Planet/environment hostility - aliens, animals, weather, atmosphere
Under Consideration
This is my 3rd approach of writing this submission since I accidentally refreshed the website twice, so id be glad if you dig in ;D
We all know that planets in SE are lonely, boring and empty even on multiplier. Wolves and spiders were a step into a good direction, although they are annoying since there is no depth to it.
The only challenge that we meet on other planets its the lack of resources and oxygen and the fact that we are far away from earth. Literally. I have plenty of ideas on how we could enhance that part of the game.
I grouped this into two categories such us hostile environment and wildlife.
HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
1. Hostile gravity
Pretty obvious, bigger gravity - stronger lift required for grids. Your space ship definitely aint lifting and you rover will be slammed like a clapped out honda. Walking also will be harder, so you might need a special suit for that: https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers2/pc/topic/46641-idea-moddableupgradabletiered-space-suits-no-suit
2. Hostile atmosphere
No breathable air - no breathing.
In all seriousness, there is more depth into different atmospheres on planets, you would be surprised. Lets start from its harmful part. Some planets' atmospheres could contain harmful gasses that would make grids corrode/degrade overtime if not coated (which is another idea) to prevent it. Just like you coat metals in real life to prevent corrosion. We would need to use filters to breathe or use oxygen tanks. Also filters could filter the air into the stations. Grids or characters exposed to the harmful atmosphere would require a shower in the decontamination room, to prevent irreversible damages (such as repairable damage to the ship or radiation - character).
Useful part of the atmosphere is its ingredients. Each atmosphere may consist separate gasses, which we could collect for future use. Im pretty sure this will be my next submission I'll write - more gasses. So if you are interested in that topic, search for it on my profile. Astroneer has a great use of that mechanic - you fly to different planets to collect gas into the canisters, which later is used for reforging and refining.
If there will be crops and harvesting in SE2, we could also use certain atmospheres to grow certain plants, which harvest is needed for important/rare crafts.
3. Hostile weather
Volcanos - I wont cover them here since I dug deep into the idea of them here: https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers2/pc/topic/46643-volcanos-on-planets
Although, they dont do much harm for the player himself unless a direct contact is mentioned, their appearance in bigger than normal amounts gives off the hostile planet vibe. They could be also a mechanic of planet pollution, seen in Factorio, that later makes the hostile fauna spawn everywhere. Industrialization also could be part of this mechanic. Big topic. Maybe temperature rise? Climate change? Ice cap melt? Sea level rise? Lets not go into that rabbit hole in here..
Storms - short description, check og Astroneer debris storm. I cant forget those since 2017, they never came back as an original, I hope we will be able to see something like that in SE2.
Long description - we could have debris/rock flying around when storm happens, damaging our grids bit by bit. If aerodynamics was implemented (I will most likely cover this topic in another submission as well) we could feel those storms while flying. Stronger storms would make small grids lift off and get flung away.
Hurricanes - storms above the oceans. Twice as fked since you are sailing on your boat. Imagine everything I described before, add 50ft waves to it and have nowhere to escape.
Tsunamis - triggered by hurricanes, landfalls, volcanos and earthquakes. Since entering water with big velocity will most likely damage your grid, same thing should happen when water approaches you with the same big velocity. This could cause flooding and new water bodies such as small lakes or ponds. Same situation as with harmful atmosphere - prolonged exposure to water will cause corrosion.
Acid rains - very similar to what harmful atmosphere will do but with much quicker effect. Uncoated surfaces will simply degrade or melt, we will take damage unless we are in a very advanced suit. That creates a nice twist to the game - imagine you are in your base about to go on a long mining expedition, but weather forecast says otherwise. Instead, you need to hide under your roof. In my opinion it's a nice challenge to have, rather than being just annoying.
Another thing that will benefit from this mechanic would be more thoughtful building strategies. We both know that your 10x40x1 platform with production blocks, medbay, connector for your miner and some wind turbines aint a real base.
And we all have a wet dream of building something like this:
Well, at least now we will actually have need to build roofs.
And decontamination chambers for us and our rovers.
4. Lightnings
Since everybody turns them off (or at least the damage part) it means it needs rework. I should hit our grids (or us) way less frequent, and we should be able to build some sort of lightning rod, which could tranfer the lightning into power, because why not.
