- Joined
- Sep 13, 2013
- Messages
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At the moment there are 3 planet mechanic ideas: spherical planets that warp a flat world to create a sphere, the downsides being segmented gameplay, Oreo style planets, with the downside of not being fully looped, and multi-gravity cube planets, with the downside of here being a "jump" between the gravity fields.
I propose a new planet mechanic that sort of combines the three; Segmented planets. To sum it up: Equal segments of a platonic shape would be fitted around a core much like ships docked onto other ships, at specific angle, each with their own gravity, to make up one fully looped 3D shape with small "steps" in gravity and seamless gameplay.
What you'd do is take any shape (platonic or Catalan shapes are probably best as they have congruent faces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_solid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solid) and split it into equal 3D segments that run from a face of the shape inwardly to the center, that each make up one part of a planet, all with their own planes and gravity. The best part about this is that it is already possible in-game without any mods, the only issue being flying each huge segment so they make up the planet, however if generated by the world, they don't need to be orientated by flying them in.
heres an example I made in game (only 2 segments, and a pretty big gap, as they were a bitch to get even that close together)
As you can see 12 of these would go together to form a dodecahedron and if generated by the game itself you could get them much closer together using precise angles:
Of course other shapes are possible to reduce the "jump" as you switch gravity between each segment:
The "jump" as you switch gavity could be further reduced by adding a slight curve to it, so you start change to the other segments gravity gradually.
The world generation would be quite simple with a border of >2 blocks all at the same level around the edge of each segment and then randomly generated islands in the center and then water at a set height around the edges:
Of course this could be improved by having some sort of system that would match the edges of each segment.
To solve the problem of infinitely falling, there would an indestructible sphere in the center that the segments are attached to, unlike the segments it would only have one plane and would be surrounded by lava, as seen in the above image, which shows the layers and segments of a planet.
Another issue may be gaps between each segment, this is the only problem that cannot be solved with any current mechanics in-game, but it would be simple enough to have a series of "graphical blocks" to fill the gaps and when a block is destroyed that they are touching they will also be destroyed.
Some other pros with this system are the features it could make way for:
-Exploding planets, segments could be "docked to the core and when a certain % of blocks/the segment reaches a certain low mass then it would be ejected from the core, when all segments have been "ejected" the core would explode with the effect of a large radius missile.
-Territories. Factions would start of with 3 territories (equal to one plant segment each) that they can protect using a faction module, as the faction grows they can acquire more territories for example; for every three faction members you get another territory, another method could be to add certain achievements in-game that increase the number of territories, for example destroying a pirate station.
-A more realistic gravity simulator with orbits etc.
Overall
Equal segments of a catalan/platonic shape to make up a 3D looping planet that has working gravity and seamless gameplay.
Cons:
-Gaps between segments - can be solved using "graphical blocks"
-Infinitely falling - solved using an Indestructible core
-Lots of entities - It is already planned to make planets fewer, also the recent update reduced lag and allowed for easier loading of chunks.
Pros:
-Fully looping 3D planet
-Additional features: territories and exploding planets as well as more realistic gravity
-more realism
-still seamless
-implements the best of the current systems that are proposed/in place.
Hope this could be implemented, as I don't really like the idea of Oreo planets, they just seem a bit tacky.
I propose a new planet mechanic that sort of combines the three; Segmented planets. To sum it up: Equal segments of a platonic shape would be fitted around a core much like ships docked onto other ships, at specific angle, each with their own gravity, to make up one fully looped 3D shape with small "steps" in gravity and seamless gameplay.
What you'd do is take any shape (platonic or Catalan shapes are probably best as they have congruent faces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_solid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solid) and split it into equal 3D segments that run from a face of the shape inwardly to the center, that each make up one part of a planet, all with their own planes and gravity. The best part about this is that it is already possible in-game without any mods, the only issue being flying each huge segment so they make up the planet, however if generated by the world, they don't need to be orientated by flying them in.
heres an example I made in game (only 2 segments, and a pretty big gap, as they were a bitch to get even that close together)
As you can see 12 of these would go together to form a dodecahedron and if generated by the game itself you could get them much closer together using precise angles:
Of course other shapes are possible to reduce the "jump" as you switch gravity between each segment:
The "jump" as you switch gavity could be further reduced by adding a slight curve to it, so you start change to the other segments gravity gradually.
The world generation would be quite simple with a border of >2 blocks all at the same level around the edge of each segment and then randomly generated islands in the center and then water at a set height around the edges:
Of course this could be improved by having some sort of system that would match the edges of each segment.
To solve the problem of infinitely falling, there would an indestructible sphere in the center that the segments are attached to, unlike the segments it would only have one plane and would be surrounded by lava, as seen in the above image, which shows the layers and segments of a planet.
Another issue may be gaps between each segment, this is the only problem that cannot be solved with any current mechanics in-game, but it would be simple enough to have a series of "graphical blocks" to fill the gaps and when a block is destroyed that they are touching they will also be destroyed.
Some other pros with this system are the features it could make way for:
-Exploding planets, segments could be "docked to the core and when a certain % of blocks/the segment reaches a certain low mass then it would be ejected from the core, when all segments have been "ejected" the core would explode with the effect of a large radius missile.
-Territories. Factions would start of with 3 territories (equal to one plant segment each) that they can protect using a faction module, as the faction grows they can acquire more territories for example; for every three faction members you get another territory, another method could be to add certain achievements in-game that increase the number of territories, for example destroying a pirate station.
-A more realistic gravity simulator with orbits etc.
Overall
Equal segments of a catalan/platonic shape to make up a 3D looping planet that has working gravity and seamless gameplay.
Cons:
-Gaps between segments - can be solved using "graphical blocks"
-Infinitely falling - solved using an Indestructible core
-Lots of entities - It is already planned to make planets fewer, also the recent update reduced lag and allowed for easier loading of chunks.
Pros:
-Fully looping 3D planet
-Additional features: territories and exploding planets as well as more realistic gravity
-more realism
-still seamless
-implements the best of the current systems that are proposed/in place.
Hope this could be implemented, as I don't really like the idea of Oreo planets, they just seem a bit tacky.
