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Author Topic: Gravity should be a scale rather than just be 3 possible values  (Read 1111 times)

Soñjer

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Currently, gravity on planets has 3 differents possible states: high (very bad), average (nothing), and low (kinda bad). However, I think that it should be on scale instead (from 1 to 20+). 10g, which is roughly the gravity here on earth would be right in the middle, with no downside/benefits. Just to give an approximate idea (not fixing values), current high gravity would be between 15g and 20g while low gravity would probably be around 5g. Now here's the interesting part:

-Low gravity planets would have the upside to have their populations grow faster (much easier/less costly to land on those planets) but the downside of being limited when reaching high population (after all, a planet half the size of earth would have troubles hosting billions)
-On the other hand, high gravity ones would have the downside of growing slower (much more difficult to land, and less attractive to live there), but with the upside of not slowing down its growth even after reaching high population.

Basically, low gravity=fast profit, easier to start with while high gravity=much more powerful in the long game. Please note this is that for solid planets, and do not account for gas giants.
I don't think it should be really hard to implement aswell, since there's already something in the code that tell the planets what size they are on the map. Just gotta find this value, and use it to determine gravity.
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Erebe

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Re: Gravity should be a scale rather than just be 3 possible values
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2019, 05:05:37 AM »

I'm not a specialist, but if i remember correctly my physic cursus, earth have a 1G gravity, not a 10G.
Secondly, gravity and planet size aren't directly connected, it depend on the composition of the planetary core among others.
Ok, now i can't stop being the boring guy. In fact i quite llike your idea, it may give more personnality and uniqueness to the planets we encounter. just, the scale should be between 0.5G and 2.5g, with 1 the earth standart, an you can even create a new planetary modifier for the size of the planet, like tiny, normal and big, with a bigger chance of high gravity on big planet and a bigger chance of low gravity on tiny planet :)
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Megas

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Re: Gravity should be a scale rather than just be 3 possible values
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2019, 05:17:37 AM »

Currently, high gravity is not always bad.  Some useful habitables only get high ores if they have high-gravity.  Also, if high-gravity is the only negative condition (for 150% hazard at most), then the planet is still worth colonizing if either it has enough resources to mine (volatiles from gas giant) or at a good location (same system as another colony, good place for second or third military base for system defense).
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Soñjer

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Re: Gravity should be a scale rather than just be 3 possible values
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2019, 08:09:12 AM »

I'm not a specialist, but if i remember correctly my physic cursus, earth have a 1G gravity, not a 10G.
Secondly, gravity and planet size aren't directly connected, it depend on the composition of the planetary core among others.
Ok, now i can't stop being the boring guy. In fact i quite llike your idea, it may give more personnality and uniqueness to the planets we encounter. just, the scale should be between 0.5G and 2.5g, with 1 the earth standart, an you can even create a new planetary modifier for the size of the planet, like tiny, normal and big, with a bigger chance of high gravity on big planet and a bigger chance of low gravity on tiny planet :)

Used the wrong term, what I mean by 10g is the 10 m/s² (roughly) pressure that's applied by the earth's gravity (doesn't change much, but I think naturals numbers are better than non-naturals one). As for the differents planets core, while I don't know the exacts values and all, just adding a bit of random (-3/+3 m/s², something like that) for the final calculation should cover that.
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xenoargh

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Re: Gravity should be a scale rather than just be 3 possible values
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2019, 09:41:44 AM »

Low gravity would actually be a considerable hazard.  Just ask the astronauts who landed on the Moon 60 years ago.  It was quite challenging to just move around without hurting yourself.

Long-term, you'd see bone density problems, heart / circulatory / digestive problems and trouble bearing children.  We don't know what long-term effects would look like, but probably bad, without some major super-science to fix it (and said super-science isn't without cost). 

Also, common physics used in engineering doesn't work as expected (for example: liquid wouldn't flow quite like it does at 1G), etc., etc. 

I think it's fair to say that "low gravity isn't an issue" is incorrect, and Alex is right to give it a Hazard Rating.
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Sutopia

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Re: Gravity should be a scale rather than just be 3 possible values
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2019, 02:05:12 PM »

Low gravity would actually be a considerable hazard.  Just ask the astronauts who landed on the Moon 60 years ago.  It was quite challenging to just move around without hurting yourself.

Long-term, you'd see bone density problems, heart / circulatory / digestive problems and trouble bearing children.  We don't know what long-term effects would look like, but probably bad, without some major super-science to fix it (and said super-science isn't without cost). 

That's just because human genes is coded to live under 10m/s2
Also, since so many people have been living in those space stations, I highly doubt low gravity is an issue comparing to no gravity at all.
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Retry

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Re: Gravity should be a scale rather than just be 3 possible values
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2019, 03:02:29 PM »

I'm not a specialist, but if i remember correctly my physic cursus, earth have a 1G gravity, not a 10G.
Secondly, gravity and planet size aren't directly connected, it depend on the composition of the planetary core among others.
Ok, now i can't stop being the boring guy. In fact i quite llike your idea, it may give more personnality and uniqueness to the planets we encounter. just, the scale should be between 0.5G and 2.5g, with 1 the earth standart, an you can even create a new planetary modifier for the size of the planet, like tiny, normal and big, with a bigger chance of high gravity on big planet and a bigger chance of low gravity on tiny planet :)

Used the wrong term, what I mean by 10g is the 10 m/s² (roughly) pressure that's applied by the earth's gravity (doesn't change much, but I think naturals numbers are better than non-naturals one).
That's acceleration, not pressure, which is N/m2
« Last Edit: August 21, 2019, 03:37:19 PM by Retry »
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