Landing on a Planet in Space Engineers

Hello astronauts.

I've seen quite a few threads on "Planets" in Space Engineers. Most of the comments are regarding how to optimize such a large object, how it would work on a server, ect.

But I'm wondering - If you could have a planet in SE in any way, what would it be like? Would you want bright, fiery effects as you enter the atmosphere, something that only the toughest ships could survive? How would you want the gravity to effect ships and players?

This is a short video I put together for my dreams of a planet in SE.

 

I'd want any planet to be at least modestly accurate. Some ships are just not designed for atmospheric landings and I think seeing your craft burn up in reentry would be nice way of reminding you that planets bring new dangers.

Your lander had flat leading edge wings which would have burned off unless you did a powered, controlled descent.

Planets would be nice, but I'm not sure they are necessary. Right now Keen seems to be struggling with creating reasonably shaped asteroids. I shudder to think of what they'd give up if they started to generate planets. I'm not sure I'm ready for a donut shaped planet yet.

BTW, great video, your youtube videos always impress me.

 

I think they can do it, they're just at the beginning stages of implementing procedural development, they just need time.

 

I think this is one of the benefits we may see as a result of medieval engineers. I remember hearing in one of the videos that the medieval landscape will be procedurally generated. Why not carry that to space engineers if the work is done already? And if we could have a seamless atmospheric entry, well I'm salivating just thinking about it.

 

My opinion and the way i see it as simplest and best doable:

Every planet is a plane of land, maybe about 20x20 Km big.
On entering the planets "Atmosphere" (view blockade, a skybox that looks like a planet while it's not even being rendered) you are being spawned in the middle of said plane.
If you drill too deep, you just hit indestructible rock.
If you get too close to the planes borders (lateral and vertical) you will recieve the "leaving world" warning and automatically be transferred back to space above the planet.

Reasons:
The CubeGrid allows placing stations only on a certain orientation, so round objects will not be usable on their entire surface.
Having planets with gigantic surfaces would be impossible to bear for any computer.
You can always find what you built on a planet again, because you always enter at the same spot.
It will be possible to take over a planet and block others from entering with your defensive buildings without having to build hundreds of thousands of buildings on aplanet just so noone can enter the planet and kill you in the back.
A indestructible layer of rock about 1 km below the actual surface will eliminate the problem with falling through the map.


Maybe i'm being a dream destroyer here, but several round planets that are completely mineable and consist of cubic Kilometers of mass just won't work with todays technology.

 

I think the thing I'd want the most is beautiful effects when you enter atmosphere. I honestly couldn't care less about mining and ores and such. Also, I'd want it's gravity to effect ALL objects.

One day guys... One day...

 

That would be so cool! Can't wait to experience it from my ships cockpit!

 

Would love to hear an official word from. KSH about it!

 

Planets would be cool, but seeing better differentiated multikilometer planetoids would make me happy.

 

(This is based off information collected a few months ago during an interview with KSH)

The whole team wants planets, and they think it's possible. However, other more important features need to be added first. We cannot guarantee planets, but we would like to have them in someday.

 

Rocky Earth Like Planet: https://youtu.be/a6a69dMLb_k

Imagine this technology implemented into VRAGE

 

"Deal with it."

20/10

 

It seems like it is about tjme for a new Q&A, the last one has been quite a while ago.

 

Yes! Perhaps LSG could do one?

 

The idea of planets sounds cool, but I don't know how well it would work in SE. If planets don't ever get added, I think that some sort of SE-like game set on a planet would be a lot of fun. Preferably it would be set on a non-life sustaining planet that still has gravity and an atmosphere density similar to earth. That way you could build vehicles and stuff similar to vehicles on earth, but there is still the whole space feel to it.

 

Take out a couple adjectives, and you just described Medieval Engineers. I wouldn't be surprised that the first thing a modder does once it is released is re-model the objects to give it a sci-fi feel. Either case, it sounds like ME is definitely in your interest.

 

Looks nice, and it does not have to be real world size, i would be happy if it only was the size of that Mars planet mod, but bigger is cool too
Uhh i can think of some cool planet bases to make. and maybe actually have a reason to make small land vehicles to drive around the planet, to mine or just to explore. Pick it up with my drop ship, and take off into space land on my mother ship, fly away to mine some asteroids or to explore. head home to my home planet again
Space engineers is great as it is, but put in a planet and woa'la best game times 1 mio. hehe


PS to those who don't want planets i would say, give the option to turn it off or simply don't land on em, and just do the stuff you normally would do, But i would bet my right hand that even those who said "NO PLANETS PLZ" would still land on em given the chance

 

Why re-model? Just import it from the SE files, it's based on the same engine.
My biggest interest in ME at the moment and probably the only reason i'll buy it in early access is: can i be the first to make those two games one in a mod?

 

I predict that KSH will give us a scenario that starts the player(s) on the airless surface of Ganymede or Callisto (accurate skybox too plz). The moon's gravity (< 0.15G) would apply to ship grids as well as to floating objects. Inertial dampening would be tweaked so it can make non-landed ships hover in place using the appropriate thrusters. To top if off, we would get ~80 million Km² of spheroidal real estate to toy with.

 

Just thought I'd mention that from a safe orbit, you'd have to wait quite a while before you'd reach the surface. The journey wouldn't be as fast as your video advertises.

I'd be curious to see how this game evolves if we get planets...

 

well closest ive found because I too wanted planets but there is a planetary gravity generator so a generator in a ball shape that pulls you towards the middle of the planet ( if you place the generator in the right area or near it, basically turns a asteroid into a planet best thing ive found though aside from completely sphere asteroids

 

Of course, but I'm sure most people WOULDN'T want a few hours of footage where the planet is getting slightly closer...