test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

Going to the Dyson Sphere

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Can we get a mission where we have to go to the Dyson sphere and find a missing starfleet romulan scientist?
helping the missing starfleet romulan scientist to place Metaphasic shielding around the sun inside,

Flying a shuttlecraft around the outside and inside would be a real calange talk about a set of huge maps,

Talk about a deverstatingly cool set of maps for PVP,

space - normal star system
space - outer shell - skiming around the shell in Shuttlecraft [?deathstar trench?]
space - iner sphere system, a deverstatingly cool huge map, later adapted for PVP,
space - iner shell - Shuttlecraft landing threw planet atmosphere
ground - normal ground setup
space - iner iner sphere system, a cool map using satalights to encase the star, before trigering the star to go into a partly controled nova, in an atempt to save the Dyson sphere.

Feature Episode????
Post edited by Unknown User on
«1

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Having a Dyson Sphere as the central plot to an Episode Series would be pretty awesome!

    Perhaps being the same Dyson's sphere that the Enterprise-D discovered and we learn the inhabitants were people who somehow are connected to the Iconians and were forced to flee.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    This is an absolutely lovely idea..

    STO could really use more 'high concept' sci-fi content...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Vor_Eve wrote:
    Can we get a mission where we have to go to the Dyson sphere and find a missing starfleet romulan scientist?
    helping the missing starfleet romulan scientist to place Metaphasic shielding around the sun inside,

    Flying a shuttlecraft around the outside and inside would be a real calange talk about a set of huge maps,

    Talk about a deverstatingly cool set of maps for PVP,

    space - normal star system
    space - outer shell - skiming around the shell in Shuttlecraft [?deathstar trench?]
    space - iner sphere system, a deverstatingly cool huge map, later adapted for PVP,
    space - iner shell - Shuttlecraft landing threw planet atmosphere
    ground - normal ground setup
    space - iner iner sphere system, a cool map using satalights to encase the star, before trigering the star to go into a partly controled nova, in an atempt to save the Dyson sphere.

    Feature Episode????

    The dyson "cube" from Next gen would be cool, but you realize the scale? Earth and SF academy would pale in size. Leave Star Wars out of Trek, with a dyson sphere, Red 5 could be a galaxy class ship......"I used to to bulls eye womp rats in my Galaxy-16 back home, they're not much bigger than 1900 Kilometers."

    Nice idea for a feature, but my god, that's no moon, that's a solar system!


    EDIT=Star Wars just came from your Trench idea, scale man, scale
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I once asked about this thing ages ago, but take into account:
    Why would we be in our shuttles to explore around this thing? It's as big as a Solar System. We'd be just fine in our ships.
    I think a neat quest chain, or even featured content as talked about, would be to find out what eventually became of the thing. At the end of "Relics", it's quite clearly stated that the Federation sent two research vessels to begin studying the sphere. I'm sure in the several decades since then, Federation scientists have made some headway in understanding at least the geography of the sphere, if not it's overall purpose and functions.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I think it's doable. Have like a giant sphere within the zone about half way, you have to find the Interior Doors and pull off a trick bypassing the Tractor Beams like Geordi did.

    The interior would be basically a giant background (since accurate models would lag us to death) and have those plasma balls we call stars in the center.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    The only way to pull it off properly would be to run right into a huge wall the moment you zoned into the space map. Then they could have the door open for you to fly inside, and the back drop of the opposite wall of the map was a star in the center that you could never reach, like some stars on maps are now. But forget about orbiting around it, or traveling more than a few kilometers any direction along side the wall. For it to look right, youd see an endless wall of outer shell extending in every camera direction you could look. And really, you probably shouldnt even see much if any of a curvature inward. So, if the space map was square, the wall would be just 15K from the edge of the map, and it would be like 5% was partitioned off to represent being outside the sphere. Then you fly inside, and the square box we are actually in would have to be painted to make us think we were in a sphere. You wouldnt need much detail on the other three map walls, because technically, you shouldnt be able to see any wall detail, but the inner wall detail of the inner side of the sphere as you came inside the door. But who doesnt want to blow apart a Runabout as you fly your Galaxy through! Oh wait, we cant turn them sideways on our own. Maybe they could in a cutscene...