HOSTILE WILDLIFE
1. Hostile fauna - exclusive to the environment
Aliens - one of the most if not the most requested feature, partly added (spiders), yet still underdeveloped and unloved. There could be many of iterations of this.
Imagine encountering aliens from the movie Alien on an abandoned space station protecting some sort of lore element or blueprint needed to build a rare block. (I covered something similar here:https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers2/pc/topic/46642-more-sophisitaced-progressionresearchscience-on-survival)
Drops from each entity could be exclusive for it, the fact that a wolf drops a literal motor and power cell makes me laugh every time. I have no idea on what that drop would be used towards, but the chance of this being read by a developer or even being added to the game are slim.
Underwater wildlife - imagine luring deep into the oceans and meeting something like Leviathan from Subnautica
or just smaller sharks, anglerfish and overall hostile fish. Planets with bigger water bodies or water bodies consisting of liquid different from a water could contain even more dangerous entities.
Aliens on planets - as said earlier currently we have spiders, and thats about it. I can imagine aliens exclusive to certain planets, or even biomes. Anything your younger cousin would create in Spore would probably be a perfect fit for here.
Alien attacks - aliens arriving on flying saucers? or just attacking earth? alien factions? us being able to part sides with and attack others, while doing exclusive missions for one for exclusive rewards such as unobtainable tech? many many possibilities.
Earth agressive fauna - such as wolves. Anything what mods could add would work. Lizards, snakes, aligators in forests would work. Lions, tigers on savannah. These animals would not only provide additional challenge, but would also expand possibilities such as food, which I've heard is planned to be implemented. I will also cover general wildlife (its good part) in a different submission, so feel free to check it out.
Bacteria like fauna/flora - if you watched The Expanse, you certainly remember protomolecule. If not, just imagine an infective hazard that can spread across the grid, then the whole planet if not contained, contaminating water bodies, whole biomes and everything. I also recommend checking out SCP foundation entry called 'the flesh that hates' or something like that. Its really good.
2. Hostile flora
It would appear randomly and next to poi's to increase challenge level for exploration. Imagine crashed alien ship with many valuables, but it started an outbreak of some bacteria around it. Or imagine diving deep into the seas but you get too close to a toxic reef or stand on an urchin.
Or imagine exploring a rainforest of an exotic planet and get eaten by an overgrown fly trap. Again, everything here could be exclusive to the planets, biomes and the only limiting factor is creativity. What wont be added by the devs, it will be added by the modders.
Again, Astroneer is a very good source of inspiration when it comes to the hostile flora, since thats the only harmful thing we should watch out for.
Also, if you watched the original Avatar, you definiely will understand me when I say I love the flora there. The overall vibe is crazy. Same with fauna, Keen could take some inspirations..
in my opinion flora should focus on the looks and be dangerous in closer proximity (when potentially harvested), while fauna does all the harm and provides gameplay challenge
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would love devs to touch on this subject more, especially when releasing the vertical slice that will include the planets. I can imagine myself building a base deep into avatars forest or on top of that large tree
would love devs to touch on this subject more, especially when releasing the vertical slice that will include the planets. I can imagine myself building a base deep into avatars forest or on top of that large tree
The suggestions aren't bad, they just seem pretty half-hearted to me - especially the "not comprehensive enough". The planet's environment is interconnected, one phenomenon depends on another and conditions the existence of a third....
I take it the "game planet" will be wilder and more varied than the "boring reality".
Many factors play a role in shaping a planet's environment - among them the age of the planet. Is the planet young, recently (<2 billion years) formed? Will it have a relatively dense atmosphere with no oxygen... Conversely, is the planet old (>6-8 billion years old)? It won't have water and the atmosphere will be thin.
Important point: does the planet have a magnetic field? This also determines what the atmosphere will be like and whether the planet will retain water longer than the first few billion years.
High/low gravity
Depends mainly on the size of the planet - and directly affects the density of the atmosphere. A heavy planet will retain a very dense atmosphere much longer than a light planet.
Movement on a planet could be facilitated by an exoskeleton, but even that has its limits of usefulness. High gravity planets are also difficult to fly on.
Too large and heavy planets (>3-4G) are "uninhabitable", only remotely operated machines can be used to build them... Too small and light planets (<0.25G) lose their atmosphere very quickly and turn into moon-like worlds.
