SpaceSimCentral

I personally think that "realistic" background stars is a bit of a fools errand, but thats just me, and I'm not likely to argue if consensus goes the other way (particularly if working code is produced).The last post does bring up the interesting question of what hyperspace actually is. Pioneer star "streak" effect currently makes it look like some kind of super-fast real-space mechanism (a bit like Star Trek I guess). FFE looked a bit more like a tunnel between two points in space (it looked rather like the Stargate travel effect). I honestly can't remember if Frontier proper was any different.We can look to other TV sci-fi for inspiration. Hyperspace has often been depicted as a kind of "alternate"-space which has normal physics internally (eg Babylon 5). There's others of course - the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica was a kind of instantaneous "blip", where you disappeared from one place and reappear in another. The cost came from the complex calculations required.I've always assumed that Frontier (and perhaps even Elite) was always meant to be a bit like the Babylon 5 mechanism. Witch-space amounts to something like battles in hyperspace. Mis-jumps can be accounted for by screwing up and leaving in the wrong place. The idea that it takes some significant amount of time to travel works there too.I don't know if we need to think about what kind of interactions can occur in hyperspace. If its a real-space mechanism, is it possible to be pulled out or attacked? If its an alternate space, can interactions happen there? If you're entirely isolated, then where are you?Oh, and I can't help feeling that "jumpgate" type mechanisms might be interesting for making deep-space trade/exploration feasible. That might be another discussion though.

robn wrote:
Oh, and I can't help feeling that "jumpgate" type mechanisms might be interesting for making deep-space trade/exploration feasible. That might be another discussion though.
That point is a good one. What the game - as did Frontier - is lacking is a feeling for distances. It just doesn't feel like a trip into deep space at all when you just hit the hyperspace button, choose the next target and hit the button again. jump gates could help, i actually like the way freelancer did it. Sometimes it was incredibly exiting to get to the gate with the whole cargo filled with illegal goods and the fear of getting disrupted by pirates in mind.

robn wrote:
I've always assumed that Frontier (and perhaps even Elite) was always meant to be a bit like the Babylon 5 mechanism. Witch-space amounts to something like battles in hyperspace. Mis-jumps can be accounted for by screwing up and leaving in the wrong place. The idea that it takes some significant amount of time to travel works there too.I don't know if we need to think about what kind of interactions can occur in hyperspace. If its a real-space mechanism, is it possible to be pulled out or attacked? If its an alternate space, can interactions happen there? If you're entirely isolated, then where are you?
This was something I really missed in Frontier. In the original Elite there was always the chance you could get "mugged" by the Thargoids and I think you are spot on with the Babylon 5 comparison. You did tunnel through space. In Frontier the tunnel was even blue and red shifted depending on your point of view. Example, facing forward you see a blue hyperspace cloud, facing backwards you see a red one (or rather an orange one in Frontier) during the jump.
robn wrote:
Oh, and I can't help feeling that "jumpgate" type mechanisms might be interesting for making deep-space trade/exploration feasible. That might be another discussion though.
I think they might be useful for small ships that have limited range, but should charge the player for using them. To put them everywhere (like in Freelancer), in my opinion, would detract from the the fact that hyperdrives are available for sale. So why would you use jumpgates? Think of it this way. Why would you use a bus to get around while you have a car sitting in your garage?I do agree though that some sense of distance needs to be incorporated into the game. Perhaps there could be a different hyperspace effect for differing lengths of jumps, for example really long jumps, the effect lasts a bit longer as your engines gather the energy required for such a far distance. Just my thoughts

