Meteor Swarm Variation, Size and Density Adjustments
The first-implementation meteor swarms, as they're pretty much like the SE1 meteor swarms, could use some extra attention before game release. These are some ideas I had to make them more realistic, interesting, and threatening in certain scenarios.
1; the majority of the time, meteors should fall alone. Single-impacter events of various sizes, so some could have no effect unless they impact a player and others could blow out a moderate crater or cause an atmospheric blast on planets with atmospheres.
2; when clusters of meteors do arrive simultaneously, they should be spread out over much larger areas (possibly the entire local area), and should include impacters of multiple sizes. Only on planets with thick atmospheres should single large meteors break up and result in a tightly-packed swarm of meteors moving in parallel. Or they could instead spread out from a point in the atmosphere where the original object broke up, creating a cone of almost-parallel impacters.
3; area-wide meteor shower events should be possible, though rare, where meteors come from the same angle for a minute or two. Mostly very small, objects that would only injure a player or lightly damage unreinforced/armored blocks.
The overall frequency of meteors could be reduced. Sitting on Verdure's moon there seems to be 2-3 meteor swarm clusters falling around me at all times, but only once over about 12 hours did one come within range of my defense turrets. That they only rarely impact/pass near the player is great, but it highlights how bizarre it is, especially on a world with no atmosphere to break them apart, meteors fall in tight clusters of swarms. They feel more like rocket barrages aimed at a specific point than random natural impacts.
On planets with thick atmospheres, it could be quite lovely to see meteor shower events creating shooting stars, with exceedingly few of them making it to the ground.
I like this feedback
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