At first, I want to say that my programming skills are not to good, but I now it it works basically,
and second that I do not want to offend anybody
The idea is different to what is already mentioned here, but I thought it would not be correct to start a new topic if there is already a vivid discussion here about it.
So my idea was , that when entering the colored sphere which surround the planet, you actually enter a new \'Dimension\' in the game, as in minecraft going from the normal world into the nether or into the end. The planet would be a minecraft simiular flat land, made out of chunks or what ever you want to call it (I do not want to mention minecraft to often because I like Star Made far more and because it is a different game).
The idea is that when you go further on in a direction, new chunks are loaded. The whole planet might be made out of 100x100 chunks, but I will give a 4x4 example of the idea
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
5 - 6 - 7 - 8
9 -10- 11-12
13-14-15-16
every number stands for a chunk
If you walk on, new chunks would be loaded, but instead, already generatet chunks will be reloaded. Lets say, a player loads a square of 3x3 chunks around him. The player stands in chunk 6:
1 2 3
5 6 7
9 10 11
If he moves a two chunks to the right (the player is now located in chunk 8), the following chunks will be loaded:
3 4 1
7 8 5
11 12 9
So when comming to the \'edge\' of the planet, you will end up where you started. Same way of loading chunks when going up or down on the planet.
Of corse I am aware that there will be plenty of issues with the coordinates, as well as other enteties on the planet and when leaving the planet, but this would convey at least the feeling of a round planet, even tough it is just a flat structure.
I am also not sure if this could be integrated into the starmade game that easely, and I believe it would be rather complicated, but I am sure this is an option which might work out pretty well, of corse with more \'chunks\' than just 16, I would rather think about 128 or something like that.