Geraldine wrote:
You did tunnel through space. In Frontier the tunnel was even blue and red shifted depending on your point of view. Example, facing forward you see a blue hyperspace cloud, facing backwards you see a red one (or rather an orange one in Frontier) during the jump.
Yes! Thank you for the reminder - its been years and I had completely forgotten.
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robn wrote:
Oh, and I can't help feeling that "jumpgate" type mechanisms might be interesting for making deep-space trade/exploration feasible. That might be another discussion though.
I think they might be useful for small ships that have limited range, but should charge the player for using them. To put them everywhere (like in Freelancer), in my opinion, would detract from the the fact that hyperdrives are available for sale. So why would you use jumpgates? Think of it this way. Why would you use a bus to get around while you have a car sitting in your garage?
I commute via bus five days a week. I take it because its cheaper than my car and ends up being faster in peak-hour because it gets priority lanes. The downside is that I can't change my departure time or destination on a whim, and I can only carry what I can fit in my bag. Its interesting to consider how those things might factor into gameplay.If we made it so that hyperspace carried risks and costs, then a jumpgate system could exist to reduce those risks. Borrowing from Babylon 5 again, lets say that small ships aren't big enough to carry a hyperdrive and/or aren't powerful enough to generate the energy required. They have to use jumpgates, which limits them to the well-established and well-protected routes. Profits are lower, but so is the risk. Its like the Sol-Barnard's Star run :)Larger ships can get themselves in and out of hyperspace, so they can go exploring/mining or just reach the far-flung colonies that don't have a jumpgate yet. There's greater risk of attack (in or out of hyperspace), greater chance of mis-jumps (imagine shipping lanes in hyperspace for the jumpgate routes) and so on.Missions could add/remove jumpgates to systems much in the same way that they'll be able to add/remove space stations and other planetary bodies (something I'm working towards). And I can already envision the difficulty of a recon/bombing mission that requires a small, fast craft against a secret or remote base that doesn't have a jumpgate nearby. Then you either have to do it in a large ship that isn't suitable (higher risk) or we need to be able to jump into the system in a large ship and then deploy a fighter to do the grunt work.Something like this would be a pretty significant departure from the traditional Frontier setup. That's not a bad thing necessarily, but we must be careful. So far we're mostly just implementing a design that has been long established and understood. We're talking about add mechanics that require everything to be checked and rebalanced. We'd be proper game designers

