Dead Planets

There you are 'splorin a new planet and having fun with all the nice things that you stumble on and fry with your highpowered lazor if it shows any signs of movement.
Sun is shining and grass is neon pink.
ITS SO AWESOME

Boom.

That just popped up and fried the things you were going to fry.
And it's looking you like you were looking at that bunny analogue few seconds ago.
You've been looking things like that since you landed at your first planet.
You know that look well.
You know you have seconds to live unless you run.

A random event that has a VERY low chance of happening that you cannot beat.
CANNOT.
Something that makes a previously picture perfect planet un-useable and un-visitable without a considerable risk.
Why? Because flavor.
Demigods are all fine and dandy but this is the universe.
No matter what the PC is he has her/his limits.
There are things out there that will just murder you if you give them a chance.
Like; Meteors, Novas, Sudden case of Vogon Construction projects for highways, sudden change in atmospheric conditions just because universe rolled a natural 20 when rolling for what has not yet happened, Orbital drift, Von Neumanns, Expansionist races intent on making that planet a resource cloud for a that super-project thing they are building, any combat fought with mass driver technology that happened anytime in the past and no-one really cared what they hit as long as it was dakka enuff, local fauna that has hibernation cycles in between voracious feeding cycles and you just happen to be there at the time and those things apparently like metal and things made out of you, etc, etc.

Sure, you might SURVIVE them, but you can't beat them.
Awesoem story material. Emergent gameplay and all that.
Your treasures got stuck on a planet with Linuefoeda Acheronsis infestation?
Que Aliens redo. You won't probably make it but at least you will give it your best shot.
Those Xenos ain't getting your lewts.
I don't mean an immediate GAME OVER state, just something that will make the planet un-survivable in the long run

Having that sense of dread adds only great things to the atmosphere.
Knowing that any second now your world maybe doomed and you will need to redo everything (Although the chances of that are very, very, very low.) forces you to explore and drive out.
And I don't mean that it pops up as soon as you land or in the next fifteen minutes, it might take it's sweet time plotting to murder everything you love.
You might even name the planet New Eden because it's so temperate and harmless.
Then suddenly it's a pressure cooker with a hostile lifeform on it.

Similar to the Dungeon Guardian for Terraria but not something you can predict.
DG was there and you could go say "hello" to him anytime you wanted to.
Cute, but essentially harmless.
This thing (or things) just pops up and ruins your day, your buildings and your planet.
Permanently.
And you can't do anything to it.

Since it so harsh you might even add an option for it not to happen on the first world you land on, or having an sanctuary item that prevents it from happening somewhere.
But only in one place at a time so you can't be safe from this.
Or having an option to just disable it.
But since universe is infinite, who cares.
Plenty of planets out there to abuse for your resource driven homicidal urges.

***EDITED MATERIAL***​

THINGS FROM THE DEPTH OF THE THREAD :
Also known as Tl;Dr & Suggestions that were good:

-Should absolutely have an option to turn it off.
Whether this is done in-game or when starting is matter of debate so far. Preferably always ON and an easy way to turn it OFF in-game to account for accidents. (FUN)
Some sort of crafting recipe or another perchance.

-Low, low, very, very, very, very low chance of happening.
Something along the lines of once, or less, per average clear time.

-Will NOT destroy Planets.
Planet will remain, it is only altered to become extremely hard, to the point where not even the best gear in the game will not ensure survival.

-Should be only implemented on planets clearly marked as such.
This should only include the probability of it happening, not that absolutely will happen.

-Immortal.
Cannot be killed, cleared, terraformed, altered to be easier, MAGIC!'ed away, eaten, killed with an even bigger threat, etc, etc.
For all intents and purposes, change is permanent should one of these events/this event happen/allowed to happen.
Basically; "Can't hit it with a weapon to kill it."

-"WARNING. OMGWTFBBQ IMMINENT. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY OR IN CASE OF NO ESCAPE ROUTE OFF-PLANET DUCK AND COVER."
Should give a clear warning that the event will happen with enough spare time to escape.

-End Game.
Should be implemented so that it can only trigger towards the end of the game naturally to prevent instant death of low-level players.
With an "hidden" option to trigger it prematurely.

 

Well all of this is very awesome/hardcore ... but if I had the option to disable it it would be really nice/creepy. But when you get a god damn 20 km asteroid on your face ... *rage quit*

 

Notice the part where it's not an failure state. You don't die to it if you respond appropriately.
Just something you can't beat.

