From post: 163682, Topic: tid=10921, author=DynamicRanger wrote:If the stars were realistically placed in 3D space and visible/identifiable from most places in the universe, wouldn't that only help with navigating completely without gates? Or is that what we're talking about, gate-less navigation?
Yes. Ninety percent of the planetary systems in the Evoverse are not connected by jumpgates.
Natch' background stars would still be needed as fillers. But there should be enough real stars situated on and off (mostly on) the galactic plane to create constellations. The trick would be in balancing the absolute magnitude of each star so the constellations wouldn't start to clump together until the player exited the galaxy.
One way to spark new interest is to do one of the available quests.What...you mean and have something new and exciting to do while you're building and equipping your 'ship of doom' and visiting all those hither-yon super-secrity-like uncharted/known places?From post: 163758, Topic: tid=10921, author=Marvin wrote:
Keep in mind that, with the sole exception of the race against another pilot, you can do any quest contract on line ... a good idea if you need help.From post: 160882, Topic: tid=10921, author=Marvin wrote:If the planets were bigger and, therefore, harder to navigate (takes longer to make planetfall and the possibility of burning up or crashing is greater), there needs to be a good reason for making planetfall in the first place. Some possibilities might be:
- Cities with docking bays and tunnels and other things you can fly in, through, and around. Sort of like the asteroid cave ... only man-made. With hidden items stored away in some side corridor.
- Canyons and valleys you can actually hide behind when being chased by a horde of enemy ships. Or you can hide behind in a TW to avoid a barrage of missiles.
- Hostile cities with defenses. Destroy the defenses before flying down those corridors and retrieving what's stored in the hidden crates.
- City corridors again ... make some of them too narrow for anything except a TW. But make using a TW worth the trip (some of the time, anyway).
- Add more planet-only contracts. High-paying ones.
- Add a few high-tech items to the inventory which can only be bought planetside.
- Make some inventory items cheap to buy at a trade station but expensive to buy (and, therefore, sell) on a planet. Like precious metals ... make them less available for mining on a planet ... forcing planets to pay exorbitant prices, compared to what stations would pay.
- Make other items, like water or biologicals for instance, cheap to buy or mine planetside but expensive to buy or sell in space.
- Allow mercenaries to build colonies on planets. Where one colony is worth as much (for territory control) as two or three stations.
From post: 163781, Topic: tid=10921, author=Biscuitism wrote:I hardly see anyone bother with them since they're only good for mining/exploration.
They are also good for TW vs Rebel ship combat. You start out in a ship and then jump into a TW after taking the contract and getting within striking distance.
Now if we could only outfit or TWs with AA missiles or maybe even some, as Nigel_Strange calls them, Foolcrums....From post: 163794, Topic: tid=10921, author=DennyMala wrote:As Marvin say, it's real fun to be a mobile AA squad.
:P
Or the hover height could be decreased to ground level (landing instead of hovering). That might help too.This is brilliant! I wish I had thought of this. Another thing that decreased FOV will help with is the perception of speed. Narrow FOV makes it look like you're moving faster, which is nice. Currently, planetary flight feels slow (also thanks to ginormous vegetation)From post: 163858, Topic: tid=10921, author=onehand wrote:I think the planet sizing is good.
One thought I had that might be quick & easy to implement would be to decrease the field of view, or increase the focal length of the player's camera when in planetary mode.
The wide angle naturally exaggerates the curvature of the horizon (barrel distortion is it? Something like that anyway.)
The FOV could gradually decrease in proportion to your altitude as you get closer to the surface. By the time you got down there, a lot of the horizon's curve wouldn't be as noticeable.
This could also be configurable via two parameters in the sw.cfg, for instance spaceFOV & planetFOV so as not to annoy any players that prefer the wide view.
I agree! And as long as it's configurable, everyone's happy.From post: 163881, Topic: tid=10921, author=Maj. Tom wrote:Doesn't have to be abnormally, headache-inducingly narrow.
Just transitioned during entry to be somewhat narrower than the outer space fov. It would help a lot.
TW's are way bigger than ships. like twice as big.From post: 163886, Topic: tid=10921, author=DaveK wrote:I know that TW's and ships are about the same size, but TW's are definitely on the ground!