Sunbeam sequence is implausible

WillemVWillemV Dallas, TX Join Date: 2017-05-24 Member: 230737Members

Impossible is expected from scifi/fantasy genre, but implausible becomes rather intolerable.

The Sunbeam is clearly visible at an obvious we're-pretty-close distance when they haven't even broken atmosphere.

When "breaking atmosphere" is announced they are well within the atmosphere and very visibly below cloud level. After the count down and the confusion about some "spike" they are allegedly breaking atmosphere without any visible cue that this is indeed happening.

Within the great quality of the game, the Sunbeam entry sequence comes across as a quick, cheap implementation of zooming in on a static picture.

You guys have a great game that is getting better with every update. Many great features are added and serious bugs are addressed. Please don't forget to address these little oddities (just like the stars shining *through* the big planet), though, as they do the game justice.

Cheers!

- Willem






Comments

  • garathgarath Texas Join Date: 2017-02-08 Member: 227730Members
    Presumably, the Precursor gun has sufficient range and power to utterly destroy the Sunbeam before we would ever see it. In point of fact, the game still likely has a bug where you never ever see the Sunbeam or the beam or the destruction of the ship. Instead, you only hear the dialogue. So, speaking as someone who has heard the dialogue without seeing the Sunbeam actually destroyed, I can say with complete certainty that destroying the Sunbeam before you can see it is utterly dissatisfying. I
  • WillemVWillemV Dallas, TX Join Date: 2017-05-24 Member: 230737Members
    You only get to see it destroyed if you are in the vicinity of the weapon. Otherwise you only get the audio.

    My issue isn't with getting to see it, but with the mismatch in what you see and the statement that it is breaking atmosphere while it is already clearly below cloud level, and that the graphic representation is simply of lesser quality than the rest of the game.
  • baronvonsatanbaronvonsatan TX, USA Join Date: 2016-12-01 Member: 224415Members
  • OG17OG17 Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2024Members
    edited July 2017
    Bug or not, it's a good point, I dug up this account to say the same thing. On top of the atmosphere bit, you have a planetary cannon that appears to let the small ship get a few dozen meters away before firing, and then the crew's blindly going off sensor readings while somehow ignoring the easily-visible towering gun-shaped structure that's sitting on their landing zone. The scale of the sequence is absurd, having the ship so close contradicts everything else there. It'd be much stronger if we didn't even see the ship, just the beam and explosion - if there's a desire to show more, it could be done through wreckage or whatever.
  • narfblatnarfblat Utah, USA Join Date: 2016-05-15 Member: 216799Members, Forum Moderators, Forum staff
    Maybe our HUD could include a telescope function, but that could potentially make finding both islands too easy. Another possibility is that we patch the precursor gun's visual sensors to our own. Either option could make part of our view be zoomed in on an appropriately distant Sunbeam, while our regular display shows the gun firing.
  • ToriessianToriessian United States Join Date: 2017-07-12 Member: 231779Members
    I too think it would be better if the sunbeam was never visible... you hear they're breaking atmosphere, the gun shoots, and you just see an explosion far off in the sky.
  • DantedarklyDantedarkly Join Date: 2017-06-30 Member: 231488Members
    Just break up the scene imo.

    Give the entry speech way before it is visible. Then give a time break up between the two portions.

    And then the "energy spike" visible sunbeam and it's destruction.

    Imo, the whole sequence of events between the radiation leak, reactor overlord, sunbeam messages and arrival are all very fast paced and could probably use more days/weeks in between each scene in game.
  • ObraxisObraxis Subnautica Animator & Generalist, NS2 Person Join Date: 2004-07-24 Member: 30071Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, WC 2013 - Supporter, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts
    Indeed, this isnt a bug, and there is an actual model in the sky, not a static image for the sunbeam.

    As for the critique, we're obviously aware but unsure yet what (if anything) we're going to do about it as it has zero effect on the actual gameplay itself.
  • gamer1000kgamer1000k Join Date: 2017-04-29 Member: 230121Members
    edited July 2017
    I agree, the whole Sunbeam sequence doesn't really make any sense. The proximity of the ship doesn't match up at all with the audio, and it defies belief that they wouldn't see the giant gun tower aiming at them right next to the landing site.

