Large Planets / Moons

[Crazy Mike]

So far there is only one size for planets, in the near (or far) future I'd love to see a massive planet or two in a solar system which can have more then one faction base on it so if there is an invading army coming they can plant a faction block on the planet and then fight a ground war to try and take over the other factions base ect. Also orbiting moons around planets would be a pretty cool thing instead of having to build space stations from scratch to orbit you can build a station on the moon of a planet. With the idea of larger planets to host ground wars or start colonies with allied factions, ground vehicles which can only operate in a gravity environment (wheels and such) would really make a big difference and add a whole new level to the exploration instead of flying a small ship to a planet and having to run around it.


But mostly having a super-massive planet or two would do just fine

 

[rece ktore leczo]

I'd also like to see some ground battles with ground vehicles and everything, but if i was about to attack anybody, i'd rather do it with my massive ship which could destroy more than my 100 blocks vehicle.

Solution for that may be giving some advantages for launching ground based attack rather than shooting from orbit.
The first idea is to give players breaching charges, which could destroy doors and give invaders access to plex storages of defenders.
Another one is to expand sphere of influence of gravity of the planets, so massive ships would rather stay on orbit than get close to surface and bombard.


Home bases on planets of factions should make rest of the planet claimed by this specific faction, but building an outpost on another planets should claim only one (or with adjacent) side.

 

[Zedrackis]

Its actually a variable size of 400-500m wide and about 40-80 meters high. That said, I personally think the fact that we call these planets is a disgrace in terms of scale. They should be called moons, and what we call systems should be centered on one planet. With stars being their own system in size and planets systems placed around them.

 

[Iskandar]

You could always just build your own moons :D

This one is actually part of the planet -- I just built a long pillar to a suitable location, built the moon, and removed the pillar. Gravity still applies, as does faction base protection.

Or am I the only one silly enough to do stuff like that?

Edit: And it's a half-sphere body, too ^_^

 

[ridik_ulass]

calbiri said different sized and different types of planets are coming in, I asked about gas giants and he hinted that they would be included, though I have no idea how that might be done.

 

[Tomino_sama]

Cool :D Fleet approves this Moon :D

 

[ltmauve]

Will larger planets have different types of climates on them?
So terrestrial planets would have ice caps, oceans, deserts, forests, plains, and cites.
Martian planets would have ice canyons (canyons with plants on the side and ice at the bottom), martian plains, ancient cities, ice caps, and large mountains.
Alien planets would have the purtentacle forest (what we have now, possibly with denser "canopy"), alien ocean (water but with alien terrain instead of islands), alien plains, a type of alien city, and ice caps.

 

[Elit3]

I love it, but include a poll! It's easier to see the communities vote that way

 

[elwainio]

Love the planets and moons idea and think some of the suggestions would really enhance the game, I had a few more ideas which I thought would come under this category and hopefully add to the debate.

Alien Planets
As per Itmauves comment above, perhaps certain planets (alien worlds etc.) could have harsh environments requiring suit upgrades to stay on without loosing health.

Gas Giants
I'd love to see some gas giants in the game, Like Jupiter etc. these could be mostly cloud based worlds (i.e. not physical blocks) and work similar to how a sun works in the game.

My personal view is that Gas Giants should be hazard's for the largest ships acting like a gravity well that requires greater and greater thrust to escape it as you get closer(depending upon the size of the ship). This could work on a ratio basis so the larger the ship the greater the thrust to escape and the closer you get the more it damages the shields / hull. I'd also like Stars to work in the same way for pulling ships in that get too close to their ultimate destruction (think end of Green Lantern film for those that have seen it).

They could also have the moons orbiting them with richer resources making them better but riskier to explore.

Nebulas
Loosely related to the above point I'd also like to see different types of Nebula added to the game with limited visibility and perhaps interference with cockpit views (to benefit smaller fighters over larger ships - as in the ship core view being unaffected) - This could work a bit like in Wrath of Khan and make for some interesting gameplay. Other suggestions on this could be that different nebulas act in different ways affected speed / acceleration or corrosion / poison (affecting astronauts outside of a ship).

Asteroid Fields
Perhaps some systems could have an asteroid belt or field, with the enhancements for them to move and potential future changes for collision damage, this could add an interesting dynamic.