"mist"i lost a article, because i logged out meanwhile. ;)any way short the specs for antares, all the rest i wrote i forgot (no, i remember now some hyperspace, jumpgate stuff).
Code:
CustomSystem:new("Antares", { Body.Type.STAR_M_GIANT, Body.Type.STAR_A }):seed(23115):govtype(Polit.GovType.CORPORATE)
this will end up in a populated binary system, but the masses and radie of the stars arn't correct of course. furthert it should be a spectral type B, but that's to large for the requested system and offers no (or rarely) populated systems.the main star should have a mass of 15 solar masses and 820 solar radie, Antares B should have, as i found out now, 7 solar masses and 4 solar radie (prev. i used a generated value and the planets in the scripted system reflect this, so i i'll have to update them).
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local s = CustomSystem:new("Antares", { Body.Type.STAR_M_GIANT, Body.Type.STAR_A }):seed(23115):govtype(Polit.GovType.CORPORATE)-- 23115,-- 23111, 23113, (23117 no settlements), 23118, local star_A = CustomSBody:new('Antares A', Body.Type.STAR_M_GIANT ):radius(f(820,1)):mass(f(155,10)):temp(3500)local star_B = CustomSBody:new('Antares B', Body.Type.STAR_A ):radius(f(4,1)):mass(f(7,10)):temp(18000) :semi_major_axis(f(550,1)):eccentricity(f(2,100))local planet_Ba = CustomSBody:new('Antares B a', Body.Type.PLANET_TERRESTRIAL) --:seed(0):radius(f(73,100)):mass(f(375,1000)):temp(2283):semi_major_axis(f(427,10000)):eccentricity(f(7,100)):inclination(math.deg2rad(1.9)):rotation_period(f(833,100)):axial_tilt(math.fixed.deg2rad(f(13,10))) :metallicity(f(1,10)):volcanicity(f(9,10))local planet_Bb = CustomSBody:new('Antares B b', Body.Type.PLANET_TERRESTRIAL) --:seed(0):radius(f(645,1000)):mass(f(27,100)):temp(1863):semi_major_axis(f(66,1000)):eccentricity(f(7,100)):inclination(math.deg2rad(4.1)):rotation_period(f(833,100)):axial_tilt(math.fixed.deg2rad(f(23,10))):metallicity(f(3,10)):volcanicity(f(7,10)):atmos_density(f(1,10)):atmos_oxidizing(f(4,10)):ocean_cover(f(1,5))local planet_Bc = CustomSBody:new('Antares B c', Body.Type.PLANET_TERRESTRIAL) --:seed(0):radius(f(1013,1000)):mass(f(1082,1000)):temp(1553):semi_major_axis(f(99,1000)):eccentricity(f(4,100)):inclination(math.deg2rad(2.9)):rotation_period(f(696,100)):axial_tilt(math.fixed.deg2rad(f(19,10))):metallicity(f(3,10)):volcanicity(f(9,10)):atmos_density(f(1,2)):atmos_oxidizing(f(4,10)):ocean_cover(f(1,5))local planet_Bd = CustomSBody:new('Antares B d', Body.Type.PLANET_TERRESTRIAL) :seed(1):radius(f(161,100)):mass(f(1108,1000)):temp(1080):semi_major_axis(f(16,100)):eccentricity(f(15,100)):inclination(math.deg2rad(2.1)):rotation_period(f(54,100)):axial_tilt(math.fixed.deg2rad(f(25,10))):metallicity(f(8,10)):volcanicity(f(3,10)):atmos_density(f(2,1)):atmos_oxidizing(f(6,10)):ocean_cover(f(1,5))local planet_Be = CustomSBody:new('Antares B e', Body.Type.PLANET_GAS_GIANT) :seed(-1):radius(f(218,100)):mass(f(10341,1000)):temp(626):semi_major_axis(f(52,100)):eccentricity(f(14,100)):inclination(math.deg2rad(3.4)):rotation_period(f(179,100)):axial_tilt(math.fixed.deg2rad(f(5,10)))local planet_Bf = CustomSBody:new('Shangri-La', Body.Type.PLANET_TERRESTRIAL) :seed(7061) -- 7061. 7084, :radius(f(812,1000)):mass(f(536,1000)):temp(285) -- 259:semi_major_axis(f(348,100)):eccentricity(f(22,100)):inclination(math.deg2rad(1.5)):rotation_period(f(754,1000)):axial_tilt(math.fixed.deg2rad(f(45,10))):metallicity(f(3,10)):volcanicity(f(3,10)):atmos_density(f(2,3)):atmos_oxidizing(f(6,10)):ocean_cover(f(4,10)):ice_cover(f(3,10)):life(f(51,100))local ports_Bf = { CustomSBody:new('New Glarus', Body.Type.STARPORT_SURFACE):seed(1):latitude(math.deg2rad(47)):longitude(math.deg2rad(-9)),CustomSBody:new('Sapphire City', Body.Type.STARPORT_SURFACE):seed(2):latitude(math.deg2rad(1)):longitude(math.deg2rad(89)),CustomSBody:new('Schrader Town', Body.Type.STARPORT_SURFACE):seed(3):latitude(math.deg2rad(1)):longitude(math.deg2rad(-1)),CustomSBody:new('Noble Station', Body.Type.STARPORT_ORBITAL):seed(2):semi_major_axis(f(85,100000)):rotation_period(f(1,24*60*3)),}s:bodies(star_A, {star_B, {planet_Ba,planet_Bb,planet_Bc,planet_Bd,planet_Be,planet_Bf,ports_Bf,}})s:add_to_sector(-39,34,v(0.45,0.95,1.15))
true binary systems seems not to be possible scripted?so if you use the above you will feel the giant star when entering the system (3.8 AU!).---to the hyperspace,short, i like the limited range, it's important to keep limit's else the game looses fun.remember in frontier you never found the ideal ship, this keeps you buying new ones even if you not like to.i love my conny, but i like to dig for ore to, so i have to buy a different ship to deploy mb4's.if i could folow any ship through hyperspace with a courier i wouldn't buy a different one for assasinations, but the courier is to lame for a python sometimes.so you need a fighter with a good range for assasinations.what would be the fun if i obtain a LYNX and i could go any system i wouldn't have to SEARCH for a trading route.i can imagine some jumpgates, but not to many, only to connect distant sectors in the galaxy, not system to system, this would kill the fun to.even i can imagine linked drives, but they should be unpredictable.experienced frontier pilots know that you won't go really far in a common gameplay.even when i travelled half of the galaxy (wormhole bug, next service in 1000 years), but that was for fun and no real "career".something like the wormehole bug i can imagine to, it was limited (you can't follow a ship through hyperspace) and additionally it gave you something to do.it was another reason to make notes, notes for trading routes, notes for wormhole routes, my whole desk was filled with notes from frontier... some hyperspace theorylet's suggest hyperspace has no or only a single dimension.you use this fact by leaving the common 4 dimensional space to this quasi 0 dimensional "space".you will have to set "course" and or time* in normal space, longer travels will have a big fuzziness.just to explain why i like the "small" range and why it's reasonable.*very basic idea, time set's course in hyperspace, based on the imagination that when you leave the 4 dimensions, the dimensions will "flow" while you "stay".

