide would lag the heck out of everyone (it at points would be continuous change). This would be neat as a game component, but only as something in a mod. People would absolutely love this, but it would be taxing on new players who don't have a large resource build up and is able to be dealt a blow if their supplies were destroyed.

Rings: This would be nice, but as you stated, it is merely cosmetic. I would agree with this for planets if it would be actual blocks that would serve a purpose, but adding something cosmetic without a defined purpose is redundant.

Gas Giants: Same with gas giants, if it does not have a defined purpose, it is pointless to add. This was similar to my sun surface idea, it really in the end did not boil up to something that would serve game-play measures. I would agree if something was to gather at such formations, but the only thing that comes to mind is something like vespin gas from star wars, and I know how an idea like that stirs way too much problem in the community and is overall not in the spirit of the current game.

Overall, I do love the idea of all of these, because I'm a true advocate of all galactic formations (it adds depth to the game), but all of this has to have a purpose in the end to worth the developers time and effort to add in. Many of these have potential to be something worthwhile in-game, but it has to be fleshed out and things tied to it like materials must have a end goal in mind and is fleshed out as well before it would be something someone at Schine would even begin trying to work on. Again, the ideas are great, but they need to have purpose that is not just cosmetic.

 

[Woodz Gaming]

I agree with the idea that, if it doesn't have a function it;s redundant. I was just suggesting the idea so that it could be built and developed by other minds in the community. You have some great remarks and good ideas. Its going to be interesting to see how gas giants could be implemented. Textures would be practical, but not functional. An alternative would be needed.