I need something to keep me caring about this game

Well at least in EVE they have worked a lot on it and a coupla thousand players on grid isn’t that much of an issue performance-wise.

Only because they’ve turned Iceland into a massive server farm.

Their servers are in England. (mostly)

Well shit, I read that article as well. I must have completely forgot about that.

The only thing that keeps me interested in Infinity is that it has the ability to be like Eve but better. Everything that Eve has plus a massive infinitely explorable galaxy that actually uses the planets for more than just eye candy or a crappy mini-game resource generator. As long as players have the same freedom and control over the game in Infinity as they do in Eve it will dominate all other space sims for years to come.

I have being following Infinity for quite some time now and quite sure that i-novae engine will eventually bring us all a great toy to play with “Patience is a virtue”. Speaking of SC (and others)… well, I don’t think that following the big name is a good idea, look at the x-com, it is just a shade of what it used to be made by the very same guys who once long ago happened to make something good. Diablo 3 - a suicide for the title. I will not be too surprised when I see C. Roberts’ new creation trying to catch that long ago success and falling just short of capturing the hart of what space sim means to me. I-novae is the one that while clearly being inspired by the very games we all remember with nostalgia are reaching out for that missing element of all current and past space sims and that is a true freedom and scale of space. After all it is in the nature of things for old farts like C.R to be replaced by younger more ambitious generation. While there is yet no guarantee that this will happen (life does not come with insurance after all) there is hope and very clear signs that it just might become a reality. Until then, for a chance of experiencing that ONE space sim I am willing to be patient and supportive, it’s the least and the most the every one of us can do.

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Excuse me, what are you on about? Elite invented seamless procedural planets.

I think it was pretty obvious that I was speaking about Elite: Dangerous, and not Elite as a franchise…

I think it was pretty obvious that I was speaking about Elite: Dangerous, and not Elite as a franchise…

Yes, but Elite: Dangerous will also lean heavily on procedural generation just as previous Elite games.
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Procedural_Generation

Btw, I do believe that there is plenty of room for more space games. So I do agree with you on most your points for there still being enough reasons to be excited. I just think it’s fair to give ED the credit it deserves instead of downplaying their major feature.

But not, at release, seamless procedural planets.

Reading all the words tends to help.

I guess you mean because there is no landing on planets at release. And sure you are right at release there isn’t. And from a gameplay perspective that matters.

Obviously the planets are procedural though I don’t think there is any reason to question that, and there won’t be any cut screens or anything in the game so it is seamless.

The whole ‘at release’ isn’t really fair though. They made it clear that they will add landing in the game at a later date. I believe there was mention of the aim being within a year. And so far they seem to make good on their promises. So I don’t see any reason to doubt them on that.

Ok, so I’m at a bit of a loss. How is Elite currently handling planets? If you’re not able to actually breach the atmosphere then the detail of the planet can be a lot lower than it will have to be in Infinity/IB. Even if they make all those planets procedurally it doesn’t really match what @INovaeFlavien was talking about.

It is my understanding that at the moment, Elite’s planets are simply procedurally textured spheres. There’s no level-of-detail or terrain engine yet.

Yes, they’re planning to add a terrain planet and seamless landings at a later stage. If that will really happen, remains to be seen. After all, Eve Online has been speaking of adding seamless planets for a decade, too. Even though I’m confident they’ll eventually add them, I don’t think anybody can guarantee at the moment that for sure they’ll be added as a free patch a year after release. They could also choose to make a DLC, or even an entire sequel to their game with this feature…

Not a free patch (well, it’ll be free for anyone who’s in alpha, first-round beta, or paid for an expansion pass), a paid expansion.

As far as I can tell, the only reason they’re waiting is simply because they can’t think of anything to do on the surface of planets (an issue you guys have had in the past, IIRC). They have the capability now, just no content that would use said capability yet. They want to get the “core” game out first, and then take the time to make “expansion” content, like walking avatars or planetary landing, the two named examples.

CCP, on the other hand, would have had to build and integrate a procedural generation engine/function into EVE’s engine, like they had to do for Incarna’s Carbon engine.

What is infinity doing on the actual planet surfaces? Stuff like ground-based defenses and resource generation?

I imagine quite a few cities on populated planets. If it has big canyons, you can bet your two bits that there will be regular races there…

Star Citizen became popular because of a large combination of things, not only Chris’ name.

I don’t know what you’re talking about. SC is turning out to be better than any of us, including CR hoped it would during the initial kickstarter. Never did I or anyone else I know believe that it would be like Infinity. CR specifically address Infinity at one point and said that they are not going to use procedural generation is the main technique for building the universe. They’re handmaking everything of note. Name one thing that SC “lost” when we hit a goal please.

I’m not sure where you got that number… The dogfighting module will be 20 cubic kilometers. Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13436-Ten-For-The-Chairman-Episode-3

edit: sorry for the multiple replies, still getting used to the new format!

I also greatly enjoyed the storyline in Freelancer. Like… greatly.

I also like Wing Commander Prophecy’s storyline.

20 cubic km, or 20 km cubed? They’re very different! 20 cubic km is a cube with sides of 2.7 km in length, where as 20 km cubed is a cube with sides of 20 km in length and has a volume of 8000 cubic km. I have to assume you mean the latter.

Either way, 2 km or 20 km is “a few kilometres” when it comes to outer space.