Hey, I was playing some Galacticraft today and just had an idea, what if Mars had dust storms that operated similarly to vanilla Minecraft snow. I think it would just be cool to see some weather on the other worlds.
I just had to look up whether dust storms actually occur on Mars (which they very much do) because I think that would be a really cool dynamic to add. Apparently they can form relatively quickly and can last for weeks. It would be cool in a challenging sort of way if it makes it difficult to see very far and the dust would block out sunlight preventing solar panels from performing as well. To offset the added challenge it could at least maybe despawn any mobs that are outside?
I wouldn't want it to be too hard. Nothing like it damaging your base or killing players stuck in one. Maybe just something like a reddish snowstorm that rolls in. It would be slightly denser than vanilla snowstorms (that means more "snow flakes") that travels diagonally (because of wind) if that's even possible. Or maybe a reddish haze that makes things hard to see especially at a distance.
That's pretty much exactly how I imagine it. It wouldn't cause any damage whatsoever, just the inconvenience of poor visibility and reduced sunlight resulting in decreased solar power output. Apparently the real dust storms only consist of very fine dust that doesn't really harm probes or equipment that has been sent there anyway, they just can't generate enough power from their solar panels.
That's pretty much exactly how I imagine it. It wouldn't cause any damage whatsoever, just the inconvenience of poor visibility and reduced sunlight resulting in decreased solar power output. Apparently the real dust storms only consist of very fine dust that doesn't really harm probes or equipment that has been sent there anyway, they just can't generate enough power from their solar panels.
Well it harms them in the sense that it gets into things and makes it hard for thinks like arms and wheels to move properly. Apparently it also sticks to solar panels. I guess all that dust whirling around gets a static charge.
Ah, that makes sense. Well at least it wouldn't cause any sort of impact damage like destroying your machines or breaking the window of your base or anything like that.
If it's something that the player can't overcome for once or can't get around, I don't agree, because it would add micromanagement: player would have to stop what he was doing to repair solar panels every day that would have dust storm and the like. It's unavoidable unless you remove the equipments outside and shelter them.
I'm for dust storm damaging armors and suits. The marcian dust is like smashed glass, that is, the sand grains are very sharp and pointy and can erode the suits in the bends. The armor and the suits would lose durability *if* the player is not properly sheltered, even if the player decides to expose to a sand dust, he could be able to repair the overalls. If the player is not using a protection, he could get 1 damage point every 2 or 3 seconds. No mask = blindness.
Yes, but in this case the player chose to build in a snowy biome, so he has no excuse since (most of us?) everyone knows that it snows in cold biomes... (derp... knows, snows, duh echophony) ... and snowfalls cause snow to make deposits.Well it would damage solar panels the same way snow does. I wouldn't be against players having to shelter their solars the same way they have to do it in snowy biomes.
Yes, but in this case the player chose to build in a snowy biome, so he has no excuse since (most of us?) everyone knows that it snows in cold biomes... (derp... knows, snows, duh echophony) ... and snowfalls cause snow to make deposits.
After being inspired by a certain post, it brought me into thinking about the epic dust storms on Mars. At its peak they're global and may last for entire months, which meanwhile will have the surface shrouded in darkness.
Mother of God! I very much like the idea of dust storms on Mars already. The ability to see them in such a way as this makes me very excite. I think this also points back to the idea of using telescopes to be able to see conditions like this and others.
I've made some experiences with dust storms. I tried to use Blindness but it was so all-or-nothing, it didn't work well, all you can see is a black wall around you. Limiting the view distance is enough. Click on the images for larger size:
-pics-
For dust particles, one idea could be retexturing rain or snow flakes. Still looking good though.
Just like in real-life, I've also been thinking maybe dust storms wouldn't reach really high mountain formations akin to Olympus Mons.
How cool would that look if you were standing on top of a tall hill or mountain looking down at an ocean of red dust cloud with a few mountain peaks piercing through.
Nice, it would be more epic if the snowflakes were replaced with some rusty steel bars going straight in one direction. (visually, of course)My turn trying making dust storms:
By editing the snow fall texture, I could create... a swarm of rust mosquitoes?
I imagine you Ezer might be interested in the texture: http://i.imgur.com/t2T5Pe4.png
Simply rename it to "snow.png" and toss it into the environment folder.
I was thinking the lower part of the skybox could become rust red all the way to the skyline, which would be a well pronounced feature when on high altitude locations. I didn't think about a volumetric fog effect of some sort though, but it would certainly be a really cool effect.
I'm not sure how such an effect could be done, but in theory it shouldn't be more complicated than how regular Minecraft clouds functions, but multi-layered and using a color matching the dust storm. In between this layer of clouds could be the transition zone for the actual fog.
Nice swarm of rust mosquitoes.By editing the snow fall texture, I could create... a swarm of rust mosquitoes?.