Unbreathable and aggressive atmosphere
What is the composition of the atmosphere? What gases make up the atmosphere? Does the planet have water? How old is the planet? Does it have a magnetic field? What is the equilibrium temperature of the planet? How much energy does it receive from its star, what is the radiation flux? (Venus 2610 W/m2; Earth 1363 W/m2; Mars 591 W/m2)
If a planet's atmosphere contains water, aggressive gases such as HF, HCl, H2S, SO2, but also CO2 or even NH3 will very quickly (in geological time, literally in an instant) be washed out of the atmosphere by rain and react with the rocks of the planetary crust to form stable compounds. If the planet doesn't have water (why?), the reactions with the rocks proceed, albeit more slowly, but persistently, so that after a billion years they combine with the rocks on the planet's surface to form stable compounds and the atmosphere ceases to be aggressive. There is indeed sulfuric acid in the atmosphere on Venus - but mainly in clouds high above the surface, not near the surface.
The young planet will have mainly hydrogen H2, methane CH4, ammonia NH3, nitrogen N2, water/water vapour H2O, carbon dioxide CO2, perhaps carbon monoxide CO, hydrogen sulphide H2S and sulphur dioxide SO2 in its atmosphere. However, some combinations are mutually exclusive. Old planets will have atmospheres of CO2 and N2, hydrogen compounds will go out, hydrogen will be blown out of the atmosphere in billions of years by solar/stellar winds.
Environment and weather
Volcanoes - depends on the age of the planet. Young planets often rebel, old worlds are sleepy and calm... Volcanoes do not form randomly, rather complex geological conditions must be met.
Storms and weather are heavily dependent on the flow of sunlight because that is the energy source that drives them. But they also depend on the density of the atmosphere... On Venus in a 100atm atmosphere a moderate wind of 10 m/s will reliably knock a person off his feet, on Mars you will experience a "hurricane" of 100 m/s just because the air is a bit dustier there...
For lightning to exist, there must be solid particles in the atmosphere - ice crystals, dust... - and they must be moving in the "right way" in the "right place". Otherwise, the electric charge will not accumulate in the necessary quantity.
Meteorites - every day "two truckloads" (30 - 50 tons) of dust, sand and pebbles hit our Earth... The atmosphere is a very reliable shield that only a body with a diameter in the tens of meters has a chance to break through - and remnants with a size of 1 - 2 meters will hit the ground if they do not completely disintegrate...
Biosphere
The alien biosphere is aggressive - but it's aggressiveness on the level of bacteria. Unknown aggressive diseases and infections thus threaten...
But the terrestrial biosphere, which every engineer carries within himself, will be equally aggressive and expansive towards the alien biosphere. Biological warfare at its most entertaining
I don't think that alien animals, except for the most primitive insect-type organisms (perhaps down to fish - organisms governed only by reflexes and instincts, with no significant ability to learn), will automatically be aggressive towards an engineer and his creations.
Animals do not react this way. An animal doesn't usually attack unfamiliar things - it has no reason to. Important thing - the animal does not waste energy.
Animals usually ignore the engineer's creations; they don't match the animal's usual diet, nor the usual prey, nor the usual local predators (nor sexual partners, for that matter).
Another important thing - virtually no animal is a kamikaze; when wounded and in pain, it retreats very quickly, breaks off the fight, and runs away. It is simply the instinct of self-preservation, a necessary equipment of organisms for survival.
In the words of the story of the dinosaurs, "When ten tons of flesh chase other ten tons of flesh, it will not pay attention to a hundred kilograms of flesh - at most it will trample them..."
"Terrestrial animals" can only occur on planets where terraforming has already taken place and a complete terrestrial-type biosphere has formed. Otherwise, no. And on such planets the engineer has nothing to look for... (except for stories like "The Lost Colony")
And a very important note: Alien animals are not telepaths either. Each individual is an individual, and practically does not communicate with others at a higher level.
Animal communication has clear goals: finding a mate for reproduction, territorial claims, in herd animals warning of danger, communicating a food source... Nothing that could serve as a basis for a mass attack on a base or other technical objects.
translated http://www.deepl.com uff...
The suggestions aren't bad, they just seem pretty half-hearted to me - especially the "not comprehensive enough". The planet's environment is interconnected, one phenomenon depends on another and conditions the existence of a third....