    Id have loved for them to beam down there. We dont know what it looks like on the "surface". But would be a great archaeology mission site, because everyone down there is dead...or are they?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    From what i remeber of the tng episode flying a Shuttlecraft close to the outer cerface like terain would/could be like the outer cerface of a deathstar,

    Also if the nova is only partly controled the Dyson sphere would get an small cool looking whole in the side of it as damaged fragments flote near by, at leased this way most of the sphere sections suvive to be moved to a new star later by starfleet, this would be made easyer for starfleet if the sphere sections were unlocked first 8 sections i think, this could be done as part of a ground mission,

    i think some of you ar getting two hung up on scale problems trying to do it all as one map, so try to think of it as a set of maps,

    i have not read the TNG Dyson sphere book and as that hapend after the episode i think it should get referenced once or twice just for the history of starfleet efforts localy,
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    With the Vault episode, I immediately thought of both V'Ger and the Dyson Sphere as I piloted my tiny shuttle through it! I would love to encounter the sphere again!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Vor_Eve wrote:
    From what i remeber of the tng episode flying a Shuttlecraft close to the outer cerface like terain would/could be like the outer cerface of a deathstar,

    Also if the nova is only partly controled the Dyson sphere would get an small cool looking whole in the side of it as damaged fragments flote near by, at leased this way most of the sphere sections suvive to be moved to a new star later by starfleet, this would be made easyer for starfleet if the sphere sections were unlocked first
    8 sections i think,

    Whoa whoa, who said anything about TRANSPLANTING the sphere to a new star system? THAT would take 50 years, minimum, even this time period. Even thats likely no where near enough time.

    Lets just stick to a good archaeology mission mystery where its at first :p
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Imagine what that would look like if you were in a skyscrapper, located right next to the doors. The ground would open up, and you would see this big effing Galaxy class coming straight up from the ground from a black pit of endless darkness. THAT would be trippy.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Vor_Eve wrote:
    From what i remeber of the tng episode flying a Shuttlecraft close to the outer cerface like terain would/could be like the outer cerface of a deathstar,

    Also if the nova is only partly controled the Dyson sphere would get an small cool looking whole in the side of it as damaged fragments flote near by, at leased this way most of the sphere sections suvive to be moved to a new star later by starfleet, this would be made easyer for starfleet if the sphere sections were unlocked first 8 sections i think, this could be done as part of a ground mission,

    i think some of you ar getting two hung up on scale problems trying to do it all as one map, so try to think of it as a set of maps,

    i have not read the TNG Dyson sphere book and as that hapend after the episode i think it should get referenced once or twice just for the history of starfleet efforts localy,

    Sorry it needed editing.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Azurian wrote: »
    Having a Dyson Sphere as the central plot to an Episode Series would be pretty awesome!

    Perhaps being the same Dyson's sphere that the Enterprise-D discovered and we learn the inhabitants were people who somehow are connected to the Iconians and were forced to flee.

    Agreed! It could be weekly! Whoever built it comes back. Since its discovery science teams have been exploring it. They are then held hostage. Maybe whoever built it did not come back but was always there. Was not this thing solor system huge! They could have been hiding anywhere. Been hiding for years. Maybe they are not so high tech? Maybe they gave it all up. Or better yet differnet types of people. Some high tech some low tech. You must make contact and find your people. Not all the aliens are nice.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    They could never do it justice on the tactical map.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    AGNT009 wrote: »
    Imagine what that would look like if you were in a skyscrapper, located right next to the doors. The ground would open up, and you would see this big effing Galaxy class coming straight up from the ground from a black pit of endless darkness. THAT would be trippy.

    Just as long as my cutscene description makes it in the episode :p

    The Dyson Sphere is a complete blank slate for story telling. Id try it myself if I thought I could make a sphere gate believable in space. Best the Foundry could do is cut you straight to the surface........hmm.......
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    would be awesome. I'd love this.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    This is a great idea. There are so many ways you could go with this. Maybe have a artifact to display on your trophy wall as a reward?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    wrote:
    Having a Dyson Sphere as the central plot to an Episode Series would be pretty awesome!

