A Minecraft mod had a similar idea where there were unstable worlds that would fall apart and eventually cease to exist. This would add a time limit to the exploration of said world, giving a sense of urgency. An uncontrollable, growing difficulty due to the decay would add to this urgency and lead to(hopefully) strategic planning to avoid being stranded. This could also be implemented beside planets in dying systems people have suggested.
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Definitely going to like this. I was just thinking of this sort of thing myself. The planet has just suffered catastrophic damage and is slowly tearing itself apart/collapsing in on itself yet is rich in resources/has cultural artifacts of a species that could be lost to time that you want to save. Maybe even a planet on planet collision that is imminent and the two goliaths are ripping one another to pieces, or a planet that is about to hit a black hole's gravity well.
If its based on a Minecraft mod, then someone can just mod it in. I wouldn't like to find some cool planet and then have to go "Aww, it's gonna blow up, might as well leave and never come back."
Heck no! Time limits on exploration is a bad thing. The whole point of it is putting time in to be thorough.
Who knows? There may be some kind of way to save the planet, such as some kind of machine or special artifact to stabilize the planet.
Technically this is the opposite of how things work irl. Normally tectonic activity is much higher in newborn planets (lots of volcanoes and earthquakes) and old "dying" planets become cold and lifeless. Eventually liquid precipitation and even the planet's rotation slow down and stop until eventually is just a large rock floating in space. I wouldn't mind planets that are crumbling as long as there is a way to stop it.
It depends on the planet. Some could crumble away as it approaches the star, others might be heated (on the surface) as their magnetosphere weakens. There's the concept of the Roche Limit, the region at which a moon or such gets ripped apart by tidal forces once it gets too close to what it's orbiting. It's the same thing that would do an astronaut in as he/she approaches a black hole, interestingly (and, as their name suggests, also causes the tides). Other planets might have more exotic ways to die, after being hit by a nearby protoplanet, it's been blasted into giant chunks that are in chaotic and unstable orbits for a short time, the surface of the planet having been heated to ridiculous temperatures, it glows menacingly red. Colder planets would just waste away, cooling to the point that their atmosphere eventually freezes solid. Others could be bombarded by the massive solar winds of a Wolf-Rayet star, its surface constantly blasted clean of anything that would make life possible, what atmosphere it has is really just a collection of ionized plasma that got trapped somewhere. Solar storms will come through and absolutely wreck your energy reserves. I think i've rambled enough for now. I should make another thread about high-level planets, this time talking about "ion" planets.
I stand corrected. Even so, I agree with Jonesy that setting time limits on your exploration of a planet is a bad idea. If the environment is simply fraught with danger and isn't in any actual risk of imploding or anything, then it's a fantastic idea for high level planets.
I completeky agree. Planets and stars don't operate on the same time scale as people. Even a dramatic change takes thousands of years to complete. The planet might be crazy, meteors and storms might completely change the surface regularly, destroying everything at a whim, but the planet itself isn't going anywhere. It might gradually change into a different type of planet, as though it were a really long planetary event, but there will certainly still be content. That's my problem with destroying planets, is that it violates the sandbox law of preservation of content. If the planets just evolve, then content is preserved.
Starbound ideally has infinitely generate-able planets and other astral bodies. I am alright with /some/ planets/asteroids/space stations being time-limited, but those areas should serve as speed run challenges or otherwise are considered bonus stages. They ought to be much smaller than a genuine not-about-to-explode planet and contain fewer and much higher-quality items than their normal brethren, and possibly specialized generation so the player is always shoehorned into defeating a boss on the way out so their ship can dock and they can leave. So basically all of these bonus planets are the "Get Out" sequence at the end of a Metroid game.
I have an idea similar to this. Instead of natural processes destroying the planet such as: gravitating into a star, the core cooling, etc; Have an event prepared similar to what happens in the (wip of course)humans' intro sequence where their homeworld is torn apart from what appears to be a parasite inside the core. Upon approaching a normal looking(at first glance) planet, you decide to explore the surface. After making it down to the planet the player notices traces of forced entry into the planet's crust and deeper beyond. After exploring deep into the planet's shell the player finds a massive space parasite taking host within the planet's core, feeding off of the massive chemical reactions taking place within. The parasite becomes aware of the player's presence and becomes hostile. The terrain starts breaking apart as the massive beast attempts to kill the player. The player is then confronted with two choices: Flee the planet to escape the parasite and cause the resulting planet's destruction, or fight the parasite and kill it, causing the planet to stabilize as the core resumes its natural functions; allowing the player to freely explore the planet and loot its riches.
One of the rare suggestions I actually like! Could be a late game side mission where a solar system is about to ease existing, but there's something very special hidden within one of the planets' dungeons, so you need to get it and get bak to your ship before the star explodes and you never get another chance again. Some noobs may not like it but it's a side mission, it isn't mandatory. I just love the sense of urgency and, dare I say YOLO. I don't want the game holding my hand throughout, I want it to be difficult!
Well, given how a "Procedurally Generated Universe" works, this happening on planets would be far more realistic! Yet, due to the nature of a VAST Universe that exists around us, a planetary devastation or two would feel quite at home! There are MANY planets out there. The name of the game is STARBOUND, not EARTHBOUND. We are nomads at first, and settlers when we finally find a world we can call our home! But of course, not all planets would live forever. Many worlds out there can last an eternity of flourish, while others, well... aren't really that lucky. We aren't on Earth anymore, not all existence follows our own physiology. Not all planets should be habitable from the start, either. Maybe after several quests can a player finally have the right technology or equipment to explore that one otherwise hostile world. Just like the Snow Gear is made for exploring Snowland planets, there should be more suits that would allow us to explore even the moons or completely underwater worlds! Ah, but this paragraph has gone a bit off-topic. The point is, Planets can die. And for an Exploration game like this one, the player should find other suitable worlds if they can't do anything to save a previous one. There really isn't a way to lose stuff, either! As the game is currently made, *ALL* planets have the very same resources that you can find in any other planet on a sector. You will find, for example, that one Ocarina Instrument that you somehow lost due to a collapse underground and somehow fell on Lava. In fact, the current (as of the date of this post) version of this game has the resource and item distribution based on the Sector each planet is found on, along with the Threat Level and the dominant Biome there. Not much else is there to factor Item Rarity, either! Well, that's all I can dispense about this thread. I give my thumbs up to this suggestion and hope that it does make it into this game! Dying Planets can also start appearing after the 2nd or 3rd Star Map upgrade, if this does get in the game. And since this is a Video Game, dead planets can simply reset to their starting values after maybe some time has passed either in-game or in the real world.
