Planets, Rovers, and Other things

[SubtleSloth]

I know there is already moons in the game that you can land on (or crash into epically), and I can only assume there are going to be planets as well at some point. I’ve got a few questions though. I know gravity will be implemented at some point, but does anyone know exactly how it’s going to work yet? How does planetary/moon approach work? Is the planet a new zone with a loading screen before you enter the atmosphere, or is the transition smooth like SE and NMS? Will there be boxes damage if you crash a ship into the planet’s surface? Are there plans to make resources available on planets? Will there eventually be some kind of oxygen mechanic, not really for robots needing oxygen to survive, but on planets with other life forms maybe?

My last question is not really related to planets themselves, but to different types of transportation. Will there be different types in the future (rovers, hovercraft, etc).

 

[Chrome]

The planet is a gas giant so no landing there (well unless crushed into a cute little ball of components)... and the moon has minimal atmosphere.
We havent seen transition changes yet. Seen talk of warp gates and the like tho....

 

[SubtleSloth]

The planet is a gas giant so no landing there (well unless crushed into a cute little ball of components)... and the moon has minimal atmosphere.
We havent seen transition changes yet. Seen talk of warp gates and the like tho....

Yeah, the single planet so far is a Gas giant, which makes for a really pretty background 😁. Not really talking about present time though, more trying to get a little glimpse into the future of the game if anyone has any inside sources or things they have heard. If warp gates are going to be a thing, will it be a smooth transition? Or will it be like EVE and send you to a different zone? Same universe, just different solar system or whatever, or will it be seamless?

 

[WolfiAUT]

Yeah, the single planet so far is a Gas giant, which makes for a really pretty background 😁. Not really talking about present time though, more trying to get a little glimpse into the future of the game if anyone has any inside sources or things they have heard. If warp gates are going to be a thing, will it be a smooth transition? Or will it be like EVE and send you to a different zone? Same universe, just different solar system or whatever, or will it be seamless?

I don't think they'd bother implementing wheels in the game... it would be much work for almost no real benefit other than some cool vehicles. Hovers tho I can see happening in the future... but why would you even want a hover, when you have small vessels like the Vasama?

 

[SubtleSloth]

I don't think they'd bother implementing wheels in the game... it would be much work for almost no real benefit other than some cool vehicles. Hovers tho I can see happening in the future... but why would you even want a hover, when you have small vessels like the Vasama?

Issue with gravity is that it will cost more fuel to fly around a lot. That’s when solar panels and batteries will come in handy, along with wheels and rover like vehicles. Instead of spending a ton of fuel to fly around on a higher gravity planet, you can make a rover and take a little longer to get around. Plus, the ground battles that can happen on planets would be interesting. Instead of everyone flying around in space ships dogfighting all of the time, there could be tank battles and things of that sort if we had wheels or hovercraft.

 

[AlexiyOne]

I don't think they'd bother implementing wheels in the game... it would be much work for almost no real benefit other than some cool vehicles. Hovers tho I can see happening in the future... but why would you even want a hover, when you have small vessels like the Vasama?

Why have vehicles? Ships can just attack from orbit

 

[SubtleSloth]

Why have vehicles? Ships can just attack from orbit

Because not everything in the game is about attacking something else?

 

[WolfiAUT]

Issue with gravity is that it will cost more fuel to fly around a lot. That’s when solar panels and batteries will come in handy, along with wheels and rover like vehicles. Instead of spending a ton of fuel to fly around on a higher gravity planet, you can make a rover and take a little longer to get around. Plus, the ground battles that can happen on planets would be interesting. Instead of everyone flying around in space ships dogfighting all of the time, there could be tank battles and things of that sort if we had wheels or hovercraft.

Yeah, fuel consumption on a hover might be better, I give you that. Wheels won't happen tho. Too many mechanics to implement to have good wheel physics.

 

[SubtleSloth]

Yeah, fuel consumption on a hover might be better, I give you that. Wheels won't happen tho. Too many mechanics to implement to have good wheel physics.

That doesn’t mean it won’t happen. The game isn’t even out in early access yet. If the game lives up to what I hope, they will visit wheels eventually. Once they have a decent physics model in place, they just have to go off of it and adapt their wheel model to it. How can you say they won’t do something completely within their capacity when they are already so invested in the game?

 

[WolfiAUT]

That doesn’t mean it won’t happen. The game isn’t even out in early access yet. If the game lives up to what I hope, they will visit wheels eventually. Once they have a decent physics model in place, they just have to go off of it and adapt their wheel model to it. How can you say they won’t do something completely within their capacity when they are already so invested in the game?

Because Hovers will be better in every way. Why would you dedicate some of your ressources to implementing a feature, almost noone will use, since it's bad compared to all other options.

Of course they have time and the capacity - doesn't mean they have to implement every little detail possible since this would blow up development time and cost on the long run.

 

[Burnside]

Less a gas giant and more like a ringed Venusian or Hot-Earth, so trying to land on Eos probably means flying into chemically-active diamond storms, which completely justifies it being a kill-zone.

 

[CalenLoki]

Saying that hovers are better than wheels in everything, while also saying that hovers have advantages over flyers, is just illogical.

From practical point of view, hovers share flaws of both flyers (constant fuel use to fight gravity) and wheelers (being confined to 2d surface). All that for ability to ignore minor obstacles, go sideways and travel over water. To slow to compete with fliers in combat, to weak to compete with wheelers in ground work. For a reason most vehicles we see everyday are not hovers.