    Perhaps being the same Dyson's sphere that the Enterprise-D discovered and we learn the inhabitants were people who somehow are connected to the Iconians and were forced to flee.
    If we visit a Dyson Sphere, it should absolutely be the one already established. I mean, how many of these things would there be?

    I definitely want to see something like this.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    It would be hard to render an object the size of the Dyson Sphere.

    Many people fail to realize that the Dyson Sphere isn't the size of a planet. It is a sphere who's radius is roughly the distance of the Earth from the sun.

    The inner surface is large enough that the collective populations of all known habitable worlds could live on it, and have tons of space to spare.

    If you were to fly within "standard orbit" range of it, it would appear to be a flat plane, much like standing on a planet.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    If we visit a Dyson Sphere, it should absolutely be the one already established. I mean, how many of these things would there be?

    I definitely want to see something like this.

    Technically yes, the odds would be astronomical having one that covered an entire solar system. But it's plausible that a race could encompass a red dwarf and use less materials.
    AdmGillis wrote: »
    It would be hard to render an object the size of the Dyson Sphere.

    Many people fail to realize that the Dyson Sphere isn't the size of a planet. It is a sphere who's radius is roughly the distance of the Earth from the sun.

    The inner surface is large enough that the collective populations of all known habitable worlds could live on it, and have tons of space to spare.

    If you were to fly within "standard orbit" range of it, it would appear to be a flat plane, much like standing on a planet.

    In detail yes. But like I said before the art team could easily use art assets for the background. And the Dyson's shell could easily use simple textures, since the reality it would be too detailed to tell what a road would be from that distance.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    They could never do it justice on the tactical map.

    As much as I love the idea (and I do), I have to agree with Nemesis.

    There's just no way the Devs could possibly do a Dyson sphere correctly with the (innaccurate) scaling we use in this game.

    It's just not possible right now.

    <Hint-hint-nudge-nudge-nudge-Devs-prove-me-wrong>
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I've really wanted this since I first started playing! Stamped, signed, submitted.

    Imagine the foundry missions people could come up with for this thing? But we'd need for the devs to introduce the textues and adjust the scale for it to be feasible. Dan, can we get some love on this one?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Katic wrote: »
    As much as I love the idea (and I do), I have to agree with Nemesis.

    There's just no way the Devs could possibly do a Dyson sphere correctly with the (innaccurate) scaling we use in this game.

    It's just not possible right now.

    <Hint-hint-nudge-nudge-nudge-Devs-prove-me-wrong>

    Have you ever played "Freelancer"? The last mission specifically? When I entered it, I was like "Jesus....".
    It IS possible.... just scares the TRIBBLE out of people the first time hey see it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    And yes, we need more "hard sci fi" content. Space elevators are made obsolete by transporters, but there are other concepts...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Have you ever played "Freelancer"? The last mission specifically? When I entered it, I was like "Jesus....".
    It IS possible.... just scares the TRIBBLE out of people the first time hey see it.

    I remember Freelancer :D
    Fact still remains, Cryptic does not have a clue how to properly scale corridors and I somewhat doubt that they would properly do the dyson's sphere. Then again, it's not even possible to do it ATM. They do not have the tech :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Nu-NRG wrote:
    I remember Freelancer :D
    Fact still remains, Cryptic does not have a clue how to properly scale corridors and I somewhat doubt that they would properly do the dyson's sphere. Then again, it's not even possible to do it ATM. They do not have the tech :D

    Nonsense. The Dyson Sphere in Freelancer was made by simply replacing the "star" texture with some planetary texture with parallax left on. Simple, effective. Has nothing to do with "scaling" as the sphere wouldn't be a real object.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Nonsense. The Dyson Sphere in Freelancer was made by simply replacing the "star" texture with some planetary texture with parallax left on. Simple, effective. Has nothing to do with "scaling" as the sphere wouldn't be a real object.
    Take a space instance, place the sun in the middle, and your ship next to it would still be ... BIG :D

    I rest my case.

    The box within we / you move is to damn small
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Nu-NRG wrote:
    Take a space instance, place the sun in the middle, and your ship next to it would still be ... BIG :D

    I rest my case.