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I personally think that "realistic" background stars is a bit of a fools errand, but thats just me, and I'm not likely to argue if consensus goes the other way (particularly if working code is produced).
Couldn't agree more. Everyone seems to have totally misunderstood what I was talking about. We have 1500 custom stars, thats it! I am not doing anything magical with them. I misunderstood them, they misunderstood me, Oh don't you just love the internet.... Interesting conversations on hyperspace. I have many ideas to this effect myself.My ideal solution would be thus; A starTrek like system, which enables massive speeds without having to leave normal space.. this is good because it gives you... *drum-roll* seamless flight between systems, and real deep space :)One of my Pioneer-Dreams is seamless flights between systems... Just like what Artlav has accomplished with spaceway. Frontier shocked the world by having seamless flights between planets.... :O We could go one step further, and we should...Stargates... a big yes and a big no... Like you said Rob its something that has to be done right. Infinity quest for earth has done this pretty well in its design documents. Basically the big worlds should be linked, but no more... perhaps there are also some secret military gates linking some very remote sections of the galaxy. I would also think it pretty cool to have a handful of in-system gates for the big worlds.@P66 There are loads of binary, trinary and quadruple systems in the game, what makes you think you cant add them.....? ;)The stars revolve around a GRAV POINT, not each other.... thats the trick to adding them.So your fist 'star' should be a grav point, then your main stars orbit that gravpoint. Everything else is normal. " TYPE_GRAVPOINT " although that syntax is now different but you should be able to work that out from that.Also note that you are potentially wasting your time Because once I am back in coding mode, these star catalogues I have been blathering on about are going in.But don't worry, once they are in there will be lots of work for you to do, they will all need nice seeds added, and some data will need correcting. Basically everything will have to look 'nice'

