Flying enemies shouldn't exist in airless biomes

I don't see the problem with that, how does snow prevent lava from being there?

 

Snow implies cold weather. Cold weather would cool lava over time.

 

Space enemies should move like I do.
With grappling hooks.

 

Let's talk science-fiction instead.

 

Careful, this might seem simple enough as a concept, but things get muddy very quickly in production. Think about how this ends up working in-game, how it would be implemented. Do we simply take characters like bandits and such and replace the naturally native fauna with them? But now how is balance affected when a playing field of mostly melee monsters is armed with machine guns? Additionally, at the current spawn rate, this would mean that the airless and least hospitable of all the biomes is also the most densely populated. Do we reduce their spawn rate? Again, this also affects balance, and risks a boring biome with too few enemies. What about these bots? Are they randomly generated too? Does that mean a whole new set of pools of creature parts all for this one, single biome? Or do we take them from the pool of existing apex and human bots from their facilities? Less significant but also notable is the lack of meat (or implications otherwise). A mix might seem feasible at first, but looking more closely, a mix actually combines the problems of both these things without really eliminating problems.

All in all, it's a lot of effort and a lot of fiddly tweaking for what accounts for one single biome type - a fraction of a player's experience. If the team needs to work this hard for something that isn't any more important than, say, the jungle biome or the snow biome, they're better off scraping the whole thing so they can refocus their efforts on something bigger and wider ranging.

I suppose one way to do this is to have a mechanical texture set for all the creatures that spawn in airless biomes. But that would mean a good bit of texturing work, which sounds like a colossal pain in the ass to get the whole thing seamless when the actual monster gets assembled, among other concerns. Even then, I'm not certain I'm sold on a biome full of robots alone.

Sorry if this comes off as hostile, I really hope it doesn't and I really don't feel that way, nor do I tolerate that kind of behavior in a forum, but I hope my perspective helps someone.

 

That's an awful lot of assumptions on your part Jco.

A fraction of a player's experience? Hardly. We're talking no less than 3 biomes at present. Moons, Asteroids Fields and the "roof" of each planet - All places with a potentially higher yield of rarer materials and an important part of the game.

You also seem to make the assumption that the replacement mob types have to be as numerous as animals are on breathable bodies - that is just that. An assumption.

 

That's one of the great things about science fiction... Things do not have to conform to reality...

 

You're right, I was assuming that we'd spend most of our time in breathable areas (and forgot about moons and planet roofs!). A given player's environment is definitely up to their preference, and I'm certain there will be a lot of people who would prefer to spend most their time on the airless biomes. But even so, they don't account for the majority of biomes, and relative to the many other biomes, it seems wasteful to spend all the effort of building an entirely new playing field for just those locations. A higher yield of rare material would do the trick, in that it creates incentive to visit asteroid fields and moons over the other planet types, but I don't know if that higher priority is desirable.

And they (these mobs) don't need to be as numerous, but I'm concerned that a lower spawn rate would change the threat dynamic.

 

i dunno, Jco. This is a game in space, after all. I feel space should be more important than it is currently.

 

And in mu opinion, You would be wrong - Science Fiction is based on believable pseudo science, not fantasy. For that we have Science Fantasy. There's a difference between futuristic engines that operate on a technical level far beyond our understanding, and the fact that you're jumping around on an airless world practically infested with the wildlife found only in some Earth jungles.

 

Easy fix then. Starbound is Science Fantasy.

Lava is already cool in Starbound.
Forget the phenomenon of Convection Schmonvection, in a game with heat sources, lava ISN'T ONE.

 

Spaceships flying on coal and you want to argue whether a winged creature should exist in an airless atmosphere, because of science... No, Science Fiction to me is still only fiction, and there's a whole slew of science fiction literature and media that does not correlate to reality. Science fiction is still fiction, regardless.

 

An awful lot of strawman in that response there, less so an actual counter argument. That being said, I completely agree with the coal argument - We should have access to (and need) less primitive fuel sources to get off planet.

 

Mutalisks from Starcraft say hi

 

You're playing a game where there's living poo, penguins flying UFOs and weapons that are practically enchanted with magic.

I really don't see why you're trying to find logic in this.
I tried to at first myself.
Then I gave up. Because this game is intentionally silly.

On top of that, it's a game. Suspension of disbelief should be applied (to some degree) here.

 

I can't believe no one else has said this yet. Just because the biome doesn't have air you can breathe safely doesn't mean it's totally without an atmosphere. It's entirely possible that the moons could have all the proper aerodynamics needed for flight with an atmosphere made of something other than a Nitrogen/Oxygen atmosphere. Heck, with different gases involved flight might be easier or harder without even taking into account the gravity of the moon.

Asteroid belts though...Yeah, I'm with you there. I wouldn't mind seeing other sorts of enemies more specific to them. Maybe instead of flying enemies make ones that can jump and climb and crawl on any surface, like those spider-bot things in the Sewer locations. Still, I'm not astrophysicist but it does seem possible that solar wind would be a potential way for flight on moons and in asteroid fields. Solar sails are a technical possibility with today's technology, no reason to think life couldn't find a way to use it.

So I guess I'm of the opinion that yes, we need less "wings flapping, bird-like" flying monsters for the Asteroid Fields. Bring on the cosmic jellyfish.

 

Like the other guy said, easy fix, Starbound is Science Fantasy (if you wanna nitpick)

Also it's a long speculation held by many reputable scientists that not all lifeforms have to be carbon-based and breathe oxygen. So I don't see why atmosphereless biomes should all be deserted. Having said that, I think having a few unpopulated planets would make sense. I just don't think it should be tied to any one biome, just for the sake of variety.

Exactly. People are nitpicking over whether such stuff is science fiction or fantasy. And forgetting that a lot of this stuff is already easily explainable or at least sufficiently theorized to a believable level using our current understanding of science.

 

They propel themselves with gas. The flapping bit is a habit.

There's little reason flying creatures in Starbound can't do the same when in space, but unless they enter the atmosphere of planets regularly, they wouldn't really make a habit of the flapping bit.

 

Blizzard - Where Science Fantasy goes to die an agonizing death.

 

Good thing it's more science fiction than science fantasy or we'd have some confusion on our hands