Agreed. I can't fly into a single system without being blockaded by an asteroid belt. I don't think I've gone to a single system that is devoid of asteroids, which is completely unrealistic.
The other issue I have is my Away Team constantly insisting I beam down onto Gas Giants. That sort of strikes me as off, but I'm not that familiar with Star Trek Lore and assume they've established a way to overcome the immense pressures of a Gas Giant in order to establish facilities.
Although, once I beamed onto the surface of a planet without any type of breathing apparatus and thought I was about to die.
But seriously, its simply artistic liberty. They are trying to make it look more interesting than it actually is. You are right, 90% of real space is pretty boring and empty. Doesnt sound like fun.
Like totally empty, nothing in there, vacuum, nada, zip, zilch?
There's always something going on if you look close enough.
But we aren't talking about the space between solar systems, are we? We are talking about within the system itself. That's where all our fighting is. Look at our solar system. Kuiper Belt. Oort cloud. Asteroid belt. More than half our planets have rings around them.
I'd say that we SHOULD be fighting on average between asteroids.
The only time I'd agree with you would be in Deep Space Encounters. Get the rocks out of there.
Your title made me chuckle. Another poster was wondering about Cryptic's obsession about the number 5 a few days ago. Maybe the devs need to read Freud's books
Anyway, I believe asteroids have to function : eye candy and give the illusion of movement.
If I have one cake from time to time, it's delicious. If I have cake ALL THE TIME, I don't even notice anymore and just eat it like bread. I'd like to see more black space, at least a little more. But be sure that you'll have many people who disagree with that.
The asteroids provide the additional combat mechanic of line of sight. Sometimes they break the LOS of many attackers while still alowing me to lure one into sight while I pummel them... and the others are scrambling to regain their target locks on me.
Homeworld already tried the whole space is empty with no sound thing. They filled it with dust and music, and thats about it. The game was fun at first but once you saw one area, you saw them all. Star Trek Online has to add matter to space otherwise it might as well be the revolutionary war and all the ship just get in line and start firing at one another...
I get it that they need SOME asteroids/debris or whatever for the illusion of movement and so 3/4 of your gaming time isn't staring at a ship + black background, but yeah they went a bit overboard on it.
The asteroids provide the additional combat mechanic of line of sight. Sometimes they break the LOS of many attackers while still alowing me to lure one into sight while I pummel them... and the others are scrambling to regain their target locks on me.
Maybe if/when LoS isn't broken that will matter. I have NPCs shooting me through asteroids all the time and get an AI ship half stuck in one in plain view, but the game says I don't have a LoS on it.
Ditto - last night I had two ships "parked" underneath an asteroid, and I couldn't target them at all, from any position, while they merriily sniped away at me.
For a good anecdote relating to this kind of thing, check out the DVD commentaries by Ridley Scott on the making of the movie, 'Alien' specifically the bit about filming the model of the Nostromo landing on LV-426. One of the special effects guys commented to Scott that 'there's no atmosphere in space' when Scott wanted smoke blowing around as the ship descended to the surface. 'There is now mate' replied Scott, since he knew that it would simply look better that way.
Star Trek has an example of this kind of thing too, notably when it depicts warp speeds and shows blurred stars whizzing past. These would not be seen in reality, since even at vast warp speeds, the stars would be so distant that they would not appear to be passing the craft. Nevertheless, if it was depicted like that on the show, it would just look like the ship was not moving at all.
i agree with OP
i ONCE visited a system which was empty (just planet and star) No astreoids and no nebulas and let me tell you, it was really georgeous.
just blackness of space (yeah that thing you see on left and right frame of the forum) my ship and the planet.
Personally I wand them to make asteroids damage you, kind of like Ramming Speed does.
You know, make shields eliminate most of the damage, and make the damage based on the speed your moving.
Mostly because one of my favorite things to do is fly at full impulse through the ubiquitous asteroid belts, and dodge and weave though them all. It's awesome, but there's no danger.. No incentive to NOT fly right into them.
It would make my day to fly full impulse right into a 1000' wide space rock and wipe out.
And then there'd be a real use for deflectors too...
Asteroids / dust are only a point of reference so you can actually see yourself moving.