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In Frontier the tunnel was even blue and red shifted depending on your point of view. Example, facing forward you see a blue hyperspace cloud, facing backwards you see a red one (or rather an orange one in Frontier) during the jump.
I remember pausing the game in the middle of a hyperspace jump. The clock didn't stop, but slowed down to real time. I never had the patience to leave my computer on for a week to see what would happen. Hyperspace clouds were the ends of the tunnel. It seemed consistent. I didn't much like FFE's effect where you were "going plaid".Pioneer's effect seems to be inspired by the view from the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. I like it a lot but how does it relate to hyperspace clouds? Showing the stars actually shifting around you could give a feeling of distance traveled, perhaps with a blue/red color shift tunnel, with a duration related to the distance of the jump. Maybe .5ly/sec. would do.As for jumpgates, it's an idea I rather like, but the Babylon 5 model would make jump drives only available to larger ships. An Eagle for example would be too small to carry one of those. Of course that was back in the 2260s and we're in the 3200s with more advanced tech. It would mean that you'd start out following established trade routes until you could afford a bigger ship. If the gates were placed 10au or so from the star(s) you'd still have Elite style gameplay when you entered a system. Some could be safe and patrolled, and some could be sketchy and dangerous where pirates are waiting for you. But as Geraldine said why use jumpgates if every ship can jump on its own?Just had an amusing idea about hyperspace. You could enter it like in Babylon 5 and the alternate physics in there would be like the physics in the original Elite! If you turned off your engine you'd stop, banking for turns, etc.

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i lost a article, because i logged out meanwhile. ;)any way short the specs for antares, all the rest i wrote i forgot (no, i remember now some hyperspace, jumpgate stuff).Code: Select allCustomSystem:new("Antares", { Body.Type.STAR_M_GIANT, Body.Type.STAR_A }):seed(23115):govtype(Polit.GovType.CORPORATE)this will end up in a populated binary system, but the masses and radie of the stars arn't correct of course. furthert it should be a spectral type B, but that's to large for the requested system and offers no (or rarely) populated systems.the main star should have a mass of 15 solar masses and 820 solar radie, Antares B should have, as i found out now, 7 solar masses and 4 solar radie (prev. i used a generated value and the planets in the scripted system reflect this, so i i'll have to update them).
Right... the reason that the star is way too big is that pioneer isn't really set to use Supergiants or Hypergiants yet... the stars that are the size of an entire solar systyem... I did add those in a while back but it was a seperate branch with too many other changes so was never integrated(The volume branch, you probably remember that). For now, let Pioneer decide the mass/radius and later when code is added to account for this stuff you can change it back to the correct values.Second... here's some co-ordinates for you to use for Antares. They are the correct co-ordinates, so you will have to flip them round to fit with pioneer.:X:177.1, Y:-25, Z:48.1 Those values are in parsecs. Distance : 185.2 -> 604 LY

i don't live behind the moon, only in switzerland what do you think i didn't tried to?i try everything (almost).GRAVPOINT isn't available yet (i should have noted that, but you can see also on robs lua constants used for custom systems), i guess rob will fix that for shure.---i can't say i misunderstood anybody, but well might be because i'm not native english speaking so i have to read more attentive.---do i misunderstood you now? no the stars aren't to big if generated, i would say to small compared to real Antares A,the only TO BIG is the spectral type B it occupies together with the red super giant the whole screen in system info.further it ends up in a star which is possibly to big compared to real Antares B and worst of all i cant get the system populated with this combination (just to settle some cities brings no population, seed, temp. life and atmosphere influence this).so i chose a type A instead of B which generated size will be in a realistic range for Antares B.after all it makes it only easier to setup a completely scripted system if you have something generated that comes close to what you suggested.e.g. i don't have to think about which surface temperature on which distance and all the rest, i just copy that from a seeded system with a star similar to the one i like to get.but i will see if i find something useful with a type B i will use it, main problem is i can't read data of planets that didn't appear on the system info screen.thanks for the coordinates i will see, it's really far off hm? i know about 600ly.some facing north, some south, for some width is length, i guess there is no common system behind cartesian coordinates for the galaxy, everybodys doing it's own.some look from the outside while others look from the inside of the "model". fortunately all use sol as 0,0, but that's all.

