In the twitch stream a problem come up when discussing the idea of how to make the core of the planet actually be like a core and not the bottom of a cylinder. A simple solution that I came up with is this: Sorry for the crude image, but I am just getting this idea out. The idea of this is to solve the problem by using the illusion of reference framing. Wherever a tracked vehicle is placed on top of the magma current it will pop you out on the opposite side of the world. If there was a vehicle added that swam through the magma at the bottom of the planet and sunk deep enough so all the player can see is lava, then with a few animations of the vehicle (appearing to point down when going sideways) it can make the player feel as if they have gone through the planet. An idea for the animation would be this: http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1387702943 ( I created a crappy little flash animation) Just an idea, any thoughts? Edit: I would like to clarify that the vehicle may not be directly controllable so the illusion works, rather it will be on a track of sorts or have a animation like the ship travel one.
A good idea. I have always thought of something like if i were to dig down past the core then i come up half the length of the planet away on the bottom. Or if a visual helps imagine portals!
I know as soon as I played starbound I wanted to fulfill my childhood dreams and dig a hole to china!
Yes, I would very much like to be able to dig through the planet in some way too. The portal idea was brought up in the twitch stream and one problem with it would be dealing with getting stuck popping in and out of the core. I'm sure there would be away around perpetuity though.
Then it would be the same thing that happens in portal when you do it, just like in the picture. So maybe even if I reach terminal velocity in a freefall through the core I get shot at terminal velocity out the other end. The only issue with it I foresee is having to be able to use the pick pickaxe beneath you on one side and having it dig out the bottom layers on the other if it is solid. OR! you can always just spawn the player there anyway and have them dig out a hole, like when you are covered in sand. AND/OR you can have the bottom of the world have the same functionality as a platform, so in order to go down through the world you actually have to hold down and hit SPACE
I have to say, I really don't understand the fascination with this whole "through the core" concept. But, even disregarding how little it appears to add to the game, it doesn't really make all that much sense. We would just barely be getting to the lower edge of the crust in-game as it stands... that's a huge distance away from the other side of the world, even if you wish to think of it in game distances. Not only that, but the core of the planet is subject to intense heat and pressure, high enough that you're not likely to find any worse outside of a star. Just to help drive this point home: That 3,700°C temperature at the outer edge of the outer core? That's several hundred degrees above the boiling point of iron at atmospheric pressure. The only thing keeping the core from turning into a gas is the massive pressure it is under -- at the boundary between the inner and outer cores, the pressure is estimated at around 330 gigapascals, or approximately 145,000 psi or 3,250,000 (3-and-a-quarter million) atmospheres. I'm having trouble finding examples to drive home just how stupefyingly great this pressure is (though, the fact that it is over 3 million times greater than that of our atmosphere should be a hint), but suffice it to say that dealing with space travel is nothing compared to weathering the conditions that exist deep within a planet that has a molten core. It is not at all a stretch to think that deep-planet explorations like this would be impossible for even technologically-advanced space-faring races.
Sorry to say but anything along the lines of this is impossible without super high level tech. Tech that most likely does not even exist in the game and most likely never will. The temperature the player would be exposed to if dug through the core or merely around it will automatically scorch them to death regardless, and not to mention the pressure that will crush them into bits in seconds. and even if you did dig through the core and passed through it you would find yourself digging upwards since gravity just switched sides. So scientifically none of this is possible. # Sharkisha dream killer
What everyone seems to be forgetting is that you can also build into magma. The illusion won't work if you try to build a tunnel through. Also I think the magma you reach when you dig down is supposed to be the outer edge of the mantle, not the core. So basically we only dig through the above image's grey outer layer.
1. Not all planets have heated cores, and I would think in a game where you can travel faster than light a advanced machine can be made to drill through the planet (Both things that are so unfeasible today but still possible). 2. Materials are already being made that can withstand immense pressures, and remember terrestrial planets are not like stars which fuse matter at their cores. Perhaps with our current understanding of geophysics we assume a trip to the core would be impossible, but even recently there are already plans to drill to Earth's mantle We would be just as arrogant as 1920's Times that said it was impossible to send a craft into space; only to edit their original post when we went to the moon. The word "impossible" is meaningless when speaking of the future or a science fiction based game. Anyways, I just posted this because the developers were seeking interest in some type of way to get to the other side of the planet through the core/ around the core. (Sorry for the bump, but I wanted to reply)
way to logic for a game though being able to use the core and some tunnels to make a transport system would be fun
Okay. This idea is brilliant. Finall someone, who was not just whinning about why there is no planetary core, drew a schematic how a planetary core should work. Actually. With the proposed scheme the Inner Core would be still solid..but mine-able..with VERY VERY VERY HIGH end technology. I really do not understand why all the people here are so much opposed to having technology capable to reach the Outer and Inner Core layer. For christs sake! The game has Faster Then Light travel..reaching a planets core is childs play in comparison. The "Unreachable" part could be the Solid Inner core of a typical Earth-like planet and mineable.