From fun point of view, which is very subjective, both designing and driving hover is easier. And I'm here for challenges, not easy modes.

Implementation wise hovers are definitely easier. They are just thrusters with built-in rangefinder.

Both wheels, hovers and flyers can be viable and balanced. It all depends on what's fun for players and what devs want to see.

 

[SubtleSloth]

From fun point of view, which is very subjective, both designing and driving hover is easier. And I'm here for challenges, not easy modes.

Exactly. Wheels would also make the ground game more challenging. And who knows, at some point, people might end up never even leaving the surface of a planet of they decide to make it a home or base of operations. So in that case, wheels would be the viable option to avoid fuel costs.

 

[Burnside]

devs have already stated they can implement tracked wheels (possibly with some kind of dynamic track linking feature) fairly easy, it's just a matter of how far down it is on the priorities list

 

[SubtleSloth]

devs have already stated they can implement tracked wheels (possibly with some kind of dynamic track linking feature) fairly easy, it's just a matter of how far down it is on the priorities list

Any idea where someone said this? Would love to read the context was surrounding it. Tracked wheel vehicles would be my wet dream if they also implemented normal wheels as well. Nothing like a bunch of tanks rolling around laying waste to things 😁. Even if they only implemented tracked wheel vehicles, I could get on board, at least the ground vehicle would be useful in getting around the planet terrains.

 

[Burnside]

it was probably lauri on discord or somebody quoting him, all that was said was that wheels with continuous tracks would be easy to do, no other details

 

[AlexiyOne]

Because not everything in the game is about attacking something else?

Just saying vehicles will always be outmatched by ships, not just in how well they will compare in the battlefield, it's also speed among with not able to travel into space and having to travel a distance just to be able to do that. I would like vehicles, but in combat they are the last thing I would want. Maybe a vehicle small enough to travel inside large ships would be useful for transporting cargo but in the new features video when the Empire attacked, a small hover vehicle was in the clip with a droid with an rocket launcher which the hover vehicle looks cooler, but also may fly a bit to reach higher places.

 

[SubtleSloth]

Just saying vehicles will always be outmatched by ships, not just in how well they will compare in the battlefield, it's also speed among with not able to travel into space and having to travel a distance just to be able to do that. I would like vehicles, but in combat they are the last thing I would want. Maybe a vehicle small enough to travel inside large ships would be useful for transporting cargo but in the new features video when the Empire attacked, a small hover vehicle was in the clip with a droid with an rocket launcher which the hover vehicle looks cooler, but also may fly a bit to reach higher places.

Not saying ships shouldn’t be used. Yes, ships will always be superior to ground vehicles for long distance travel...hence: airplanes. All I’m saying is that you can easily find a use for ground vehicles, no matter the application (combat, cargo transport, personnel transport). Now that I think about it, I do remember that hover vehicle in the video...maybe there is hope 😁. Anyways, while I agree that ships will have the advantage of speed on their side, ground vehicles will always have the advantage that they have the option to not use fuel and instead use a battery bank and solar panels. Not sure how tough fuel is going to be to come by in the game, or how expensive it will be, but I feel like it’s going to be a hot commodity and very profitable for the people selling it. In which case, what happens if you get stuck on a planet/moon with no fuel, now you have no way of getting around because your ship is dead in the water? Ground vehicles. What about surface to air missiles or turrets? Ground vehicles. All without the use of fuel. Ground transport of resources to a neighboring faction based on the same moon/planet as another. Ground vehicles. This saves both factions the money/time mining resources for fuel. Also, what happens when gravity is introduced on planets/moons? How tough is it to have your ship hover in the gravity well? While yes, you can most likely attack from orbit, but how far from the surface is the end of the gravity well? How far can you actually see from orbit to the surface? Can you actually see what you are trying to hit? My original question wasn’t about whether or not ships are better than ground vehicles. It was about whether or not the latter has viability in the game. Which, IMO, they absolutely will, especially if it comes down to planets being fought over for resources.

 

[Caddrel]

I can imagine that people would find it fun to design, build, and drive cars and hover vehicles.

However do they need a reason for existing in the game? Or to put it as others have, what advantages would they have over space ships that can efficiently fly thousands of KM on minimal fuel.

SubtleSloth's post mentions that they would have greater fuel efficiency in heavy gravity & atmospheres. Is that the only reason to have them around?

 

[SubtleSloth]

Just saying vehicles will always be outmatched by ships, not just in how well they will compare in the battlefield, it's also speed among with not able to travel into space and having to travel a distance just to be able to do that. I would like vehicles, but in combat they are the last thing I would want. Maybe a vehicle small enough to travel inside large ships would be useful for transporting cargo but in the new features video when the Empire attacked, a small hover vehicle was in the clip with a droid with an rocket launcher which the hover vehicle looks cooler, but also may fly a bit to reach higher places.

I just watched the video again with the thing we thought was a hover vehicle...I think it’s just the Vasama. At least that’s what it looks like to me. I wonder if this means you can set an altitude based on rangefinders or if they were just flying super low to the ground. Not sure, but either way, I cannot wait to start playing this game, ground vehicles or not 😁. Seems to me that the community for the game is already better than most games based on a social platform, and imo, that will keep the game around for a long time. Can’t wait to see you guys out there o7