Shindiggery

In Frontier, part of the joy for me was lifting off from a planet and seeing it fall away behind me as my ship blasts off towards space. The sky darkens as the stars become visible... I can view my ship from an external camera and see the curve of the planet come into view... it felt in turns pretty awe-inspiring / epic / beautiful.

My Question: I understand that the ability to land on planets will be released at a later date. In the initial release will we have some ability to at least enter the atmosphere of different planets? I'd love to just fly through the clouds of a gas giant, or swoop over the surface of Mars.

Will we see enough detail to make out geographical features? Coastlines / Cloud Systems / Forests / Grasslands / Deserts / etc.

These can be procedurally generated and even if we can't land or fly low enough to see detailed surface features (cities / wildlife) it'll still make sight seeing and exploration very rich.

I'd love to see alien seas, skies and sunsets in the first release, or hide in the atmosphere of a gas giant, even if we have to wait till later to actually land.

I love this idea. They don't have to be part of a major storyline, but I'd much prefer an interesting and fantastic galaxy to explore than going down the "No alien life / evidence of alien civilizations is so rare that you might never see it." route.

Ah yes, the old Van Maanen's Star luxury goods smuggling route. ;)

That was quite the lucrative trip!

I like the idea of needing permits / clearance to access certain systems... (or access them legally anyway) without being detected and chased out by the local police / military. I do also like the idea of trying to sneak into forbidden systems undetected too though.

Is the depth of the galaxy going to be modeled realistically? (In Frontier it was thousands of light years wide / high, but only about 10-20 light-years deep.)

"Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars. It's a hundred thousand light years side to side. It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick, But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide."

According to the Monty Python lads' "Galaxy Song" ;)

Can you get that on the soundtrack!? :D