I take it the "game planet" will be wilder and more varied than the "boring reality".
Many factors play a role in shaping a planet's environment - among them the age of the planet. Is the planet young, recently (<2 billion years) formed? Will it have a relatively dense atmosphere with no oxygen... Conversely, is the planet old (>6-8 billion years old)? It won't have water and the atmosphere will be thin.
Important point: does the planet have a magnetic field? This also determines what the atmosphere will be like and whether the planet will retain water longer than the first few billion years.
High/low gravity
Depends mainly on the size of the planet - and directly affects the density of the atmosphere. A heavy planet will retain a very dense atmosphere much longer than a light planet.
Movement on a planet could be facilitated by an exoskeleton, but even that has its limits of usefulness. High gravity planets are also difficult to fly on.
Too large and heavy planets (>3-4G) are "uninhabitable", only remotely operated machines can be used to build them... Too small and light planets (<0.25G) lose their atmosphere very quickly and turn into moon-like worlds.
Unbreathable and aggressive atmosphere
What is the composition of the atmosphere? What gases make up the atmosphere? Does the planet have water? How old is the planet? Does it have a magnetic field? What is the equilibrium temperature of the planet? How much energy does it receive from its star, what is the radiation flux? (Venus 2610 W/m2; Earth 1363 W/m2; Mars 591 W/m2)
If a planet's atmosphere contains water, aggressive gases such as HF, HCl, H2S, SO2, but also CO2 or even NH3 will very quickly (in geological time, literally in an instant) be washed out of the atmosphere by rain and react with the rocks of the planetary crust to form stable compounds. If the planet doesn't have water (why?), the reactions with the rocks proceed, albeit more slowly, but persistently, so that after a billion years they combine with the rocks on the planet's surface to form stable compounds and the atmosphere ceases to be aggressive. There is indeed sulfuric acid in the atmosphere on Venus - but mainly in clouds high above the surface, not near the surface.
The young planet will have mainly hydrogen H2, methane CH4, ammonia NH3, nitrogen N2, water/water vapour H2O, carbon dioxide CO2, perhaps carbon monoxide CO, hydrogen sulphide H2S and sulphur dioxide SO2 in its atmosphere. However, some combinations are mutually exclusive. Old planets will have atmospheres of CO2 and N2, hydrogen compounds will go out, hydrogen will be blown out of the atmosphere in billions of years by solar/stellar winds.
Environment and weather
Volcanoes - depends on the age of the planet. Young planets often rebel, old worlds are sleepy and calm... Volcanoes do not form randomly, rather complex geological conditions must be met.
Storms and weather are heavily dependent on the flow of sunlight because that is the energy source that drives them. But they also depend on the density of the atmosphere... On Venus in a 100atm atmosphere a moderate wind of 10 m/s will reliably knock a person off his feet, on Mars you will experience a "hurricane" of 100 m/s just because the air is a bit dustier there...
For lightning to exist, there must be solid particles in the atmosphere - ice crystals, dust... - and they must be moving in the "right way" in the "right place". Otherwise, the electric charge will not accumulate in the necessary quantity.
Meteorites - every day "two truckloads" (30 - 50 tons) of dust, sand and pebbles hit our Earth... The atmosphere is a very reliable shield that only a body with a diameter in the tens of meters has a chance to break through - and remnants with a size of 1 - 2 meters will hit the ground if they do not completely disintegrate...
Biosphere
The alien biosphere is aggressive - but it's aggressiveness on the level of bacteria. Unknown aggressive diseases and infections thus threaten...
But the terrestrial biosphere, which every engineer carries within himself, will be equally aggressive and expansive towards the alien biosphere. Biological warfare at its most entertaining
I don't think that alien animals, except for the most primitive insect-type organisms (perhaps down to fish - organisms governed only by reflexes and instincts, with no significant ability to learn), will automatically be aggressive towards an engineer and his creations.
Animals do not react this way. An animal doesn't usually attack unfamiliar things - it has no reason to. Important thing - the animal does not waste energy.
Animals usually ignore the engineer's creations; they don't match the animal's usual diet, nor the usual prey, nor the usual local predators (nor sexual partners, for that matter).
