Moons and Asteroids should not have air or atmosphere

Indications can be as simple as an icon indicating that the planet contains no air. Or, the absence of the big blue sphere around the planet. I think there are plenty of solutions possible.

Oh by the way: there are multiple ways to approach this.

1: Size rule: under a certain size planets have no atmosphere (and atmosphere-dependent biomes like jungle are impossible). Forcing them all to be moon-type is a stretch too far since ice-asteroids are possible too.

2: Non-air biome rule. (ensure that certain biomes, like Moon, never have an atmosphere no matter the size, and introduce more non-air biomes).

3: Toggle rule (make it optional) which i think is the lamest.

Since the power of air is speed, i think option 1 is the best (making small planets a bit harder to defend).


I think the idea was raised that Gas Giants should be air-only, and i like that too. Ground and Naval units are biased by terrain so i don't see why air can not be. If anything, PA's setup makes it more immersive (not realistic) than ever.

Metal planets don't seem like they would have an atmosphere either.

It might make the chokepoints extra annoying tho. OR extra interesting.

You mean comets?

>implying implications

No, comets are different from asteroids.

Asteroids come in all sorts, ranging from lumps of platinum, silver and gold etc to lumps of iron-nickel, to lumps of water ice.

On a planet, heavy elements sink to the core and light elements stay on top, which is why we have a thick iron core. Asteroids have no such process so they can consist of elements we only find miles below the ground.


By the way, i believe that (part of) the definition of a comet is that it needs to have a tail and needs to orbit the sun in a highly elliptical orbit. Asteroids are pretty much "space junk".

Depending on what they're supposed to be, it could go either way.

Any sufficiently big mass can (but doesn't have to) have an atmosphere. Pluto has an atmosphere for a quarter or so of it's orbit, the rest of the time it's frozen solid (yes, pluto's so cold it's atmosphere freezes).

Obviously, in reality the conditions shape the biome and not the other way around. For planet generation purposes, i don't see why it can't be the other way around: picking specific biomes (or templates for that matter) determines an atmosphere.

Just a bit of nitpicking: Pluto's atmosphere nowadays is assumed to fluctuate in density but not collapse completely. Be that as it may. though, would make for really interesting mod material.

edit: planetary society link

AH OK didnt know. I do think, say, a non-atmosphere asteriod biome would be a great addition to start

Lumps of water ice are basically what comets are. And as soon as they get near a star they're going to grow a pretty little tail and either
A) Plummet to their death straight into the fiery nuclear furnace that is the star
B) Get stuck in a billion year orbit until they die a horrible slow death.

I know you're just trying to be helpful but trust me when I say you don't need to give me basic information on anything related to astronomy/astrophysics. That's my favourite area of science.

There's no need to go ten rounds about who's more right. The difference between a water-ice comet and a water-ice asteroid is one of orbit. The tail is a direct result of the orbit. Ergo, it's a difference of definition.

There's a lot of debate on the difference between comets and asteroids in the astronomical community. Just saying.

You should check up on the latest observations of comets from probes. They are basically confirmed to be rocky by now, which is baffling a lot of this astronomical "community".

I like this a lot, but where will the air get built from? No land OR water.

Well technically, as you move closer to the core the density would increase, so you'd kind of have water/land.

At the pressure to turn gas into a solid or liquid you would be instantly crushed.

Yeah, minor problem. Shhh. Don't tell the engineering department.

The Moon also has a very thin atmosphere of dust, but you couldn't get an airplane flying on either of them.

"At the pressure to turn gas into a solid or liquid you would be instantly crushed."

This is not true. co2 going to liquid in 5.1atm. pressure .
Robots survive bigger pressure and temperature differences.

Robots that are designed to, and such machines would be nothing like the planes we use in our atmosphere.

So it's a moot point either way, a gas giant is too volatile to fly in with anything to be worth actually doing so.

Think Venus, but worse.

Good job blowing arbitrary **** out of proportion.

Comets would be hell to play by the way as the Tail would make controlling anything on it hell.

Floating air platform or so.

Places like Jupiter are mostly helium or hydrogen which requires a lot more pressure.

It's not like there's a boundary by the way. As you go down the layers simply transition. There's no "sea" of liquid hydrogen or helium or anything down there. More like a thick fog that below a certain level is solid and above that so thick it might as well be solid.

By the way, a new Floating Factory or so could be an excellent excuse for gasgiant-only aircraft.