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[Wispborne]

Secrets of the Frontier adds stellar objects near the battlefield to the background of the battle. Not only does this just look awesome, imo it also adds extra context to the battle; it ties it more to the world outside of the battle.

Here are two examples, pulled from Discord:

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and another

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The objects may be a bit too prevalent in these, but in motion they blend into the background more (being stationary).
And you can imagine how neat black holes look...not that one would ever fight near one, of course. Who knows how many years that kind of maneuver would cost...

[Alex]

Just to confirm, you know that vanilla already does this for planets, right? It does exclude stars (and lava planets) on account of being too bright. Generally speaking I think it's a good idea to keep the battle background relatively subdued so that the combat reads more clearly.

The screenshots do look very cool, though!

(Also, good lord, the number of missiles in that second one, wow)

[SCC]

Wait, gas giants can't appear in the background in vanilla? I thought they could.

[Cyan Leader]

Just to confirm, you know that vanilla already does this for planets, right? It does exclude stars (and lava planets) on account of being too bright. Generally speaking I think it's a good idea to keep the battle background relatively subdued so that the combat reads more clearly.

The screenshots do look very cool, though!

(Also, good lord, the number of missiles in that second one, wow)

That's a fair point but I wonder Alex, have you played Homeworld? I feel there is definitely a case to be made to put beautiful backgrounds in space games, even if it can make the combat less clear.

[Alex]

Wait, gas giants can't appear in the background in vanilla? I thought they could.

Gas giants appear, yeah. I didn't mean "planets" to exclude those if that's where you got the idea I was saying they weren't?

That's a fair point but I wonder Alex, have you played Homeworld? I feel there is definitely a case to be made to put beautiful backgrounds in space games, even if it can make the combat less clear.

I have! It's very cinematic and I think it works well for what it is. And with a 3D environment, you can pretty much always find an angle where you can see what's going on again a more neutral background, if you really need to. At least, this is how I remember it; this *was* well over 10 years ago.

I also don't remember smaller, moment-to-moment things particularly mattering - an incoming shot, etc. You don't have direct control, it's not like you have to watch for specific cues where a second or two in spotting something makes a difference. Just, a different beast.

[SCC]

Gas giants appear, yeah. I didn't mean "planets" to exclude those if that's where you got the idea I was saying they weren't?

Wisp mentioned that there were background objects because of a mod, and I assumed that gas giant was it, because I can't see anything else and most other planets I recall seeing in the background.

[Alex]

Ah, gotcha!

[Wispborne]

Just to confirm, you know that vanilla already does this for planets, right?

Um, of course I knew that because I play this game and don't just spend all my playtime modding it. Ha ha.

Jump point

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I agree that the objects you intentionally excluded are too bright, but lowering the brightness could work, I think.
But really, I didn't realize some planets in the background were vanilla, which was the bulk of my "suggestion".

[Alex]

I agree that the objects you intentionally excluded are too bright, but lowering the brightness could work, I think.

IIRC - fairly vaguely - that I actually tried it and it felt weird, like the graphic was bugged or some such. Might be a better way of doing it than what I'd tried, though - like, just lowering the highs instead of everything... Offhand, not even sure how one might do that, though. And likely it'd need to be tweaked on a per-offending-planet basis.

But really, I didn't realize some planets in the background were vanilla, which was the bulk of my "suggestion".

*thumbs up* And, hey, we're on exactly the same page as far as the reasoning - tying the combat and the campaign together, and all that!

[SafariJohn]

I agree that the objects you intentionally excluded are too bright, but lowering the brightness could work, I think.

IIRC - fairly vaguely - that I actually tried it and it felt weird, like the graphic was bugged or some such. Might be a better way of doing it than what I'd tried, though - like, just lowering the highs instead of everything... Offhand, not even sure how one might do that, though. And likely it'd need to be tweaked on a per-offending-planet basis.

UI element in the background like for a dead ship that covers the offending object with a shade filter? Like in various sci-fi where viewscreens "automatically darken" for explosions.