Natural Phenomena

[Timevdo]

To give the world in Dual Universe a bit more life, I think that there should be a bit more than just the planets and asteroids shown in trailers, but a bit more "stellar diversity", if you will. All these thing obviously won't be implemented at launch, and may not even be practical to implement.

 

Planets: There have already been several types of planets shown in trailers / discussed, and they have all been rocky, earth-sized planets. I personally think there should be various types of planets beyond the variation in biomes

• Rocky Planets (similar to earth, as shown)
• Gas Giants, with many asteroids / small planets orbiting them. The gas within them should apply pressure and crush any ship that goes too deep in, possibly to collect the gas for something
• Airless planets - planets with no air, like earth's moon
• Liquid planets - planets with all liquid and no land, buildings will have to either float or be underwater

Stars: There should be various types of stars, of varied temperatures and sizes, as well as several "oddball" stars

• Neutron Stars - Very Heavy stars, remnants of smaller supernovae
• Pulsars - Stars that emit radio / radiation pluses, could be used for navigation
• White / Brown dwarf stars - small stars, burning very dimly
• Binary Star Systems - Two stars orbiting each other

 

Nebulae: Nebulae should solar-system sized, with stuff in them (asteroids, etc). Engines should behave differently because of the gas, and the gas itself should be a resource to harvest and use/sell.

 

Black Holes: Found in deep space, they should behave much like real ones, with intense gravity and an event horizon. I do not know what the advantages of going near one would be, but they would have be worth the risk. Perhaps some rare particle radiated by black holes?

 

Comets / Meteor Storms: Small rocks / chunks of ice traveling at high speed through space. Would pose a threat of impact to large ships / stations, and planets, if they are big enough not to burn up.

 

Wormholes: Going into the realm of Sci-Fi, wormholes would act like natural stargates, connecting to another wormhole somewhere. They should be unstable, collapsing and re-forming elsewhere often

 

There could be any number of stellar phenomena in the game, fictional or otherwise, and I think they would add a nice touch of diversity throughout the emptiness of space

[Stig92]

I just started discussion about research through exploration and discovery. Although that idea has lot of potential problems/challenges it would fit with black holes. Extreme unusual condition due to ridiculous gravity etc. could mean some research could only be done close enough to black hole (better research = closer to event horizon) which would be risky with potential reward. Otherwise they would mostly mean area you want to stay away from. Any large moving objects like comets could be hard on server and it might be considered annoying if you ship gets destroyed by random event from game rather than combat with other real players for example. 

 

For wormholes, maybe instead of having random wormhole send you to random place they could be strategic locations where you could build a special star-/jumpgate to stabilize it that could send ships to locations within certain range without need for gate on the other end, or just work as normal gate with longer range. In either case they could be important strategic locations that spark either diplomacy and cooperation or wars for control of the wormhole. What military organisation wouldn't love the ability to drop a fleet in any system on some region of space without caring about gates on that system. 

[Timevdo]

I like your idea about the black holes, but my view on wormholes stands. Wormholes should be a random phenomenon, but should be an essential part to building stargates and similar things. The idea would be that to unlock the technology to build a stargate you must find a wormhole and study it (scan, send probes, collect radiation or particles, etc). Only then will your organization have the technology to build a stargate. This tech should be trade-able, so one, science/technology devoted organization could find a wormhole and then sell that tech to others. 

 

The idea of "stabilizing" a wormhole is a good one, But I think the stabilizing procedure could be done to one or both ends of a wormhole, so you could have one fixed entrance and a shifting exit - ideal for explorers. Or you could stabilize both ends as a cheaper, but choiceless (in regard to location) alternative to building a stargate.

[Sullos]

I too am very keen on the idea of having numerous types of stellar objects.

I don't really care for a meteorite or a comet or other flying projectiles in space - however I can't think of anything I would like more than to live on a planet with a lovely binary star system on the horizon.

 

As far as airless planets go, I am not too sure, but I believe with the players helmet on, they will be able to go onto an airless planet with no problems. I don't know that there is any breathing mechanic in game requiring a player to keep canisters of oxygen in their inventory. However if there is a need for a player to stock up on oxygen and a system for reproducing it whilst in space, then an airless planet will work just like space I imagine (Could be cool, but could also add a level of difficulty some don't like?).

 

An all water planet is definitely a cool idea, but as there isn't too much confirmed in the way of water mechanics and when any true water mechanics will be implemented, an all water planet may not work too well witch current mechanics. However I do like the idea of one!

Gas giants definitely sounds cool! Makes me think of Avatar the movie. How the main planet was a gas giant and the planet where the movie was set was actually a moon of the gas giant. Would be truly spectacular for viewing purposes!

 

For the most part, everything you have said does sound plausible to implement (however, after launch for most of it no doubt). I really like everything you have said as it would add a certain Star Trek sort of immersion and realism. It will probably all be a means of when, and if, NQ decide to implement it.

Also, welcome to the forums.

[Stig92]

 

Gas giants definitely sounds cool! Makes me think of Avatar the movie. How the main planet was a gas giant and the planet where the movie was set was actually a moon of the gas giant. Would be truly spectacular for viewing purposes!

 

 

It could sure look good, although my first example would be Star Wars. 

[Timevdo]

What I had in mind for airless planets, is even if players don't "breath", it would still prove interesting for game play. For example, the lack of air could mean that the "space only" engines would work (and atmospheric engines would not), but you would have to change the design to compensate for gravity. Or another example would be that mining would be easier on airless worlds, as there is no foliage or topsoil, and finding and extracting ores would be easier. Airless planets should also have low gravity, to keep with scientific fact - airless worlds would likely have no air due to a lack of gravity preventing them from accumulating an atmosphere.

[Sullos]

What I had in mind for airless planets, is even if players don't "breath", it would still prove interesting for game play. For example, the lack of air could mean that the "space only" engines would work (and atmospheric engines would not), but you would have to change the design to compensate for gravity. Or another example would be that mining would be easier on airless worlds, as there is no foliage or topsoil, and finding and extracting ores would be easier. Airless planets should also have low gravity, to keep with scientific fact - airless worlds would likely have no air due to a lack of gravity preventing them from accumulating an atmosphere.

Now I certainly like that. It would definitely add another level of immersion and a new form of complication making certain ships required for certain jobs.

Could be a nuisance, but the added realism would be worth it in my opinion.

[Begogian]

This sounds really cool and I hope that after launch they slowly implement these throughout the universe.

 

To tackle your ideas for meteor showers/ comets, this has been stated many times (watch the GDC meet-up for the most recent) that these will never be put in the game or possibly just very far down the road. JC wants everything to be accounted for. Random events like these could cause for players to judge and dis-trust the game as a whole because no matter who the meteors hit, they will always complain they were targeted. He also wants the players to have some form of control over their play. If you build a large ship in a cool place, log off for 1 week, then return and find your entire ship you spent 5 months building shredded to pieces, you would be enraged. This is what he is trying to avoid. Small disasters that do a little bit of harm aren't as bad but JC made it very clear he never wants the player to work for a long time only for his/her creation to get demolished by "natural, random" disasters.