I'm plenty cheerful enough. I'm just not terribly excited by Elite: Dangerous.

No, as in ring systems. Saturn's rings are millions of metres by tens of metres (basically, flat as can be) but are very densely populated with lumps of ice. If that video by Braben was showing lumps of ice, then it's likely a fairly realistic portrayal of some of the rings near Saturn.

I read they were composed of microscopic pieces of ice. Basically just tiny ice crystals full of dust. NASA usually describe them as "grains".

So either the ships are really really really small in that video or some artist licence has been allowed <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//wink3.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

The grains can be up to a kilometre across.

NASA says they: [background=rgb(244, 244, 255)]can be as large as several meters across[/background]

Which is a long way from a kilometre, sorry that text was cut n' paste it seems to retained it's formatting!

I'm not saying that it isn't possible but in Pioneers system we'd just call those moons, have a few hundred of them and generate them separately from the vast amount (billions) of other material in form of tiny dust grains. Also flying around fields of multi-kilometre sized asteroids magically suspended apart from each other like in that video still wouldn't happen.

That's why I said it's down to artistic licence. We can have it if someone wants it, but then we'll get pulled up on it not being "realistic".

The individual elements of the rings are transient... I wouldn't be surprised if there were lumps a few klicks across sometimes, quickly dispersed in a hail of snowballs redirected by a moonlet's passage...

A dense Planetary Ring is probably the closest natural phenomena to the Space Opera "Asteroid Thicket", but there are also things like Kessler Syndrome to consider when it comes to populated worlds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

To combat this gradual effect I've heard a few people suggest using one of the Lagrange Points as a "landfill", which would just move the problem but at least keep it from directly affecting trans-atmospheric navigation. Basically, I think a boneyard / junkyard in space would be the most realistic place (in terms of physics and economics) to have dogfights among clutter. They would be natural Black Market and Piracy havens, refugee camps... awesome places to get into some trouble <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//wink3.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

Natural Planetary rings have a rustic charm of their own... and being able to mine water from them, then drop downstairs to top up the hydrogen would make long range exploration much easier.

Exactly! <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Here's a link that can corroborate this.

http://www.space.com...lanet-ring.html

A few quotes from that link because people might not want to read the whole page <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

However:

Also, while it's true that any body that moves within the "Roche Limit" of a planet will eventually crumble to dust, it doesn't happen over night <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Therefor there are conceivably billions of very young ring systems where the process has only just begun. In those systems I would expect larger, more uneven sized rock/ice formations.

Braben says he believes Ring systems are Transient. 3:15-ish in the procedural video.

My point with that wall of text was just to illustrate that we can have a really cool feature like procedural rocks/ice formations inside rings and have it remain in the realms of possibility <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//wink3.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

The "Joshua Calvert" in all of us will be very happy for it <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//wink3.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

Hehe, that reminds me of Futurama. <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//wink3.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /> The giant ball of garbage they had to deal with from the 21st century.

Hmm I thought I replied to you already <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I did some work on animating fractals on the GPU just over a year ago that could have been used for animated clouds, or at least for part of it:

[media]

At the time I was more interested in making sunspots, something like this: [media]

There was an issue with projection that needed fixing in the shaders, but other than that it woked rather well IMO <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

IIRC Ae_ did something even more suited to clouds, but I don't recall the details.

So guys, do you reckon NASA took a terrible risk sending the Voyager probe through Saturn's rings? Thinking back now to how successful the two missions were, that would have been tragic if it had been destroyed then after travelling so far.

Indeed... an interesting character, is 'Lagrange' Calvert.

Yeah your shader_fun branch is what led to my current #1 issue we've been discussing on the mailing list <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//wink3.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /> its all your fault <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_biggrin.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' /> in the best possible manner of course!

I can see/imagine gas giant clouds needing a more complete solution than you would get away with on rocky worlds but that's a much later issues to address after a lot of other big ones, hopefully someone else will tackle it before i have to <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_biggrin.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

Andy

Hi all,

My name is Ashley and I work as the community support manager at Frontier. I'm just signing up to make myself available to answer any questions about Elite: Dangerous you may have, and hopefully help with any concerns as well.