Comets
Rogue ice comets that are flying through star systems (not my best idea but a little bit of space realism).

Wormholes
(probably comes under some of the other suggestions on faster travel)!

Anyway I hope some of the above suggestions are helpful for further ideas on this game.

 

[testkil]

the new planets will be bigger (because they have more sides

 

[Mowa2]

the new planets will be bigger (because they have more sides

The new planets are smaller (as in diameter/radius)

 

[testkil]

The new planets are smaller (as in diameter/radius)

but they have more sides

 

[ltmauve]

Love the planets and moons idea and think some of the suggestions would really enhance the game, I had a few more ideas which I thought would come under this category and hopefully add to the debate.

Alien Planets
As per Itmauves comment above, perhaps certain planets (alien worlds etc.) could have harsh environments requiring suit upgrades to stay on without loosing health.

Well, I was more thinking that planets shouldn't be completely one terrain type. They would have multiple types, like actual planets.

Perhaps some areas would have certain risks, but those same regions would also have benefits.

For example, your gas giant idea - gas giants could be harmful to ships flying through them, but they would also have certain resources that could be collected.

On a side note, most planets should probably be over 1km across. Is it possible to have multiple sectors rotate as one?

 

[Mowa2]

but they have more sides

But the individual faces are smaller

On a side note, most planets should probably be over 1km across. Is it possible to have multiple sectors rotate as one?

i would highly recommand not having stations/planets/ships crossing sectors, doing so causes server instability and can make the ping shoot up and stay at 500/600+

 

[NeonSturm]

I would highly recommend not having stations/planets/ships crossing sectors, doing so causes server instability and can make the ping shoot up and stay at 500/600+

Some peoples build 4km long, 500m width 300m tall capitals.
BTW: You forgot to list turrets (they are not exactly ships, neither stations) and asteroids.

We need bigger sectors!!!

It just seems not natural that everything clutters together and makes close-range costly checks against each other in open space.

 

[Mowa2]

Well, I was more thinking that planets shouldn't be completely one terrain type. They would have multiple types, like actual planets.

Perhaps some areas would have certain risks, but those same regions would also have benefits.

For example, your gas giant idea - gas giants could be harmful to ships flying through them, but they would also have certain resources that could be collected.

On a side note, most planets should probably be over 1km across. Is it possible to have multiple sectors rotate as one?

Some peoples build 4km long, 500m width 300m tall capitals.
BTW: You forgot to list turrets (they are not exactly ships, neither stations) and asteroids.

We need bigger sectors!!!

It just seems not natural that everything clutters together and makes close-range costly checks against each other in open space.

They build those big ships on singleplayer/small servers where performance is not really an issue.

Sectors should be bigger but that would require some engine reworking, and i think schema was going to focus on other stuff atm

 

[NeonSturm]

Sectors should be bigger but that would require some engine reworking, and i think schema was going to focus on other stuff atm

Really? I think it would just be increasing 1'000 to 5'000. and eventually changing the offsets for a 300m between sectors, but I dunno the engine.

Did you heard that directly from the dev-group?

 

[Mowa2]

Really? I think it would just be increasing 1'000 to 5'000. and eventually changing the offsets for a 300m between sectors, but I dunno the engine.

Did you heard that directly from the dev-group?

i can't remember if it was limited by the size of a float(32 bit) or 32bit integer, but it has to do with the fact that he uses 32 bit data types

EDIT: and where are you getting this idea of a "dev-group", schema is the only person that writes code for the game

 

[Ithirahad]

+1 to this topic. Everyone keeps saying "But planets have larger surface area now!" and that doesn't really matter... Last time I checked, it would look terrible to build a city that wraps around multiple faces, so for constructions or groups of constructions we're really limited to one planetary face... (Unless we're building a planetwide city, but that's not a normal scenario)

 

[Iskandar]

Planetary power grids will also require a bit more work -- currently, the absolute easiest method is to just run three lines of power gens along the center of the planet's XYZ axis, making a generator space the size of the entire planet. With the new planets, the easy option will no longer apply since we won't be able to just tunnel straight through anymore. On the plus side, it means my usual decorative buildings can actually have a proper purpose and function! ^_^