Terrain on new planets is outstanding

[UNBREAKABLE]

Giants are cool and so are deep water worlds. New biomes and assets are also cool, but the highlight of this update for me is certainly the terrain generation.

Before Worlds 2 the terrain on most planets wasn't varied at all, no matter where you landed on the planet it pretty much had the same formations and rolling hills. Once you see the terrain in one area that pretty much sets the tone for the whole planet. Same thing with prime planets which had those tall mountains spammed everywhere.

But now you can keep visiting different areas of the same planet and see all sorts of dramatically different formations, some of which even look straight out of version 1.0. I'm spending a lot more time on planets now and even if I've seen the biome before the terrain keeps things interesting.

The only thing I don't like is how the new terrain is only used in purple systems. I like the idea of having new content later in the end game, but the new terrain is such a dramatic improvement that it feels kind of pointless to visit any star that isn't purple.

Thoughts? Am I just obsessing over this?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422403947
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422459647
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422047738
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422420662
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422416668
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422421100
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422421314
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422421200
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422395877
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3422416607

[Buzzulepuff]

I believe they only did it in purple systems to avoid re rolling everyone's planets with existing bases. That makes sense to me.

[Mirri]

I haven't been to the new planets yet but I'm very pleased with the underwater enhancements. Slightly distraught that one of my base planets' fauna has gone extinct and now has synthetic life forms but I guess that's part of the world's history now. Weather is still the same.

[frvind74]

Originally posted by Buzzulepuff:

I believe they only did it in purple systems to avoid re rolling everyone's planets with existing bases. That makes sense to me.

Not so.
There are enchancements also on old existing planets, slighter regards on terrain but very much on terrain and oceanic flora.
Moreover however the seas are more deep than before and obviosly new creatures...

[cube]

Originally posted by Mirri:

Slightly distraught that one of my base planets' fauna has gone extinct and now has synthetic life forms but I guess that's part of the world's history now. Weather is still the same.

I do kinda love how they rolled that into the game's backstory though.

[mbax86]

Originally posted by frvind74:

Originally posted by Buzzulepuff:

I believe they only did it in purple systems to avoid re rolling everyone's planets with existing bases. That makes sense to me.

Not so.
There are enchancements also on old existing planets, slighter regards on terrain but very much on terrain and oceanic flora.
Moreover however the seas are more deep than before and obviosly new creatures...

Actually seas are no deeper in regular systems all i can find is the usual 200au depth puddles.
Actually it seems that you can only get deeper water on water/oceanic worlds in purple systems which is terrible tbh.

[momopovich]

Originally posted by mbax86:

Actually seas are no deeper in regular systems all i can find is the usual 200au depth puddles.
Actually it seems that you can only get deeper water on water/oceanic worlds in purple systems which is terrible tbh.

You can exclusively explore purple systems if you want. There are quintillions of them.

[maestro]

Is it only in purple systems? Because ever since the update, newly discovered planets elsewhere I am seeing way more hills and mountains and...

It's annoying.

Annoying AF.

Because it's such a chore to navigate planets anymore. It takes nearly 3x as long to get anywhere because of all the steep hills everywhere on pretty much every planet I go to anymore, or at least the majority of them.

At this point, we really need some sort of low flying exocraft just to deal with the ridiculous hills everywhere.

And that's to say nothing about how extremely hilly worlds have almost zero caves, therefore if there's Underground Critters, you might as well just not even bother trying to complete the scans on such a world because every POI is on the side of a cliff, thus no cave entrances near it.

[mbax86]

If someone finds deeper water (more than 250u) in non purple system please post it here.
I am currently searching.

[Typha]

Originally posted by maestro:

Is it only in purple systems? Because ever since the update, newly discovered planets elsewhere I am seeing way more hills and mountains and...

It's annoying.

Annoying AF.

Because it's such a chore to navigate planets anymore. It takes nearly 3x as long to get anywhere because of all the steep hills everywhere on pretty much every planet I go to anymore, or at least the majority of them.

At this point, we really need some sort of low flying exocraft just to deal with the ridiculous hills everywhere.

And that's to say nothing about how extremely hilly worlds have almost zero caves, therefore if there's Underground Critters, you might as well just not even bother trying to complete the scans on such a world because every POI is on the side of a cliff, thus no cave entrances near it.

Do you mean it's annoying to scan purple planets? Normal planets didn't get more hills or change their caves.

[UNBREAKABLE]

Originally posted by mbax86:

If someone finds deeper water (more than 250u) in non purple system please post it here.
I am currently searching.

If there weren't any before then there aren't now. Definitely possible in purple systems though.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

AFAIK, they made changes to all the systems, but some are more minor. They really updated caves and underwater biomes. My home base from 2016 took some minor changes...at least minor to me.

It mainly has more rock faces and that kind of sculpting.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3417086486

Prior to Worlds P2
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3291409824

[UNBREAKABLE]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

AFAIK, they made changes to all the systems, but some are more minor. They really updated caves and underwater biomes. My home base from 2016 took some minor changes...at least minor to me.

Biomes and assets may have shifted in old systems but terrain remains the same.

Terrain is a lot more impactful than just biomes.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Originally posted by UNBREAKABLE:

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

AFAIK, they made changes to all the systems, but some are more minor. They really updated caves and underwater biomes. My home base from 2016 took some minor changes...at least minor to me.

Biomes and assets may have shifted in old systems but terrain remains the same.

Terrain is a lot more impactful than just biomes.

Ahhh...you didn't see the 2nd picture I was searching for before editing my post. It is pretty different and the terrain is definitely changed.

[UNBREAKABLE]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

Originally posted by UNBREAKABLE:

Biomes and assets may have shifted in old systems but terrain remains the same.

Terrain is a lot more impactful than just biomes.

Ahhh...you didn't see the 2nd picture I was searching for before editing my post. It is pretty different and the terrain is definitely changed.

Definitely minor changes that come with the biome, but overall baseline for the algorithm is the same

[Amduskas]

Originally posted by UNBREAKABLE:

...
The only thing I don't like is how the new terrain is only used in purple systems. I like the idea of having new content later in the end game, but the new terrain is such a dramatic improvement that it feels kind of pointless to visit any star that isn't purple.

Thoughts? Am I just obsessing over this?

I'm right there with you.
The new planet generation system is everything I've wanted from NMS for years, and it is clearly a straight upgrade.
It seems crazy to limit it to just purple systems. I've been really disappointed with their decision to do so here.
Hopefully they come around, but I doubt it.