Friday Facts #386 - Vulcanus

[vetvicka]

The space platform thrusters, the collectors arms, raised rails, and now THIS. You are really rasing up the bar. Hope the other planets will be just as amazing as this one You can be proud of what your team/engine is capable of now. Cant wait for more.

[MEOWMI]

I'm surprised there are even husks of trees! Truthfully did not expect it to harbor life. Although having said that, you did a good job justifying the plausibility of their presence.

Anyway, the graphics look amazing! A real friday treat again to read this.

I also want to add, I am very pleased with the scope that the expansion seems to have. While I don't think there was doubt it was going to be a great addition, I am happy that you are delivering on every aspect and every detail of the vision. I am so excited by how much effort you've put into the look and feel of this new planet.

[Hares]

How do you get water in such a hot place? It's pretty expensive to import it from Nauvis, so I assume there is an option to extract it from the planet directly. Is there a new recipe for distilling it from sulfuric acid, also getting sulfur as a byproduct?

[mmmPI]

...but who knows what might awaken in the depths of Vulcanus.

I don't know but i get strong diablo 2 act 4 hellforge vibes so i would say fiery enemy, but the sulfuric acid is also a possibility for the wildlife to weaponize its environment. In any case, to be able to develop on this rough land the flora and fauna must be very resistant to things we used to kill them usually, i wouldn't be surprise if flame turret are of limited use against the natives of Vulcanus.

Most of the things felt while reading where positive and it's long to write it all so i'm going to start by the negative : it's very unrealistic to drive a tank this way, most of the time you run into a cliff or something, and with the new rocks and chimneys and craters , it's hard/will take time to know what collide or not, which would yield a totally different driving style.

About the positives, i feel like this is really "space age" feeling, it's not nauvis 2 it make sense that there would be planet colder or hotter, this is a hotter planet, it is visually instantly clear, even without lava directly visible. I like the attempt at doing "biome" such as ashland, mountain and lava basin, that are very different unlike desert and grass we have currently,in that there is a possibility to attach ressources or landscape features to such biomes .I found this a very good news that can be exploited in a lot of ways. Those shown are interesting, it make sense to have a place where it's easier to build also mountain vs basin make sense in a moutainous landscape rather than "hot/hotter" , it gives incentives to do some exploration and also to plan around the geography a bit more than landfill + concrete everything.

I saw no water, which would be an interesting challenge regarding the means of producing energy we have, i expect the future structure we will be told about will be something to deal with that, harnessing the thermal energy of the planet so as to produce electricity without water but i can't remember if that was teased before or if it's just my imagination.

I like the trick of the fake shadow for the cliffs, i grew up playing games using this like Age of empire 2 or the old command and conquer (and their remaster version), even starcraft 1, i think it could be made even more visible what is supposed to be of higher elevevation with an even bigger shadow or something i don't know, somehow the craters are more readable, i really like the craters Maybe the lava pool outside border could be a little less flat too, the rocks outside a bit more jagged like the lava had flown in the pool carving little path and some rocks cracked poiting up to make it look like even if the laval level is flat some part are higher up above the pool that has more depth rather than all lava lake are filled to brim. ( after some though i think i have most trouble with the horizontal cliff when the north part is "lower elevation" and the southern is "upper elevation". i'm more used to "miss" a piece of the " nothern part that is hidden by the cliff rather than seeing a fake shadow north of the horizontal cliffs, maybe it comes from being used to isometric perspective hence why i prefer the craters).

I like the idea that you can void item into lava, because it's realistic as far as i know and it will help a lot to simplify interplanetary logistic if you can extract Copper AND iron from lava without choosing, and then you have to deal with the byproduct. It adds a the void-mechanism similar to space platform throwing into space, but that make sense on a planet, it's i suppose good for gameplay and well integrated .

There was no footage of engineer shown walking on the surface of the planet, i expect this has to do with the atmosphere, maybe pressure or composition ? Something that requires staying inside a tank maybe equipped with special equipment ? I mean it doesn't look safe to walk too close to those yellow clouds , i know it hurts lungs to inhale smoke and i wouldn't want to try steping in the acid.

I like the idea that you get "sulfuric acid", it's an "advanced product" which was already present in vanilla, so getting a new way to get it that is as a "raw material" i think is going in the direction of " when you progress in technology you get fast means to get things that used to require more footprint to get", it's like getting a faster vehicule for a longer trip so the overall time is the same but you are allowed to go further.

