Hey, first time poster here. Although these come across more as questions, I suppose they could be construed into suggestions. First, I just want to say that me and a friend of mine have been following Infinity’s development loosely since we first heard of it years ago. We were both amazed with the engines capabilities and have been hoping to see the project come into fruition for some time. Just recently I decided to check in, and was encouraged to hear the news about the Battlescape Kickstarter. I’m happy to see that things are moving ahead.
Anyways, to the point of my post. Watching your videos, seeing the different planetary terrains, and how you guys are experimenting with clouds, I was curious how you guys are going to handle the atmosphere of gas giants. Will there be a massive dense and crushing cloud system swirling around the planets core? Will there be a gravitational pressure system implemented which would crush your ship like a tin can? Fierce winds and lightning storms? I guess I am just oddly fascinated with gas giants. They both terrify and intrigue me.
I was playing Evochron: Mercenary the other day and decided to fly into a gas giants atmosphere to see what would happen. I was able to fly in a bit, I couldn’t see a thing aside from an occasional lightning bolt, and the winds spun my ship around to the point that I got disoriented. Then my ship abruptly exploded in an anti-climactic fashion. Although I wasn’t completely disappointed, I also wasn’t exactly impressed either. I think if I would have used my instruments and afterburner properly I could have flown back out of the atmosphere. I guess I imagined that the gravitational and elemental forces at work would be far too powerful and swept my ship into an unstoppable undertow of gaseous destruction like a paper airplane in a hurricane.
Another thing I was wondering is when we encounter a new procedurally generated planet, will there be some type of subsystem equipped on our ship to scan and evaluate the composition, atmosphere, and temperature of a planet? I enjoy the ability to explore, scan, and research planets and spacial anomalies. In depth descriptions can really put some meaty substance on the visually impressive planetary bones. I was extremely disappointed in Evochron: Mercenary that there was no in depth or even general planetary information given for each planet I encounter. Cool it’s a gas giant… What gasses are the atmosphere comprised of? What’s the “surface” temperature? The gravitation pressure? Or on a terrestrial planet, what kind of minerals and ore can I expect to find? If there are oceans and/or lakes on a planet what are the liquid bodies comprised of? Or planets with thick, stormy, and turbulent atmospheres, what kind of gasses make them up. The thought of hydrocarbon, or ammonia lakes on cold planets, or sulfuric or hydrochloric acid storms on greenhouse planets sound amazing.
Sorry for the extended first post. These thoughts have been swirling in my head for awhile. I love space sims, and I tend to like to play an explorer/researcher role in them. Sadly I’ve never really played one that really itches that scratch, offering in depth information and giving me the sense of both wonder and discovery I yearn for.