    The box within we / you move is to damn small

    Well then don't make the sun bloody reachable :D Indeed, I rest my case. You can make good impressions even with the current tools.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Nu-NRG wrote:
    I remember Freelancer :D
    Fact still remains, Cryptic does not have a clue how to properly scale corridors and I somewhat doubt that they would properly do the dyson's sphere. Then again, it's not even possible to do it ATM. They do not have the tech :D

    Sad but true. The Dyson Sphere is probably best left to the Star Trek game after this, where hopefully those future devs do know how to get every scale right. This is just too big of a project for our current devs to wrap their heads arounds, even though I could walk up to their whiteboard right now and show them how easy it would be to implement with their current tech, and even current disproportionate ships.

    A simple way to describe all we'd need is take one cube out of a Rubix cube toy. Now, place that little cube and glue it to the inside wall of one of those giant beach balls (the kind you can put your whole body on). That little cube represents the volume of the space we'd be able to move our ships around in, and see the entry door. But you would never be able to reach or see the rest of the inner volume of the ball, and certainly never get remotely close to the sun. We dont need a mission where your ship may perilously float towards the sun, its been done. So the sun can stay a matte painting in the far distance. You could pretend the capitol city was located right near the doorway, and that a bunch of ships swarmed in while your away team was working on the surface, and you had to stop them from bombarding the surface, where their laser animations are firing at the wall of the map. Something like that is doable.

    The only thing that needs 3D detail is the city structures that are just located next to the doorway, the way cities are positioned onto asteroids now. Only the whole wall of the cube where the door was located is fully dressed. The other walls, top, bottom, left, right, and rear wall are nothing but very dimly lit and highly obscure matte paintings. Really, it doesnt make sense that you could even see the rest of the interior of the sphere. Id imagine that if light was allowed to reach out that far, and you were orbiting right next to the door on the inside, to look out to the other walls of the square map, that were painted to trick you into thinking you were in a sphere, would likely be very dark and obscure greens and browns, giving the impression that you could just barely, ever so slightly see the light reflecting off the inner sphere walls. But that little square space around the doorway is highly detailed, because you are literally putting the nose of the ship (nose down) within 1 km of the livable surface, and the next kilometer, the nose of the ship is passing through the big effing whole in the ground that looks like a black abyss.

    You just have to think 4th dimensionally Marty!

    http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Dyson_sphere_interior.jpg

    Take a look at that picture. That sure looks like a city scape surrounding the door to me. In fact, the episode got lazy, and put a matte painting right next to the door, when it could have made sense to see more 3D detail popping out of the city right next to the doors. And why do you make mountains? I guess just to climb. And that big lake must be really really shallow considering you can see just how thin the planets crust is in relation to the doorway right next to it. lol. Well, STO COULD get lazy too and just matte paint everything, but it would be really cool to see little 3D pylons and such sticking out representing buildings you could literally crash the ship into, lol. But if 3D izing an entire wall of a space map is too much for our graphic cards, even if the details are miniature, its probably best to stick with a matte painting.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I still think it's perfectly doable, if you warp somewhere inside the middle, very far from the "walls" - which is possible. Trouble would start if you wanted to "simulate" getting close to the walls...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    A dyson sphere, trashed by its star or not, would be worth 5 episodes just to see one.

    (Though, in an early mission on the Starfleet side, I believe you're told to wipe out a few boatloads of lizard people with a planet that looks suspiciously like a Dyson sphere in the background. I can't recall the mission name, though. Probably one of the Sirius patrols... Shame it couldn't be the location for this, as it's understandably unlikely that Cryptic's going to let Klingons into Sirius Sector.)
    That little cube represents the volume of the space we'd be able to move our ships around in, and see the entry door.

    Five episodes, five rubix cubes. They could try to set up a series of features that doesn't rely on an outside source to give you new missions. Mission one could have admiral Quinn or J'Mpok sending you to investigate the location, and end with you getting trapped in there. Sure, the next seven days you can still fly all over the galaxy, but when episode 2 comes around, you go back to the sphere and one of your BOs acts as if you've stuck there all along, facing the challenges and looking for a way out. It'll be a little bit disjointed, but once the series is finished, those five will follow each other back to back and it'll all probably work like no series before it.

    And fighting a PvP match in one of those sounds like a kickass idea as well.
Sign In or Register to comment.