Recognized How to fix planets

[Valiant70]

Also, on the topic of planets, does anything find the mechanic of planet plates surviving a planetary explosion and soaring off into space slightly eyebrow raising?

Yep. Hopefully when breakoff works right, the segments can be broken up as the planet explodes.

 

[whooplaah]

The update on March 5th really helped this issue, but I still experience issues especially when I play solo.

I like some of the OP's points (even though they are rather dated now). I built a planet-base, and because the atmosphere is so small when I look at my building from an angle part of it disappears (occlusion culling, I think). I can see the top and bottom, but a curved slice in between is missing.

What if the graphics options changed when we approached a planet? If the player's Max Segments (view distance) lowered as they landed on a planet the computer wouldn't have to handle as many chunks. If the game also adjusts the Field of View (atmospheric lensing) we can create a 'rounding' effect. We can then add in a 'haze' at the edge of visibility to blur out what can't be seen - this would also give the planet a feel of atmosphere that limits the visibility of space objects. I'd imagine this is a sphere around the player that can have an internal texture that can double as a skybox. I'm not a coder, so I don't know if this would actually help the FPS issue.

I like the video aceface posted. Each planet has an atmosphere texture that hides the chunks until after they have loaded. From space, planets don't look like marbles or space skittles. From planet-side it seems like it is its own entity and not a planet-shaped space station. The atmosphere is a wall that creates a feel of a planet as a planet and not a piece of space.

Weapons:

Spoiler

I've read rumors of an upcoming change to planetary gravity and how it affects large ships. If all projectiles have a smaller range inside of atmosphere then ships have to get closer to the planet to hit things on it. If large ships have difficulty with the gravity, we encourage small ship design when fighting against a planetary base, and use of astronaut mode.

If large ships can't get close to a planet, then we solve part of the problem of harvesting a planet and lagging up a server. Small and medium ships that can fly close enough to use salvage beams don't cause as much of a strain.

As has been said in earlier posts:
Atmosphere scatters lasers and beams.
Atmospheric entry burns up warheads and missiles.
Gravity destabilizes missile flight paths.
The steering system missiles use to turn in vacuum is less effective in atmosphere.

Side Note:

Spoiler

This means nothing until after Astronaut Mode gets an overhaul.

A haze and skybox can be a way to tell how much atmosphere a planet has. Lots of oxygen means an opaque skybox - no oxygen means a translucent one. Toxic gases will give it a tint - green is acidic, black is dusty, purple is methane-ie, blue is wet, etc. Atmosphere can be a good indicator of what resources spawn on the planet, including the chance of finding alien life.

 

[jayman38]

What if the graphics options changed when we approached a planet? If the player's Max Segments (view distance) lowered as they landed on a planet the computer wouldn't have to handle as many chunks.

I think dynamic drawing distance like this would be a great addition to the engine.