More details on upcoming Asteroids update!

Actually I disagree with this, the *only* thing we didn't get from that pic was the large Swirls in the underlying terrain. What is shown in the picture is however predominantly flat with blocky features dotted around (which is exactly what we got).

I think people inferred what they wanted when they looked at those images however the truth is the terrain in game for the earth biome is very similar in most respects. They even included the swirls in the smaller details when you zoom in (look at the boundaries between sand and forest for example).

Hi Jables, firstly Congratulations I hope you and your wife have a fantastic holiday.

One quick question (and no worries if you can't reply for a while), but is there any chance you can leave the current crater mechanisms available after the change? I think many people like / prefer the crater mechanic looking at the various threads that have cropped up so leaving this in place would allow some interesting options mod wise (assuming it isn't too much work to add the mod hooks?).

Either way I look forward to trying out the new implementation on PTE

I'd have to check with engineering when back, but the idea was polishing up planet movement since we wouldnt have to deal with targeting specific crater spots. So crater code might still be in game, but not sure if modders could make it work as it did before until I talk to an engineer.

And thanks for the congrats now i'm closing computer as wife is ready to go out haha. Talk to everyone next week

well ... this is unfortunate ... no one got a spare couple million?

congratz ... and my condolences for your lost freedom

Why have asteroids at all then? There is literally zero difference to a regular smash we already have.

@jables
Well, I, as many other people, do feel that all just destroys planet are boring, not fun and really inflexible, if crater system can't be redone and it's bad as it's now what about some shockwawe system which destroys structures? Could nuke tech be used for it?


EDIT: What kind of orbit is planned for asteroids? Personally I would like if they had huge orbit and high speed as real asteroids do also have AFAIK, that would make those feel more like asteroids, not just moon-like planet.

iirc unlike planets those would respawn (correct me if wrong)


edit:

Well that doesn't really matter since non-respawning planets end the game just as asteroids do. The game will be over after at most two smashes anyway, so what is the advantage of having asteroids over two smashable moons?

who said that the targetplanet will disappear?
you may wipe a planet but it might be still recoloniseable ... and asteroids can stay small ...
realy a matter of systemcreation ... you could say the same for asteroids without total wipe ...
just send 2 of them ...
uber seems to have issues to include propper craterplay at the moment ...
fact is people asked for asteroids in some form or another for quite some time ... and honestly while maybe not ideal that implementation aint that bad imo ..

Jables did:

hmmmm ... well gotta wait for pte then ...

on the flipside however ..
this way there is indeed a clear reduction of buildspace ... weither or not your commander is on it ..

Sniff.. I smell a.. I told you so.

The only difference this is to a map with 8 small moons with no/very little metal, is that these asteroids appear out of thin air.

imo.. they wouldve been better off revanping craters and shockwaves than those asteroids could've been in the game at a later state but atleast they would be in a state that we envisioned it.

Yeah yeah so do I.

Congrats and have a great time!!

@jables

Why not make asteroids smaller (than planets/moons) with no metal spots. And make it so that the minimum planet size is now larger. You also can't target a specific spot to crash the asteroid (crash spot would be based on it's flight path just like planets/moons), and it won't make a crater either but it doesn't destroy the target planet itself, just everything on it (like a fire wave engulfing the entire target planet) This would mean greater destruction than a nuke. This would mean if you have multiple enemy commanders on the planet then they would all die. With a single nuke you can only destroy a small area and maybe one commander if you are lucky.

When you crash a planet/moon into another planet both get annihilated and an asteroid field is created from the aftermath (obviously with a cool effect, which is different to the asteroids and annihilaser effects). This would give you a bigger incentive to forgo your planet (with it's eco) in order to smash it into another planet. Do you want to forgo your eco in order to take out a whole other resourceful planet or just hit it with an asteroid and then recolonise?

You would obviously require more halleys to move a planet than an asteroid. You can play with the eco cost of a halley to balance it against nukes and the annihilaser. I just think that an asteroid smash should be different from a planet smash is some form or another.

Smashing Asteroids - Destroy everything on the planet, but leave the planet intact.
Smashing Planets - Both planets break up/disintegrate and an asteroid field is left behind.

I feel like there should be a difference between planets and asteroids in the planet - smash animation, if that's at all possible. I like planktums idea of asteroids not removing the planet from play.

I'm wondering if there is anyone on the forums who is excited about having asteroids remove planetary bodies and is just keeping quiet about it?

Personally, I feel that if we're going to bother with adding asteroids there should be a significant difference from planet smashing. At the very least I'd like planktum's suggestion of asteroids wiping the surface and planets giving complete destruction.

I suppose if there are metal spots on asteroids and they respawn after use that would be a difference as well, but if the smash will be exactly the same as a planet smash, what is the use case for adding them. Will we be able to setup systems so that asteroids don't spawn until a certain timestamp?

honestly I think I'd have the same amount of fun either way.

There's your indication. This is not minecraft or WoW, we won't get YEARS of updates, I'll be surprised if there's still significant stuff happening by 2016. We're not in alpha or beta or gamma, the Asteroids is the last Big gameplay feature that will get crammed in, after that it's gonna be bugfix and balance. And yeah mods can be awesome, so I'll be interested if someone decide to try their hands at modding more gameplay features. Anyway Uber did complete their todo list they had on kickstarter, no denying that. That alone is an achievement that over half of other early access game fail to do, so I'm not screaming "SCAM!!1!", it's just...Maybe I just got overly enthusiastic about the whole thing, I tend to do that.

You're extrapolating a ton here, bro. You are completely within logical grounds to claim as such, but it is still a pretty big stretch.