More Varieties to Atmosphere

[SgtFlexxx]

Im not sure if anyone's made a thread like this before, but I feel it's something that could add a lot of immersion and coolness to the game. Why not add more varieties to the atmosphere of planets besides the sky? It feels lacking at the moment, and I think it would be really awesome if planets had fog, storms, rain, all that type of stuff where it would make it feel really scenic of wherever you decided to build your base.

Apologies for being such a ME fan :p...

EDIT: perhaps more so down along the path, we could have random generated terrain features that fit with the atmosphere.

 

[Darth Plaigus]

HELL YEAH, Mass Effect. Also I like this idea.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

100% support. I've wanted this for a while now, and procedurally generated atmostpheres would fit with the game's randomisation and make planets more variable. We already have randomised nebulae after all

 

[therimmer96]

I would love to see more atmosphere varieties. And maybe some having negative or positive effects on ship systems and the player, such as some boosting or reducing shield power (we already know the game is capable of having a higher shield level than there is shields. Happens when lagging), same with power, maybe lightning that hits the hull and does explosion damage through the shields, or a higher/running speed for players.

 

[HerrColonel]

100% support. I've wanted this for a while now, and procedurally generated atmostpheres would fit with the game's randomisation and make planets more variable. We already have randomised nebulae after all

What is the randomised nebula we have now? When has it been added? I've never seen this
EDIT: do you mean the nebula-like random background we sometimes have?

 

[SgtFlexxx]

What is the randomised nebula we have now? When has it been added? I've never seen this

Im pretty sure it's the randomized background you see after going from a few sectors to the next, you'll notice the background changes.

 

[HerrColonel]

Im pretty sure it's the randomized background you see after going from a few sectors to the next, you'll notice the background changes.

OK I see what you mean. By the way I totally support your atmosphere idea. They should be larger so ground building can be invisible from space if they are on a "sandstorm-like" planet or just if cloudy. I'm a huge fan of mass effect, too.
I like the procedural backgrounds because they are nice but I don't want "space-things" like nebulas being just this in the final game. They are nice in the background but it's displayed randomly and going in the direction of one will not lead to anything (so you can never approach one).

 

[Lecic]

I'm not sure if I really want effects of the atmosphere doing things to ships, but things like occasional lightning strikes that could do a little damage to an unshielded vehicle or do some nastier damage to a player.

Also, weather cycles (kind of like in minecraft) would be great, so not every planet with weather is constantly that weather.

 

[SgtFlexxx]

I'm not sure if I really want effects of the atmosphere doing things to ships, but things like occasional lightning strikes that could do a little damage to an unshielded vehicle or do some nastier damage to a player.

Also, weather cycles (kind of like in minecraft) would be great, so not every planet with weather is constantly that weather.

Perhaps for 1 specific type of planet could have weather cycles, but to some extent, I think some planets (like if you choose to live on an ice planet) can either have no weather at all, weather every once in a while, or constant weather (which would be like a blizzard in the OP).

I kinda like the other guy's idea though. Some planets should have environmental hazards, so that the people who choose to build on planets with environmental hazards can defend against them properly and actually use them to wear down any invaders to the planet.
(The only actual example I can think of atm to explain this would be like how the Nazi's tried to invade the russians in WW2, but a lot of Nazis died because they weren't prepared for how cold it was)


I think something to go along with this is an objective of finding just the right planet to live on. It could be just a regular planet, or one with weather cycles, or one you could use it's environment as an advantage.

 

[HerrColonel]

I agree some planets should have no atmosphere (little ice planets, dwarf planets (like a big moon orbiting the sun)) and could have the avantage to see the space (no "sky" animation) as good as if you were on an astroid.
When a planet have some "air", some weather is expectable like on mars, venus, etc. even if you can't breathe in. sand storms, clouds, etc.

The temperature should be important, too. Like what you said about germans in the cold. If your planet have no atmosphere you can only get out with full spacesuit and need to build some "moon-base" like. Don't open the windows!
If there is an atmoshpere and it's viable for whatever the player can be, you can go out with regular clothes but beware of temperature dropping in the night side, etc.

 

[Ithirahad]

This could easily become annoying... IMO, planets should universally have an 'oxygen' (breathable) atmosphere. However, I'd like to see lots of different aesthetic things - eternal rains, foggy worlds, thin atmospheres/always-starry skies, heck, even the occasional rainbow.

 

[Lecic]

This could easily become annoying... IMO, planets should universally have an 'oxygen' (breathable) atmosphere. However, I'd like to see lots of different aesthetic things - eternal rains, foggy worlds, thin atmospheres/always-starry skies, heck, even the occasional rainbow.

Why should every planet have a standardized oxygen atmosphere? That's rather boring, and also illogical.

 

[SgtFlexxx]

This could easily become annoying... IMO, planets should universally have an 'oxygen' (breathable) atmosphere. However, I'd like to see lots of different aesthetic things - eternal rains, foggy worlds, thin atmospheres/always-starry skies, heck, even the occasional rainbow.

While I agree that aesthetic features are a must, I think that planets should present a challenge to inhabit in some cases, but advantages to living on it rather than just in outer space (ex: infinite oxygen like mentioned above on certain planets) and advantages to use against invaders (lowers shields of entities exposed to atmosphere, durability of certain blocks, other random things)