What planet style do you prefer?

Big ones vs. Little ones

  • Privateer style small planets

    Votes: 1 5.6%
  • Larger more life-like planets

    Votes: 17 94.4%

  • Total voters
    18
before you choose planet sizes, consider the implications.


larger planets = planets are visible from one to the other. they look large, and the systems look small and compact

to fix it = you spread out the planets.

spread out planets = larger distances, longer travel times without autopilot. travel times are no longer like in privateer.

to fix travel time, you speed up the craft.

sped up craft = dodgy gameplay. dogfighting becomes impossible because the speeds make following-in-close-proximity impossible.


to fix all of this, you'd have to add an alternate flight mode.
remember, this is going to be MULTIPLAYER eventually, so autopilot won't always be an option.
a 'scoops in' mode has been discussed. some mode where your speed goes up a LOT, like 10x. purely for transit flight.

this sorta feature, again, makes the game less privateer like. and actually, less wing-commander like (game-wise).

We'd have to pull in some book-stuff to get that going.

basically, changing planet sizes leads to more things that you have to do. it's not simply artistic.

-scheherazade
 
actually, in setting up the flight model like in the novels, where you have hydrogen ramscoops collecting fuel and creating drag which forces a 'top speed' isn't very un-wing commander, and honestly something which would fit right in with the WCU deal. To make it even cooler, give ships gas tanks. you fly with scoops open collection and consumption are equal and whatever the ships top speed is the speed it goes. turn the scoops off, you loose fuel, but now its 100% newtonian physics. etc..etc..etc. it'd be very wing commander, it comes from the novels.
 
I think the planets should be humongous, but when you Auto to one, you should come to within 200 or 300 km of the surface (low orbit). The planet would occupy almost half of the entire visual field at this distance. Enemies may come from some nearby low orbit and engage, but the fighting shouldn't get us visibly closer or farther from the planet. Then, afterburning towards the planet could produce a slight increase in apparent size of the planet, and increasing glow out of the windows, then the automatic landing message.
 
There are two examples worth calling to mind that are interesting: One. Vendetta online has a dual flight mode that could be called "scoops out or scoops in" where a key press changes your flight mode from Wing Commander-like to Newtonian. Also, long distance can be done in two ways. Vendetta uses a privateer2-like jumping between distant locations (not open universe) or what I prefer is the Independance War 2 method of standard and light speed (Linear Displacement System drives) and then Capsule jump drives. Similar concept to Freelancers cruise engines with the ability to inhibit/disrupt them. Thus the only way to get away for sure was to make a capsule jump and hope the opponent didn't have jump tracker. A really fun game, especially once you finished the plot and the universe opened up. There were IFF code simulators that allowed you to appear to be from another faction as long as you stayed out of ships cargo scanning range. There was the ability to buy marines and capture ships...or not if the other ship had more marines than you! All of these things are mentioned in Wing Commander games or in the Books and would make for amazingly good SP and MP gameplay. IFF masking gets around what some view to be the issues of a cloaking device being to powerful. With an IFF mask, the enemy can see you, and they'll let you go unless you get careless and get too close to them. Then they detect you and attack. Thoughts??
 
I think scheherazade0xf has a good point.

So maybe increase planets by factor 2 and their distances to oneanother by 1.5.
This lookes to me like a good compromise.
But the autopilot-off- and automatic-landing-zone-distance should not by increased.
Fying 27.000 in a 300kps-tarsus will be boring.
 
Ultimately we'll need to put the SPEC drive (or "scoops off", or equivalent) in for multiplayer...

I'm for making planets (and star systems) about 3x Gemini size, overall. It looks OK, things are a reasonable distance apart, and it's still possible to not have to use auto.

This is all a moot point if we decide to script every system... I know I don't have the patience to ^^;

speaking of which: THEHAWK, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FIXING THE SOL SYSTEM AND THE OTHERS!!!!!!!! i'd never have gotten around to it, awesome work!
 
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