    I think just changing the sequence so that the Sunbeam itself isn't even visible when the gun rotates and fires would be appropriate, along with a small explosion and streak of burning debris far in the distance to show what happened. This would also have the side benefit of having the destruction be so far off that the player instinctively knows that they're not going to be finding any debris near them. The PDA could also have a small blurb about the ship being completely destroyed with no survivors to clarify that the player isn't getting offworld on the Sunbeam.
  • DrownedOutDrownedOut Habitat Join Date: 2016-05-26 Member: 217559Members
    I like getting a glimpse at the Sunbeam. It's cool that UWE thought they should give us a personal look at it rather than keeping it more on the informed-only side of things. And as far as I'm concerned, the only thing the sequence needs is to not happen in front of the clouds, which is something I can wait for until the matter of the sky (rotating clouds, see-through planet, etc) in general is addressed.

    If wreckage/loot would be an option (I'm aware of all practical objections to that), making a model a la the Aurora's findable would allow the Sunbeam to be held back more without cutting into the personal aspect of knowing what the ship looked like.
  • WillemVWillemV Dallas, TX Join Date: 2017-05-24 Member: 230737Members
  • WillemVWillemV Dallas, TX Join Date: 2017-05-24 Member: 230737Members
    Obraxis wrote: »
    Indeed, this isnt a bug, and there is an actual model in the sky, not a static image for the sunbeam.

    You're right, it's not a game play ending issue. It's a visual thing -- kinda like the stars through the planet. So I understand that it's low on the list.

    Currently, the erroneously placed PDAs and some of the loot crates (in the ground, for instance) are also not game play ending, but they do have an impact. I now see many first time players miss the PDAs because they just look like lights. Also, if I am dangerously out of water/health/food and my only possible recourse is a loot crate, it's pretty crappy if it's so deep in the ground that you can't retrieve whatever it holds. ;)

    Now, with all this critique, I cannot state enough that I think your dev team is absolutely fantastic and you're doing an amazing job. I easily know 20 other games that would sore to new heights if they had even just 10% of your involvement, attention, responsiveness, enthusiasm, and tenacity.

    Where I work, the problem often is that there is too little testing and feedback, so I know how that hurts development.

    Again, y'all are doing an outstanding job.

    Cheers!

    - Willem
  • elfcrisiselfcrisis Join Date: 2017-05-13 Member: 230466Members
    Don't think too hard about it, man.

    Also, if they really want to "fix" it, all they need to do is change one line of the audio.

    "Breaking atmosphere in..." change to "We should be in visual range in..." or something like that. Easy, and probably cheaper to get that voice actor a couple more bucks for that line than to re-jigger the sequence to match the audio.

    An explorable Sunbeam wreck, or debris from it, would be pretty great, though. Maybe something for the future.
  • SnailsAttackSnailsAttack Join Date: 2017-02-09 Member: 227749Members
    I think you just need to suspend your disbelief for the sake of the cinematic value. iunno
  • garathgarath Texas Join Date: 2017-02-08 Member: 227730Members
    If you really want to nit pick, you could say:

    1. Precursor gun is too small.
    2. Entire Island is too small
    3. Facility is too small
    4. Gun should destroy the ship before it even enters orbit.
    5. Gun blast also kills the player.
    6. Precursor tech is so awesomely powerful, the player should be annihilated before the game even begins...

    But I guess nit picking this much might shorten the game too much for sales:

    Game Starts. Game Ends.You died. Oops.
  • XautosXautos Join Date: 2017-07-31 Member: 232161Members
    WillemV wrote: »
    Impossible is expected from scifi/fantasy genre, but implausible becomes rather intolerable.

    The Sunbeam is clearly visible at an obvious we're-pretty-close distance when they haven't even broken atmosphere.

    When "breaking atmosphere" is announced they are well within the atmosphere and very visibly below cloud level. After the count down and the confusion about some "spike" they are allegedly breaking atmosphere without any visible cue that this is indeed happening.

    Within the great quality of the game, the Sunbeam entry sequence comes across as a quick, cheap implementation of zooming in on a static picture.

    You guys have a great game that is getting better with every update. Many great features are added and serious bugs are addressed. Please don't forget to address these little oddities (just like the stars shining *through* the big planet), though, as they do the game justice.

    Cheers!

    - Willem

    i can see where you are coming from but to make it somewhat real there would need to be sonic booms sound for a short time, effects of what looks like a fireball or a bright light and then vapor trails of the ship coming down, gravity would have a major effect and thrusters need to be deployed. you wouldn't see all that instantly, it would take a few minutes after the sonic booms to see the sunbeam coming.

    i can see some of these being added to get an idea, but this is a spaceship on an alien world, things proably work a little differently.
  • zdszds Finland Join Date: 2017-08-08 Member: 232317Members
    You could redeem part of this by making a spectacular animation of ship entering atmosphere; the fire and blaze of re-entry could be clearly visible even from top of the atmosphere with this large object. The ship itself could be farther away, because the re-entry plasma would make it appear bigger and brighter.
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