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GRAVPOINT isn't available yet.
I'm looking at code for gravpoint right here In CustomSystem.cpp line 79.
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what do you think i didn't tried to?i try everything (almost).
Calm down, only trying to lend a hand

yeah, but can't get handled from within a lua.try and you get a message that the first body does have not a valid star type.but also i guess rob wouldn't have missed to put it under constants in the wiki and also to put it under methods to give a short advice.but that's no problem, i know this will be changed for shure, until it's ok this way (why does this guy selected such a exotic star? i don't know, intention?).it could be i used it wrong (but then the error msg is different), but after i found it wasn't listed under constants i gave that up, assuming it isn't implemented yet.---naming could get difficult, i checked randomly some of the systems, most have no "real" name, only their catalogue numbers depending on which you refer.so to evade the repetive Gliese nnn, you could only use BD, Wolf, or any other to give it a little less monotone appearance.helpful is Simbad or Sesame name resolver, but not all systems are to find with the description used for pioneer, some i had to go really far to find the proper name/description, sometimes a simple google for the description has brought better results (you will never find a kui 79, it's kuiper79 or bust).there is a private database containing 120'000 nearest and brightest stars, it's quite comprehensive i guess, unfortunately i can only load ~65000 records in excel.the full version 2 includes cartesian coordinates for all systems as well as naming etc.if interested:[url]http://www.astronexus.com/files/downloads/hygxyz.csv.gz[/url] here:[url]http://www.astronexus.com/[/url] you like to use this database, you will have to resolve the names first and use preferably "hipparc" (HIP / HIC) or "bonner durchmusterung" (BD), these references are complete in the database.---i've read a interesting article about size and size comparison, it's a whole website:[url]http://www.foundalis.com/ast/astron.htm[/url] worth a try even if you think you know it allready.a interesting fact i dissolved from is that many (really a lot, read) stars are "invisible", due to their small size (many red dwarfs).what brought the idea up, that such shouldn't be used or maybe only some (else the sectors will get overloaded) that are named because they are visible from earth since they are close (i.e. barnards star).it's also interesting and reasonable what he assumes as visible colors, under different stars, like i guessed mostly white except for the red and brown dwarfs.or all above type K will have white light for our eyes.---something different.i'm really bad with numbers if you have LUA edit allready, with it comes a useful little measurement converter, you can specify in it also custom translations, i.e. AU to km, or more exotic ones, like solar/earth radius to km, helpful to use the data from within the game for a custom system scriptif not you can get it from his page:[url]http://joshmadison.com/convert-for-windows/[/url] sorry if you feel i'm stinky or upset, it's only my job and the back pain that makes me this angry last week i could have killed someone......so better stay out of my way.

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Your windows, so the easiest way for you is to download TortoiseGIT. Adds simple right click context sensitive menus to the windows interface so you can use GITs features.Right click on a folder, choose Git Clone, then add in your details for the fork that you wish to clone, this is either Robs main branch or the fork you already made of that on the website.Let it do its thing, make your changes... Right click -> Commit to save changes into your fork, then Push to send them to the GitHub website.Note, if you add in new files, you will have to include them manually by ticking a box next to the name when you Commit the changes.
well i guess that needs a little more...it allready refuses to clone, arguing i havn't updated the servers infoi guess something like that makes me nervous now...so for quite a while i won't use it, i really havn't the nerve now for such.that i'm natively german speaking didn't helps much and i have to read advices sometimes often until i understand them fully.costs a lot of time and nerves, both is actually rare (did i told you that i HATE my job? allready i feel i'm gettin agressive because i have to getup in 5hrs).i guess i have to pause (here) until next weekend, usually when i come home from work i'm to tired to press the button on the remote for the tv (and don't ask me how i feel after a beer). this feeling usually stays until sunday afternoon, right on monday morning when the feeling in your back returns, you will have to robot again, roundabout wednesday you won't feel no more pain until weekend returns. you will understand that to get entertained, now is more important to me then to entertain others as i only have to commit models by now (other stuff will follow when it's confirmed), yours will have to obtain them from here or i will mail them to tomm as i did before.sorry guys ;)edit: that didn't belongs here

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no the stars aren't to big if generated, i would say to small compared to real Antares A,the only TO BIG is the spectral type B it occupies together with the red super giant the whole screen in system info.
The problem I was referring to will only be apparant IN SYSTEM, not on the system info screen as every star-type shares the same icon no matter what its size.When you have a star that is 30 AU across it will fill the whole system and you most likely won't be able to use time acceleration.But anyway I see what you mean now... the Icon of the star is too big, not the star itself... An unfortunate side-effect of the current system.