Another important thing - virtually no animal is a kamikaze; when wounded and in pain, it retreats very quickly, breaks off the fight, and runs away. It is simply the instinct of self-preservation, a necessary equipment of organisms for survival.
In the words of the story of the dinosaurs, "When ten tons of flesh chase other ten tons of flesh, it will not pay attention to a hundred kilograms of flesh - at most it will trample them..."
"Terrestrial animals" can only occur on planets where terraforming has already taken place and a complete terrestrial-type biosphere has formed. Otherwise, no. And on such planets the engineer has nothing to look for... (except for stories like "The Lost Colony")
And a very important note: Alien animals are not telepaths either. Each individual is an individual, and practically does not communicate with others at a higher level.
Animal communication has clear goals: finding a mate for reproduction, territorial claims, in herd animals warning of danger, communicating a food source... Nothing that could serve as a basis for a mass attack on a base or other technical objects.
translated http://www.deepl.com uff...
@ The Expanse idea
An idea I have long had for something immersive and maybe fun, make a somewhat rare alien mold/fungus that is aggressive and spreads onto player structures. If you contact it on a planet, it can infect your grids or suit with spores that later appear on the grids as disgusting growth similar to the "Infested" creep in Warframe. Also similar to "heat leeches" from Starfield.
Suits need to be stored to auto-clean them, or walked through a decontamination chamber which can be built. Creep on grids is removed with a personal tool, maybe a flamethrower or cryo spray. If left to grow on a grid, it increasingly raises the power costs of components and spreads. It also eats through spacesuits, starts leaking O2 and draining energy until cleaned. On grids sometimes it grows lumps which release spores when destroyed by weapons or collision.
I feel that would be an immersive PvE element and also a fun thing to weaponize in PvP if it can be intentionally spread, for example by simply standing on a desired grid for a while or building it by hand while infected.
It could also appear as dormant lumps on asteroids so you need to be careful to destroy them before drilling. Possibly drops a special resource.
@ The Expanse idea
An idea I have long had for something immersive and maybe fun, make a somewhat rare alien mold/fungus that is aggressive and spreads onto player structures. If you contact it on a planet, it can infect your grids or suit with spores that later appear on the grids as disgusting growth similar to the "Infested" creep in Warframe. Also similar to "heat leeches" from Starfield.
Suits need to be stored to auto-clean them, or walked through a decontamination chamber which can be built. Creep on grids is removed with a personal tool, maybe a flamethrower or cryo spray. If left to grow on a grid, it increasingly raises the power costs of components and spreads. It also eats through spacesuits, starts leaking O2 and draining energy until cleaned. On grids sometimes it grows lumps which release spores when destroyed by weapons or collision.
I feel that would be an immersive PvE element and also a fun thing to weaponize in PvP if it can be intentionally spread, for example by simply standing on a desired grid for a while or building it by hand while infected.
It could also appear as dormant lumps on asteroids so you need to be careful to destroy them before drilling. Possibly drops a special resource.
I could see a revisiting of the Sabroids, since Keen never got to finish them in SE1, as an enemy. Or at least, a "bug" enemy type. These are my ideas for them:
1. Sabroid Variants
Small, medium, large and extra large Sabroids, that change in appearance, hazard level and abilities
2. Sabroid Dynamic Difficulty
Sabroids could be attracted to Sound/Vibrations as a difficulty mechanic. When you start out, you barely make sound, maybe a few grunts get alerted, but nothing a simple pistol cannot deal with. As your production scales, the amount and difficulty of Sabroids increases, necessitating the creation of automated defenses. A problem with an automated, engineered solution.
I could see a revisiting of the Sabroids, since Keen never got to finish them in SE1, as an enemy. Or at least, a "bug" enemy type. These are my ideas for them:
1. Sabroid Variants
Small, medium, large and extra large Sabroids, that change in appearance, hazard level and abilities
2. Sabroid Dynamic Difficulty
Sabroids could be attracted to Sound/Vibrations as a difficulty mechanic. When you start out, you barely make sound, maybe a few grunts get alerted, but nothing a simple pistol cannot deal with. As your production scales, the amount and difficulty of Sabroids increases, necessitating the creation of automated defenses. A problem with an automated, engineered solution.
we got it boys, status is changed 👀
time to make survival and planet gameplay way more interesting
we got it boys, status is changed 👀
time to make survival and planet gameplay way more interesting
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