Sandy Deserts?

[Swiss]

Are all deserts rocky or can sandy ones appear as well? I've been looking for a nice desert planet but every desert world I land on it usually very rocky; not necessarily rocky as in the those one can mine, but instead, the texture of the ground is dry and cracked rather than sandy.

Am I just getting very unlucky or do they all have dry cracked grounds?

[Mr. Bufferlow]

There are some desert planet that have features that look like sand from a distance, but they are hard features when you get to them. I think HG just avoided the problem with sand that would need to deform with foot prints or blow around in the wind.

It would be hard to pull off since everything is procedural generated. They could add some animations to give it a sand blowing appearance but it would probably look worse than just leaving it alone.

[Swiss]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

There are some desert planet that have features that look like sand from a distance, but they are hard features when you get to them. I think HG just avoided the problem with sand that would need to deform with foot prints or blow around in the wind.

It would be hard to pull off since everything is procedural generated. They could add some animations to give it a sand blowing appearance but it would probably look worse than just leaving it alone.

I suppose that makes sense. I wouldn't mind if it were just a texture though, no fancy effects or physics properties or anything, just a sandy desert with rolling dunes, a blue sky and the occasional cactus; perhaps even an oasis planet with a higher degree of flora and fauna.

It would be nice to build on I think.