Venusian planets

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by ambulatorycortex, September 1, 2012.

  1. ambulatorycortex

    ambulatorycortex New Member

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    Venus is an interesting place. Surface temperatures high enough to melt lead, pressure equivalent to a kilometer under the ocean, sulfuric acid clouds, and rivers of lava flowing for hundreds of kilometers. In a game, there are two important layers of a Venusian environment, the surface and the upper atmosphere.

    The surface would require specialized units and structures capable of withstanding the extreme conditions, and perhaps even more specialized units capable of wading through the lava flows. Even weapons would need to be adapted; bombs, missiles, and shells will all degrade to uselessness in the heat and pressure before they can impact their target, and lasers will not perform well in the dense atmosphere. All this comes together to mean that a Venusian surface base would be very difficult to actually attack, since the attacker would need to build specialized units capable of withstanding local conditions.

    In the upper atmosphere above the acid clouds, on the other hand, is a quite mild environment. An unprotected human could survive there, so long as he had an oxygen mask. Since the atmosphere is almost entirely carbon dioxide, lighter than air structures are easy(oxygen is a lifting gas on Venus). Such structures are called aerostats, and they would provide the ability to construct a base on the planet without having to enter the hellish lower atmosphere. The main issue with using aerostats is a lack of minerals; they're in the air, after all. Aerostat bases would have to import minerals either from the surface or from orbit.
  2. rab777

    rab777 New Member

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    A little specific don't you think?

    I think this type of terrain, minus acid clouds, would be covered in lava planets
  3. ghargoil

    ghargoil New Member

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    I support this; would be pretty cool to see something like this... or lava-worlds with limited solid surface... along with a heavy, dense atmosphere (seems close enough).

    Combined with air-suspended structures, and orbital structures, it could be pretty cool.
  4. archer6110

    archer6110 Member

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    I like the idea of planets like this, could be added alongside "lava" planets. I must disagree about the separate units though, sounds like alot of additional fluff that will basically need to be copies of already existing units anyways. It wouldn't be difficult to assume your standard units undergo the necessary preparations to sustain these environments, if they couldn't simply sustain them by default cause they're epic robots.

    The airborne structures sound neat though, and I'd support that (maybe include said structures for "gas" worlds, where they make the most sense) and could literally just drop units from the air in pods when built. Would be neat to watch for sure.
  5. ghargoil

    ghargoil New Member

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    Agreed.

    Though, it should only apply for gas giants with low-enough-G. (like Saturn, not Jupiter)

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