Planets and motion trails already accomplish that. The asteroids are an excessive, laggy eyesore. The dust can stay but the asteroids are ridiculous. I cannot find a system without a cloud of them that looks like someone smashed up a styrofoam box or something. The dust doesn't bug me though.
This could have been a cool picture. Shame I can hardly see the planet.
Did anyone else notice how many terrestrial planets have rings? If Cryptic had done their research into the game, they'd know that's nearly impossible.
On a side note regarding their obsession with the number 5... it's nice to see missions now with varying objectives that usually do not have the number 5 anywhere in them, unless I'm trying to get to 7 or 9.
I don't know if that's a by-product of the patch or a by-product of me leveling beyond the #5 missions.
But honestly, at max visual settings this is one of the nicest looking games in my collection and it's shadow and particle systems are awesome... They clearly went full-tilt on debris and asteroids, but to great effect too... as the French said...back when they had anything: "If ya got it...flaunt it..."
Comments
The other issue I have is my Away Team constantly insisting I beam down onto Gas Giants. That sort of strikes me as off, but I'm not that familiar with Star Trek Lore and assume they've established a way to overcome the immense pressures of a Gas Giant in order to establish facilities.
Although, once I beamed onto the surface of a planet without any type of breathing apparatus and thought I was about to die.
But seriously, its simply artistic liberty. They are trying to make it look more interesting than it actually is. You are right, 90% of real space is pretty boring and empty. Doesnt sound like fun.
But we aren't talking about the space between solar systems, are we? We are talking about within the system itself. That's where all our fighting is. Look at our solar system. Kuiper Belt. Oort cloud. Asteroid belt. More than half our planets have rings around them.
I'd say that we SHOULD be fighting on average between asteroids.
The only time I'd agree with you would be in Deep Space Encounters. Get the rocks out of there.
Anyway, I believe asteroids have to function : eye candy and give the illusion of movement.
If I have one cake from time to time, it's delicious. If I have cake ALL THE TIME, I don't even notice anymore and just eat it like bread. I'd like to see more black space, at least a little more. But be sure that you'll have many people who disagree with that.
"To each his own", definitely.
I can so no legitemate reason to have the game flooded with them.
No other Trek game in history has had it anywhere near this.
I get sick seeing rocks everywhere I look, it gets boring.
As for indication if or how fast I move: Look at the "particles" around your screen when you fly...indication enough.
Maybe if/when LoS isn't broken that will matter. I have NPCs shooting me through asteroids all the time and get an AI ship half stuck in one in plain view, but the game says I don't have a LoS on it.
Star Trek has an example of this kind of thing too, notably when it depicts warp speeds and shows blurred stars whizzing past. These would not be seen in reality, since even at vast warp speeds, the stars would be so distant that they would not appear to be passing the craft. Nevertheless, if it was depicted like that on the show, it would just look like the ship was not moving at all.
Al
The ship is not moving at all... space is.
i ONCE visited a system which was empty (just planet and star) No astreoids and no nebulas and let me tell you, it was really georgeous.
just blackness of space (yeah that thing you see on left and right frame of the forum) my ship and the planet.
yar
aren't you people familiar with warp theory? GOD....
Alcubierre Drive
You know, make shields eliminate most of the damage, and make the damage based on the speed your moving.
Mostly because one of my favorite things to do is fly at full impulse through the ubiquitous asteroid belts, and dodge and weave though them all. It's awesome, but there's no danger.. No incentive to NOT fly right into them.
It would make my day to fly full impulse right into a 1000' wide space rock and wipe out.
And then there'd be a real use for deflectors too...
Planets and motion trails already accomplish that. The asteroids are an excessive, laggy eyesore. The dust can stay but the asteroids are ridiculous. I cannot find a system without a cloud of them that looks like someone smashed up a styrofoam box or something. The dust doesn't bug me though.
This could have been a cool picture. Shame I can hardly see the planet.
I don't know if that's a by-product of the patch or a by-product of me leveling beyond the #5 missions.
He he... Yeah this is a true observation...
But honestly, at max visual settings this is one of the nicest looking games in my collection and it's shadow and particle systems are awesome... They clearly went full-tilt on debris and asteroids, but to great effect too... as the French said...back when they had anything: "If ya got it...flaunt it..."