Asteroids

Sweet, I really hope that is the case,

Neutrino's said in the past (live stream I believe) that asteroid belts may possibly be a single entity where you can just go to the belt, take an asteroid, throw it at a planet, and then go to the same place on the belt and take another like an unlimited pool. We know that really isn't the case in reality, since real asteroid belts are made of a large number of asteroids, but this number is still finite.

I think eventually we'll get belts that are infinite, but you'll land on your asteroid when your commander gets there. Remember that asteroids are really small compared to planets, and would take way less time to create now. Imagine when they finally get the game completely optimized. You could render the asteroid mid-game on low to mid end computers without stuttering like a madman.

It's funny, since the spheres that we play on are so tiny it almost makes more sense to call them asteroids instead of planets. Note that this would have the amusing advantage of allowing irregular shapes, although that would be hell on the pathfinding and procedural map generation.



Personally I'm really in love with the idea of asteroid mining. I think it's the one space related story that has sparked the most space enthusiasm (maybe aside from the Mars rover or any number of false leads for alien life) for the last decade or so. Asteroids as an important resource that you can exploit in many different ways* is very intriguing to me, but I guess it doesn't really fit with the game too well.

*Just some examples: you can use asteroids for planet smashing, for resource extraction, for scientific research, as a base to do astronomical observations, for certain types of industrial production that require low gravity/no atmosphere, for dumping waste products(turning asteroids into time bombs?), for gathering solar energy(which can easily be sabotaged by changing the orbit so that the solar panels are in a less useful spot), for hiding stuff (if there are thousands of asteroids how can you possibly check all of them?). You could protect asteroids by trying to hide them, using sophisticated technology to shield them, install them with nuclear missiles. You could need some sort of logistical organisation to transport resources to and fro.

The problem is trying to find ways to fit this into the game. I've been advocating more interplanetary dynamics & space thematics, because to me that's the main draw of the game, since otherwise it's very much like, idk, Supcom?,but with a few gimmicks. It's difficult though, I can't see anything I mentioned being an easy fit with the game. That's because it's an action game and not really an economy simulation. But still, seems intriguing.