Planet Fragments

Now that we have planet smashing i was wondering if it might be cool to add a new feature where after a planet smashes into another, if everyone is still alive on other planets then debris (Fragments) from the planet that was just destroyed could move out from where it was at first. Then if any of the fragments get caught in another planets gravity it can get pulled in and smash into it, not planet killing impact obviously but maybe the same as a nuke or smaller (Depending on fragment size?).

This way there is a chance that after a player has killed (presumably) the majority of an enemy there is still a chance it could backfire and level the field if a fragment hits some of his other bases.

Sounds like a good idea, except for one thing. Have you heard about the Kessler syndrome? Space debris colliding with each other will create a cascade in which the debris created by the collision will create more collisions and more and more debris. If collisions happen too much, then we'll just end up with an unusable solar system with millions of pieces of debris floating around. It would be easy for debris to crash on to usable debris/asteroids/space rocks. However, I would like to see some tiny bodies created as a byproduct of planet destruction. Such bodies, of course, would be unstable and highly sought for by the enemy to make its last stand.

This effect refers to satellites around Earth. (See Gravity, no seriously go see it, ******* amazing movie!)

I think this idea has a good bit of potential as long as the debris fields created don't get out of hand. The destruction of a planet should be truly devastating but perhaps not a 0.00% chance of survival if you ask me.

Interesting idea....I would like to see roids that only need one rocket to launch, but dont waste an entire planet...but more just act like a nuke x5 the size

it would be something like that...where debris is scattered around and could crash into an area and cause an nuke to maybe at max nuke X3 effect centered around the unlucky area

This would be fun for massive FFA with 10 people on a 5 planet system with multi planet start points...but not great for a tourney match where you want to try and reduce luck as much as possible

I like this idea, an asteroid impact would blast up big chunks of the planet into orbit, maybe even forming a debris ring.

Maybe some of the chunks will have surviving units (heartier, T2 fabbers that are rated for such a cataclysm) that can rebuild and convert them into annihilators.

The way impacts are now, they just leave a big crater. It would be nice to see a different kind of impact crater, with canyons radiating out in all directions, and lava pooling into the hole. I remember them saying they wanted to have lava fill in impact craters, but terrain deformation would be neat too.

I am hoping that we'll get proper, smaller asteroids - such that you only need 1 Halley to move it, and barely enough room to place one, or even a specialist asteroid-jacker unit. Putting these in far-off asteroid belts near the outer edges of the solar system would provide a good incentive for going interplanetary. If implemented, such asteroids could be spawned from certain planetary impacts.

As a shorter-term thing for increasing the visible impact... have debris "nukes" and mortars be launched when the moon hits, in addition to its basic AOE "delete everything". Adding cracks in the planet - like having a tectonic fault line rip through your base - might also work. There are plenty of ways to subtly improve orbital collisions without taxing the engine too much further; moon crashes mostly hit servers, as it stands, not planets.

I was hoping for a more spectacular impact myself, rather than the small moon just vanishing and creating a water filled hole. All in good time I am sure... Then smaller fragments flying up, and then landing back on the planet instead of just a shock wave that wipes out the entire planet, perhaps a random pocket here and there, where a T2 might barely live through the hail storm of debris that continues to pelt the planet for several hours...

Also, while I was playing with the System Editor, the game lost the oval shaped orbits I had planned on 2 planets colliding after some 5 orbits of the sun, but they wound up on the same circular orbit, had to wrinkle my nose on that one...

Still having fun as it is, even if I have to set the AI to 0 Economy cause I am not that great at it... Oh, will I be able to set it to like 0.25 so that way it can at least build SLOWLY hehehe

I like the idea of the planet breaking into parts if they get hit by a big enough asteroid. But before we start to consider planet parts there should first be asteroid belts. Asteroids belts could also be combined with planet parts to make a debris field in space.

Planet fragments = AMAZING idea.

Off topic: I can't stand to see it.... It depresses me. It looks like one of those movies where you waste the entire movie watching everyone die. So either everyone dies, and I get depressed because it was a foregone conclusion and any hope of survival they had was meaningless, or someone survives completely and utterly improbably and the ending feels like the author didn't have the heart to kill off their main character.

This is mostly FX stuff, what matters more is that the planet smashing all works before you go and make it pretty.

Non-circular Orbits aren't supported for gameplay yet, so they're just replaced with circular orbits for now.

Mike

I like this idea, but maybe we could have the ejecta from the crater form a sort of ring around the planet? would be interesting to see which planets have been annihilated so far

Kessler syndrome is only really a potential problem because no one can really agree on orbit protocols. Aircraft don't crash into each other (often anyway) because they are all in specific flight paths and altitudes. If the dweebs in the US, Russia, China and India could all get together, and agree on where to put the stupid things, it wouldn't be so much of a problem.

Kessler syndrome is also not as big a problem as that movie probably portrays (I haven't seen it, I'm worried they will butcher the physics of it all and I'll get angry, as per usual Hollywood) simply because all those satellites in low orbit will likely decay to the point of reentry in the order of years to decades. ISS for example has to fire its thrusters usually once a month in order to stay in a stable orbit.

side note:
orbital crowding is far more likely to occur in geostationary orbit (35,786 km alt with no orbital inclination (it orbits around the equator) traveling in a circular orbit traveling around 3 km/s). It will take some time for this to be a problem as you have 265,000 km of space to stick things into. The point being is that these orbits decay much more slowly thanks to the lack of atmospheric drag that other objects like the ISS experience.

/end today's science lesson

May I just say,

I LOVE YOU THANK YOU FOR SUGGESTING THIS.

People, take note, it's unique, emergent features like this that will make PA a memorable spiritual successor to TA. This man, h4344, deserves an internet and a place in my eternal "list of cool guys to have a beer with" book.

Uber. Please. Uber please do this. PLEASE.

Gravity is a work of art. It is the best Space/3D movie I have seen, and that is each of those categories alone. It isn't what you are expecting. I can't say to much or it will betray the true beauty of watching it from start to end.

I personally hate cookie cutter scripts, and I also hate it when a movie's ending doesn't have the balls to deliver, but Gravity's ending left me 100% satisfied.

Great idea! But I must say, this:

is also a great follow-on idea. Just imagine it, little mini asteroids floating around, each of them the prefect spot for a hidden orbital launcher or unit cannon. Maybe mini asteroids could even be part of the system generator...

Kessler Syndrome might actually be VERY BENEFICIAL to late game play. Instead of superweapon slugfests, the moment someone cracks a planet in half, the lategame evolves into a struggle for survival! Building huge sprawling bases is suddenly unfeasible as the next thing you know you might be flattened by a destroyed fragment of a metal planet. You have to keep moving or be EXPLODED! Your orbital transports and interplanetary scouts become chips to bet with; do I sacrifice a scout to see if that field of moon fragments is unoccupied? Or should I go all-in and gamble with my Commander's life?

Now that I think about it, that would be a ridiculously fun conclusion to a match. The last two Comanders are tearing each other apart on an asteroid drifting towards the sun, both have expended their last means of escape! Can one kill the other before the asteroid is consumed? "YES!" one player screams aloud, finishing his enemy off by ripping through his metal skull with a blast from his Uber Cannon. "Annihilation Complete," is plastered across the screen. The player cries tears of joy and pure tungsten steel as the asteroid is unceremoniously roasted by the fiery star.

YES!!!!!!!

I like this idea a lot.