20 KM asteroid would give you 20 minutes to evacuate the planet with before it goes sploodey.
After the event it's an lava-lake similar to Hell in Terraria. You can't survive in that planet but it would still be there for some real hardcore exploration.

 

*lands on planet*
*planet gets blown up*

"Oh, sorry ... did you actually want to do things here? Too bad."

Troll of the Universe, gooooo!

 

Universe just happens to be a very hostile place to anyone that has managed to scrape together a nervous system or an excuse for not having one.
I'd be nice to know there are fuckhueg challenges there.

Games usually end after a boss, this way it's more of an infinite cosmos.

 

I would totally support random events that are hellbent on screwing the player.

Like those novas and such. Do want.

 

That, and it's not really an exploration unless there are risks involved.
You can always stay home and not play games if you don't want to see awesome things.

 

Not an bad idea.
But the sad part would be like if you have built something amazing and then...
Boom.
Everything you've built is gone. Oh wait, there's a floatin' brick there! There is still hope!

 

I think this is a good idea, but it should only be for 90-100 level planets :U

 

Yeah, like:
0-10 = 0.5% chances
11-30 = 1,5%-3% chances
31-60 = 3%-6% chances
60-100 = 6%-10% chances

 

!BRAINSTORM!
This could be part of the main quest, the ones that destroyed your home planet destroy this planet, and you have to fight them, or something

 

The point...
Is just that.

Actual danger that your stuph might be lost.
Some challenge in the game that is basically a sandbox.

Old adagem;
"You give it stats it, they (players) will kill it."

This is not supposed to be killed.
'Tis a freaking Cthulhu. (Or a 20 KM asteroid moving near speed of light.)
It does not care about puny half-god PC's and their twinked out gear.
It kills, you die.
Deal with it.

 

...No. There is no way in hell I am letting that thing get away with vaporizing my home! If it kills me, I'll just respawn again and again!

 

"Humanity was well aware of the risks when it went into the traverse."

Gl;Hf: And don't expect help.
No-one forced you to colonize that planet.
Kinda like no-one forces you to build your house on quicksand.

 

Yea, well no one is forcing me to deal with what those monsters did.

 

I am so-so with this idea, but mostly because I wouldn't wanna leave most of my things behind but maybe have some sort of warning system so there will atleast be some time to get your most treasured belongings onto a ship and take off to another planet but I do like the sense of dread that it would leave you with when you know that you can do nothing to stop it.

 

That is part of the suggestion.
It's not an *SUDDENLY DEATH*.
Nor does it make much sense for things to just happen without a reason or a warning.
This IS a game after all.

 

True and I do like the sound of it but just not sure about it, although if it is put in then I wouldn't mind it.

 

Hmm...well, I like the idea of a 'dangerous presence' that makes the game less than just flowers and butterflies difficulty, but honestly, I think this is far too much. Now, I'll admit, I like a challenge. I like the thought of having to be on constant lookout, never 100% safe. But to destroy the planet I put 100+ hours into terraforming into my "dream home"? No. What makes me the most angry in a game is when I realize I forgot to save and then the game crashes. Why? Because I put a lot of work into that, and all it's managed to do is is be frustrating by undoing my work. That is not difficult. That is infuriating. A crazy boss that can spawn and do huge amounts of damage and is nearly unbeatable, forcing all but the best-geared players to hide in their underground tornado bunker? Yes please! A meteor that will wipe out the planet I wanted to be on for the rest of the game and refine into an enormous crystal metropolis? ...No. Now, I understand what you meant by the "unbeatable force" and "overpowered players", but one reason I play games is the idea that if I die, it was MY fault. If that Creeper blows up my house? My fault. It means I was a derp and got my stuff destroyed. I can cry all I want, but in the end, I failed, and I face the consequences. An "unbeatable, world-destroying event" would take that feeling away, in my opinion. It wouldn't be my fault anymore, it would be a set of dice. And no matter how small the chance is, it WILL eventually happen. Knowing this, I would never put my efforts into terraforming, building, or practically anything but resource gathering! While that is a potentially fun game concept, I feel that Starbound is going to focus a lot on exploration, building, expansion...Well, in short, what I mean is that I wouldn't WANT to use all the amazing tools Starbound gives me to be creative, and that would ruin a LOT of the fun for me.
Overall, it's a nice concept, but I think the negatives outweigh the positives. Perhaps it could be a 'hardcore mode', but I don't think it should be hardwired into the game. That's just my opinion, though.

 

Starts Game.
Plays for 10 months.
Finishes utopia that spans across 5 planets.
Solar System explodes.
Quits game, never plays again.