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Here are several ideas for improving the dodecahedron planets we have now. Some are new, some are old, and some are a new spin on old ideas. I've compiled them in a list here, and I hope these prove useful. Feel free to reply with more ideas.
1. Edges (my number one pet peeve in Starmade! :p)
After studying planet edges a bit, it occurred to me that some of the jaggedness could be smoothed a bit if the plates were oriented differently. This isn't easy to get one's brain around and would require a bit of testing to see what kind of configuration would work best. I would suggest, however, that each plate's flat edge (the edge where no block corners stick out) touch another flat edge. This would create pairs of plates that could have a road more easily built between them.
2. Poles and polar climates
Poles seem to be at the vertex of three plates rather than the center of any one plate. Since each face in a dodecahedron has a face exactly parallel to it on the opposite side, it would make sense to put the rotation axis through the center of a pair of plates and make those two plates a polar biome. A green planet could have ice and snow at its poles and a desert could have grass at its poles for example. People have been asking for polar climates forever, and this seems a reasonable way to do it.
3. Overlapping construction
One issue with planet edges is that players cannot overlap blocks at the edges to smooth anything built across two plates, like a road or a funhouse-like building. Because of this, there are always gaps. If blocks could overlap, I'm sure clever players will find ways to make certain intercontinental constructions look good.
4. Atmosphere and gravity
In my opinion and in the opinion of many others who have brought it up before, both atmosphere and gravity need to extend farther from planets. When I look up at the sky during the day, I don't want to see stars. I also don't want to skim the atmosphere without my ship feeling a slight tug, either. If there's negligible gravity that far out, what's holding the dang atmosphere in? I know this is a realism argument, but since there's no gameplay reason for this not to be so, it is a valid one.
5. More planet types
I'm pretty sure this is at least in the works, but I thought it would be good to list it here anyway. Among those suggested previously are gas planets, more kinds of alien planets, volcanic planets, rocky planets resembling Earth's moon, and metallic, crystalline, or diamond planets. The metallic or crystalline planets would be an economy nightmare if they were composed entirely of valuable resources, so they should be composed mainly of something that is visually appealing but mostly or entirely useless for crafting.
6. Balance planet mining ore yields
This has been a topic of hot debate. A lot of players feel that planet mining is overpowered or too rewarding compared to asteroid mining, which leads to a poor player economy and a lot of shredded planets. One way or another, this needs to be addressed and either astroids need to be more appealing or planets need to be less so.
There are several good threads on this already so I need not go into much detail.
It would be interesting to see animals moving around on planets. Some could be useful, some hostile, and some merely nice to watch. This would add an interesting gameplay element and provide some action for our astronaut weapons in singleplayer or multiplayer PvE (Player versus Environment) gameplay.
Do not rate this "old" for ideas you've seen before. This is a compilation; a list. Of course it contains some old ideas! Everyone can see who put certain ratings on a post and will be able to see that you're being foolish or a troll.
Please quote this blue part and reply with a link if you have a planet-related thread you want linked here!
1. Edges (my number one pet peeve in Starmade! :p)
After studying planet edges a bit, it occurred to me that some of the jaggedness could be smoothed a bit if the plates were oriented differently. This isn't easy to get one's brain around and would require a bit of testing to see what kind of configuration would work best. I would suggest, however, that each plate's flat edge (the edge where no block corners stick out) touch another flat edge. This would create pairs of plates that could have a road more easily built between them.
2. Poles and polar climates
Poles seem to be at the vertex of three plates rather than the center of any one plate. Since each face in a dodecahedron has a face exactly parallel to it on the opposite side, it would make sense to put the rotation axis through the center of a pair of plates and make those two plates a polar biome. A green planet could have ice and snow at its poles and a desert could have grass at its poles for example. People have been asking for polar climates forever, and this seems a reasonable way to do it.
3. Overlapping construction
One issue with planet edges is that players cannot overlap blocks at the edges to smooth anything built across two plates, like a road or a funhouse-like building. Because of this, there are always gaps. If blocks could overlap, I'm sure clever players will find ways to make certain intercontinental constructions look good.
4. Atmosphere and gravity
In my opinion and in the opinion of many others who have brought it up before, both atmosphere and gravity need to extend farther from planets. When I look up at the sky during the day, I don't want to see stars. I also don't want to skim the atmosphere without my ship feeling a slight tug, either. If there's negligible gravity that far out, what's holding the dang atmosphere in? I know this is a realism argument, but since there's no gameplay reason for this not to be so, it is a valid one.
5. More planet types
I'm pretty sure this is at least in the works, but I thought it would be good to list it here anyway. Among those suggested previously are gas planets, more kinds of alien planets, volcanic planets, rocky planets resembling Earth's moon, and metallic, crystalline, or diamond planets. The metallic or crystalline planets would be an economy nightmare if they were composed entirely of valuable resources, so they should be composed mainly of something that is visually appealing but mostly or entirely useless for crafting.
6. Balance planet mining ore yields
This has been a topic of hot debate. A lot of players feel that planet mining is overpowered or too rewarding compared to asteroid mining, which leads to a poor player economy and a lot of shredded planets. One way or another, this needs to be addressed and either astroids need to be more appealing or planets need to be less so.
- One possibility is making planet ore densities much lower than they are now and/or making asteroid ore densities much higher. While there is no good realism argument for this, there is every possible gameplay reason to do it.
- Another possibility is to make planets immune to ships' salvage beams and either implement a slower and more balanced mining device for planets that actually requires you to land and set up shop, or make planet ores only minable by astronauts. Needless to say, astronaut-only planet mining would be unpopular but a reasonable temporary fix.
There are several good threads on this already so I need not go into much detail.
- Plants should grow and should yield some visually appealing building materials, particularly wooden planks, panels, etc.
- Being able to slowly grow crystals inside of capsules would be interesting, fun, and rewarding.
- Some have suggested that a machine could slowly, painstakingly pull ores from "inside a planet's core" (spawn them) providing a very slow but unlimited source of ores.
It would be interesting to see animals moving around on planets. Some could be useful, some hostile, and some merely nice to watch. This would add an interesting gameplay element and provide some action for our astronaut weapons in singleplayer or multiplayer PvE (Player versus Environment) gameplay.
For TL;DR just read the sections that interest you and comment on them, and refrain from commenting on sections you haven't read.
Do not rate this "old" for ideas you've seen before. This is a compilation; a list. Of course it contains some old ideas! Everyone can see who put certain ratings on a post and will be able to see that you're being foolish or a troll.
Please quote this blue part and reply with a link if you have a planet-related thread you want linked here!
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