I get the same feeling from calcite , knowing that it's meant to be used in conjunction with other product and it not being a raw material on its own meaning having its own set of refined product made only from it. That's how i understood it, it's like a boost to your exisisting production, once you have access to it. I think from gameplay perspective it's very good that not everything new is to be used for "new" product. Curious to see where Tungsten lies there. Maybe you can replace iron in some product if you want higher quality ? and otherwise it's just replacing iron with a high ratio because tungsten is much more resistant than steel ?

These fiery crucibles offer a great place to get rid of waste items; just throw them in and poof, they're gone in a glorious puff of smoke and flame. Outdated gadgets, cursed rings of power, maybe even unwanted company.

So you could imagine a player driving an elevated train above some lava river and then you would remove the pillars and it would be stuck ? Could you make it fall ? Was that supposed to mean something to trap biters ?

The more important questions remains unanwsered : can we move lava around to create lava trap back in Nauvis ? Is tungsten barrel a thing ? is lava too hot ?
Also can you cook fish with lava ?
Does it create a little cloud if you try to void a water barrel ?
Can you use offshore pump with lava with maybe tungsten pipes and use it as fuel for flame turret ?

I feel some more FFF are welcome to clarify everything !

[Lyfe]

Looks amazing !

Maybe just a suggestion, not sure it's possible with the engine/surfaces, but the tank video moving around looked great, i just hoped it would leave some temporary tracks behind it

It would be a small but appealing change visually, but i think it may not be easy to implement, maybe with shaders or something ?

[MassiveDynamic]

Fungus like trees are ASHROOMS

[TBC_x]

I see completely enclosed turret installation, complex terrain - flying enemies confirmed?

[AileTheAlien]

Yo, when can I play this? Faster, faster, faster! This all looks so gooooood!

[TBC_x]

The pretty new graphics raise a question: will the new planets look nicer than Nauvis? Just because you have more experience and more time to develop? In many games, areas and buildings and features added by expansions are more detailed and more fleshed out than in the original game. I wish you revisit the existing graphics as well and check if they could be improved and make it as detailed and sophisticated as the new graphics.

I agree. I think it would make sense to add upgraded Nauvis graphics some time after Space Age release (2.1?).

[xtmq]

It is soo beautiful!

[Kane]

I just hate everything about this....

Because It's so bloody amazing I want to play it this second. Ugh the pain and suffering haha <3 I love you guys. Keep up the good work.

[aka13]

Great work!
While I agree that the lava-world is a clichee, but it is a welcome one
Looking forward to the new ressources, recipes and refining!

[computeraddict]

Being also a dwarf fortress fan, would love to have the ability to contain, move, and channel lava and other liquids.
Any plans for terraforming controls that would allow us to channel the soil and let the fluids flow?
Would be fun to allow for emergent gameplay, like "open the lava floodgates to burn enemies to a crisp" instead of plain boring guns.
Could lead to even more fun if the player lets the lava in their facility and have things go boom!

Not quite the same, but tungsten pipes and lavathrowers wouldn't be too hard to mod in if vanilla doesn't include them.

I suspect that Vulcan natives might have a high fire resist stat, tho.

[TheKid0z]

This is looking good. Would have wished a different graphic for the tree like things or absent all together. I’m curious about new enemies, weapons. This game needs more combat diversity. This planet could be a perfect candidate for flying creatures. Flame throwers can’t touch flying creatures. A new character skin perhaps?

Lots of new opportunities if all of this gets opened up for modding

[Draxinusom]

...but who knows what might awaken in the depths of Vulcanus.

If you dig too deeply and greedily, you'll get a Balrog

[Serenity]

This is amazing. Kind of makes Nauvis looking boring. Different biomes with unique resources would be great on the starting planet too.

I also like new metals with more advanced smelting. That's something I always wanted for the base game later on.

[SirStompsalot]

I call shenanigans. High jinks! No one drives a tank that well.

[Rhamphoryncus]

Lovely except for the trees. I can't shake the feeling that there used to be regular forests here but last week the planet became too hot. They need to be more alien to not register as trees in my brain.

I also find it weird that random ones are on fire rather than the ones closest to lava. If it was just a proximity thing then it'd imply that the planet as a whole is cool enough for them to grow but the lava recently shifted, making patches no longer viable. As it is it's just.. spontaneous combustion?

[BicycleEater]

Love it!
Just thinking, if you're thinking the "trees" are less tree like, you could have the implication that the living bit is below the surface - maybe put some tendrils (or like suckers) low down, like roots, with more colour, but with the implication the originally the whole tree was underground, and what we're seeing is the bit which was uncovered and is dying.
Then the burning would make sense (ish - doubt there's much oxygen in the atmosphere)

[Philip017]

wonder if i can still disable cliffs like i can atm in the map creation area before i start the game,
cause i dont like em personally.