demeter A few improvements for Demeter before launch + Extras

[Mjrlun]

This is going to be in a list style format. No poll this time (too many suggestions, just leave comments )

Add "full throttle" key bind. Literally inverse of "stop engines" key bind, but in cruise control just acts like tapping the up-throttle button once.

 

Tank hubs.

• Like container hubs, but for only 1 tank type a piece.

  Quote

  From "My list of various Quality of Life features that would be vital to have" by myself
  
  I'm sure this feature has been suggested basically everywhere, but the amount of flexibility this feature would provide for ship designs makes it a great suggestion for this post. My take on this is as follows. Similar to a container hub, it connects tanks. While this is cool and all, there are 3 different types of tanks in the game, of which are not compatible. In this, my suggestion to solve this is to color code a tank hub (change its coloration of the texture itself) when it connects to a type of tank. Light-blue for Nitron, yellow for Kergon, and white for Xeron. While a type is active, when attempting to connect a tank of different type to it, an error message will appear, stating that different tank types cannot connect to a tank hub at once. Lastly, when there are no connections to the tank hub, it reverts to the original state (and texture).

   

Consider altering the ore distribution to better fit this game loop flaw (forum post). Essentially allow at least 1 tier 2 to exist on all planets/moons.

• Consider making territory units craftable in nanocrafter using tier 1 components, albeit extremely slowly (see referenced post).

 

Consider changes to the atmospheric scattering shader

• It's been a long while, and I'm sure if y'all have planet tech cooking, the atmospheric scattering definitely is being worked on. Frankly though, it's pretty easy to make a good atmospheric shader, especially in an engine that gives a lot of tools for you.
• Make changes so that the trace chemicals in each atmosphere give a transition effect before the atmosphere fades
• night atmosphere is not 100% transparent (a proportion based on the atmosphere's thickness
• Change atmospheric colors of ALL planets to match the planet atmospheres on the MAP (or some other interpretation).

 

Now that I have your attention (here's a word from our sponsor, Raid Shadow Legends!), here's some changes I would like to see in future releases.

 

Total planet reset to accommodate new planet tech. The forum post attached, assuming you also read referenced other posts, would fill my argument.

• It's the last step in improving all the planets after literally everything else has changed.
• Just do it sometime soon, the team has already found, or is going to find ways to make the transition as easy as possible. Ex. "Magic BPs"
• It's beta phase 1, when's phase 2? 
• I'm tired of small planets with bad detailing that all embarrass all of us when we attempt to show the game to friends. Exploration needs good destinations. This game has almost none.

 

Schematics.

• Ties in with the previous ore distribution, but to compare to another game...
  • In Empyrion Galactic Survival, you can start from the ground up (nothing on the player), and make your way to end game, without ever needing to interact with any other player. It is balanced to be like this. A game like DU should promote this as well for a few reasons:
    • Polish, showing the game's designers are good at making the core loops
    • Whenever there's frontier societies, we cannot rely on the rest of society. Especially when you think about the "player made markets", why would bots suddenly be selling these schematics there (giving free cash to the establisher)?
    • The element of progression, which when made well, can be engrossing and well worth the effort, and rewarding (player retention).
• In Demeter I'm quite pleased with the clear well thought out ideas of the mining loops, I'm confident the team is beyond competent to take upon the challenge of this.

 

Physics (player and construct)

• While hard KSP-style (proper Newtonian) physics I don't imagine 100% for this game, many changes should be made to uphold realism and balance for the game.
  • To quote a reddit comment I made on the DU subreddit...

Quote

Engines shouldn't obstruct each other (when placed near one another), but they should find another means of making better spacing. Example:
All engines generate a whole lot of heat, so logically - they will overheat and take damage if placed next to each other. Boom. A realistic reason to not place engines next to each other.

 

For ailerons (and wings) though, it's self explanatory: you'd be generating a lot of drag when the wings are close to one another (see "turbulence" in planes).

(An additional) solution would be a dynamic lift system to correspond to the dynamic drag system. Recognize that all surfaces generate lift and drag, and apply KSP style physics to compensate (Well, perhaps not that extreme, but you get the idea).

 

Thanks for reading, hope you are swayed by my arguments. See y'all!

[Lethys]

Tldr

 

Good luck with those daydreams. NQ will most probably do nothing about it