Suggestion to Dev Re: Gas Giants

[Preacher Kelly]

2 suggestions- 1st for gameplay, 2nd for graphics -

I've always been fascinated by the idea of flying into gas giants. This is the first game I've ever played where you can actually do so. At first it was exhilarating thanks to the sense of danger I imparted with my own assumptions, but eventually I decided to fly to the core of the gas giant in the Pearl system and got bored about 50-100k in. It seemed as if I held a steady pace it might never kill me.

It's my vague understanding that if you were to fly too far into a gas giant, bad things await you, akin to going too deep into the ocean in a vessel not able to take the pressure. I'm no expert, but I think it might be nice if gas giants were more lethal. The main thrill for me, the first time I entered a gas giant, was the fear that death was just a wrong turn away. I like the way it whips you around and disorients you, and I wish that effect could lead you to doom if you're not careful.

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On a graphical side-note, when you're exiting a rocky planet the atmosphere gives way to the starfield backdrop gradually, or so it seems, leading me to believe the tech might already be in place for my next suggestion (well the first paragraph, anyway):

I would love it if the top-most layers of a gas giant were somewhat translucent, providing more of a sense of descending into a ball of gas. Right now, in my limited experience, it feels like once you enter a gas giant you are separated from space entirely, enveloped by an opaque layer of storm textures, essentially instanced within the planet and separated from space (albeit without awkward pauses or loading screens, which is great). I would love it if you could still see space while being whipped and tumbled around in the top most layers of gas giants.

Not sure if the tech exists for the rest of this, but I would also love it if then you were to descend further into the planet the atmosphere would become more opaque, much like it currently is when you fly into Pearl system's gas giant.

Then if you descended even further the outer light would gradually get more and more blotted out, everything would get darker and darker, then perhaps get reilluminated with the crimson effect of being burned to death as you approach the planet core, no matter what speed you traveled.

That's just how I imagine it anyway. At some point I figure descending too far into most gas planets would kill you, no matter how robust your ship.

It might make the giants less desirable to mine than nebulas for hydrogen, but that would be easily mitigated by allowing a good range between the giant's surfaces and killzones. I would go to them for the excitement.

Speaking of nebulas, I also think it would be nice if they zapped the crap out of you with their lightning on an RNG sorta basis, and you might be forced to mitigate that with some hull upgrades. But that's another topic, for another day ;)

[SeeJay]

I haven't tried the Gas Giant in EL yet, but in EM some Gas Giants killed you if you got
to far in or stayed too long taking damage. I assume EL works the same, so maybe another
Giant will hurt you badly! ;-) Worth testing at least.

In some Nebula’s the lightning disables your jump-capacity. You need to fly "normal" to
get out of it. Takes some time if you jumped to the middle of it LOL! Haven't tried that
in EL myself tho.

[Preacher Kelly]

Originally posted by SeeJay:

I haven't tried the Gas Giant in EL yet, but in EM some Gas Giants killed you if you got
to far in or stayed too long taking damage. I assume EL works the same, so maybe another
Giant will hurt you badly! ;-) Worth testing at least.

In some Nebula’s the lightning disables your jump-capacity. You need to fly "normal" to
get out of it. Takes some time if you jumped to the middle of it LOL! Haven't tried that
in EL myself tho.

Nice, glad to hear some gas giants are more lethal than others (assuming EL takes after EM, which would only make sense). I have plenty of universe left to explore.

Regarding nebulas, I enjoy the fact that, at least in the Pearl system, all the nebulas I've been to are free money for a noob like me. But I still kinda want them to be more dangerous than just disabling your jump capacity. Altho if they did occasionally damage you, having a disabled jump-drive in the middle of a nebula would be insult+injury to even more injury.

I think it would be nice if in the early game you could go to some noob nebulas, get zapped a few times, return to the station with 5 bays of hydrogen and a small repair fee of a few hundred or so, maybe more/less damage as judged by the consensus. Then later maybe you could run into more dangerous nebulas that might kill the crap out of you without substantial ship upgrades.

It's hard to speak with much authority about what is and isn't in the game when I've only been to a few systems, so grain of salt, etc.

In either case I think it would be a good area for environmental hazards vs upgrades, ie radiation and lightning vs whatever protective upgrades you can equip your ship to deal with them.

[SeeJay]

It sure are very cool suggestions (if they are not in there somewhere??).

Don't hesitate to contact Vice (The Dev) with them. He always listen to players and implement
suggestions all the time if they are doable and fits his vision of the game.

[Preacher Kelly]

Glad you like the ideas. I thought Vice might be lurking around these forums, but maybe I should take these to the starwraith forums. I was being lazy about registering.

[SeeJay]

You can also email him here: http://www.starwraith.com/contact.htm

[Preacher Kelly]

Originally posted by SeeJay:

You can also email him here: http://www.starwraith.com/contact.htm

Oh, perfect, thanks!