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well i guess that needs a little more...it allready refuses to clone, arguing i havn't updated the servers info
Hmm, well for say Rob's branch, you only need to enter "https://github.com/robn/pioneer.git" and it should clone the branch just like that. Theres more invlolved if you actually want to push your changes onto teh server, but just to clone a branch should be fairly simple. There's plenty of tutorials on using Git that can explain it much better than I can

Marcel wrote:
Just had an amusing idea about hyperspace. You could enter it like in Babylon 5 and the alternate physics in there would be like the physics in the original Elite! If you turned off your engine you'd stop, banking for turns, etc.
Intriguing idea Marcel. Witch Space would have some sort of atmospheric or fluidic quality to it? Fans of the original Elite flight model would like this. Dont know though if Pioneer's development has taken a path that would make doing this quite difficult without doing a complete re-write.

Geraldine wrote:
Dont know though if Pioneer's development has taken a path that would make doing this quite difficult without doing a complete re-write.
I don't think so. Hyperspace would then be implemented as a special kind of empty system with no bodies and modified physics. It'd be a bit of a hack, but not too difficult I think.

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Intriguing idea Marcel. Witch Space would have some sort of atmospheric or fluidic quality to it?
Exactly! It would be filled with aether! Just an idea, but it would make navigating to an exit point interesting, and think of the battles when you're jumped by Shadows or Thargoids or whatever.Maybe we should only enter hyper/witch space when using a gate. The main use of a gate in Pioneer might be to increase the range of a jump. In other words, a player might be able to enter a gate and exit from another that is beyond the range of the ship. The gates could be ancient alien technology that humans discovered. Using them could be a bit ...risky. "Which space, Doctor...who?"

I have a minor gripe/comment about the alpha9 autopilot. It generally works quite well, but when docking at a space station you always enter upside down. The station corrects this, but it could cause a problem for a very wide ship at the Elite-type station. I also think ships enter the stations a bit too fast. This is just an aesthetic consideration, but what's the point of playing the Blue Danube waltz when you're barreling in like that?

Wow, this Game is very nice. I like to fly deep over the planetary surface. "ctrl-h" is my favorit option. I think it switch between HDR on and off. Very usefull.But i miss a button to hide the HUD and a Fov option to Zoom in and out. Maybe whit the next version? ....oh, is it possible to have more surfacequality. A very very very very hight option? My Pc is unchallenged. Keep up this good work.

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A very very very very hight option? My Pc is unchallenged. ..
The reason its as you say 'unchallenged' is because its threaded, and calculations for the terrain will never slow the main game down. But your likely to be using about 60% of a quad core pc depending on various things. For me, pioneer uses more of my CPU than ANY other game out there, including so-called 4-core games such as Supreme commander and Crysis.I'm reluctant to ramp up quality any further, as it would mean I could no longer test it as the loading times would end up being far too long, and Im far too impatient for that ;)Also there are some issues with the engine, that mean in its current state this is the maximum detail we will ever see, which is still more detail than even Infinity Quest for Earth by a long way... perhaps by a factor of 3 or 4.What PC do you have btw? My Q6600 + GTX285 are categorically challenged I have also had the pleasure of testing this on an i7 3.2, which was lovely. Probably at least a 60% speed increase over mine... or so it seemed.... However my pc still runs at 60FPS... thats the way Pioneer works... Terrain is just updated at a slower rate.Graphics cards are far less important for Pioneer. You just need a basic one which can render around 2-3,000,000 triangles with ease, which is quite common these days AFAIK.