Obviously there are things that I won't be able to help you with, but I'll try to be as candid as possible with my replies and provide you with the best answers I can!

Thanks, Ashley

Welcome aboard Commander Ashley.

Thank you very much! Hopefully I can be of some use to you all.

Hi Ashley, great to see you here! <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//girl_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

Questions? Heh... I could ask oodles of them, but I'll refrain. Welcome aboard, Ashley!

You should maybe drop a line into the other E: D thread too... not everyone reads all the sub-forums here.

Not a question as such, more of a statement, but i think where Braben is aiming at the moment is probably in line with what i'm thinking. Look at Elite, look at Frontier, look at Oolite, look at Pioneer, look at RSI, etc.... then take a step back and say, ok, what are those guys not doing that would be awesome.

Hi Ashley.

I have a few questions if you don't mind..

Does this mean a seamless galaxy? By that I mean is it possible to fly from one solar system to another using regular engines/thrusters?

I've only heard of this being done once before, in Artlav's game "Spaceway". It's something I'd love to see in Elite 4 <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Also, while there's been some great talk about procedural content, it hasn't actually been confirmed that there will be planetary landings AFAIK.

Thats probably a silly question given the nature of procedural content, but can you allay my paranoia over this? <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//wink3.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

What Elite game is your favorite? <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> Elite, Frontier, or Frontier:First Encounters?

Cheers.

FFE has always been my favourite, but I guess the level of fan squee I felt when FE:2 came out was of a freakin high level. Such a step up from elite 1 to elite 2.

everyone is aking about planetary landings. I don't understand why anyone would worry. it was in the old games, the new game is an expansion of the previous, why would they remove features? DB never says it outloud but he is telling you what his vision is. If you can fly through lightning storms on jupiter you can land on rocky planets.

Congratulations to all backers on passing the half way point.

Thanks Straker...This is great news although we still have a way to go but were buzzing now 🙂

Heres the latest Devs Diary posted just now 🙂

The more I see, the more I like 🙂

Loki999 said; "Not a question as such, more of a statement, but i think where Braben is aiming at the moment is probably in line with what i'm thinking.  Look at Elite, look at Frontier, look at Oolite, look at Pioneer, look at RSI, etc.... then take a step back and say, ok, what are those guys not doing that would be awesome."

That's very insightful. I'm afraid that ELITE Dangerous just might pull me away from Pioneer forever. Although, Pioneer pulled me away from Orbiter for a couple of years, and I just decided to go back to it and start with the earliest rockets that have been simulated for the game. Robert Goddard! Then I'll follow the history of spaceflight by trying all the models in chronological order.Perhaps there's room in my mind for both, but I tend to be a one game kind of guy. But then there's Flight Simulator. I still play that too. OK, I'm on the verge of kickstarting even though I'm underemployed.

A question for FrontierAshley,

Would you please elaborate on the physics of the spacecraft? Will it be Newtonian, biplanes in space, or what?

And another one. Will Sol and the other local systems be represented?

I love em all and play them all...Although i know what you mean.....If its anything like the original Elite i will probably be on it every waking moment  🙂

I advertised this under another post but it disappeared without explanation or warning so i'll repost here:

I'm trying to crowd source funding to do a 'writers pack' pledge for Elite:Dangerous.

Elite is something i'm pretty passionate about and as most of you will know around here i'm a writer.  Thats why I got involved with Pioneer in the first place.

I know some of you aren't supporting Elite:Dangerous and of those that are, not everyone agrees with the meta-kickstarter concept, but if paying 12USD for an official ebook (lesser pledges are greatly received) sounds like a good idea or you just want to help one of your own out, please check out my page :

http://www.indiegogo.com/EliteDangerous-And-here-the-wheel/x/1801378?c=home

We are slowly pushing toward the $1000 USD mark.  Breaking into four figures would be a big boost. 

Thanks,

John

your threads been moved here http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/topic/3141-elitedangerous-novel-and-here-the-wheel/

I've been watching donations for about 10 days and it seems the rate should increase a bit in order to reach the target:

Extrapolating the amount of donations (blue line) until the end of the Kickstarter fund raising gives about GBP 950K vs the GBP 1'250K target (red line).