Planet Rotation Speeds

[Fyron]

I'm contemplating making planets rotate more quickly. I've sped up rock and ice planets by 10x, and set gas giants to be 3-5x faster still. Note that there is also some random variation in rotation speeds. Check out the following test mod build and tell me what you think:

http://files.spaceempires.net/temp/F...t_Planets2.rar

Note that this doesn't make use of any new planet textures, so you should be good to go if you can run FQM Beta 12 (ie: latest <a href="htp://mm.spaceempires.net/download.php" target="_blank">multimedia pack</a> is installed).

[MasterChiToes]

I am pretty happy with my planets spinning just twice as fast 0.0002. In testing, I had them going 0.001 and I think there was too much motion on the map.

If I recall correctly, the Random() calls are re-called every time you view a new system... so the planet spins will keep changing.
Can they be tied to planet conditions or the map location hex's (x,y) or something? I don't know if the XFileClasses_Stellar.txt can accept functions/equations/variables.

BTW, there is a FQM bug... with the Lacota Gas_None planets (which personally, I just wouldn't use)...
Planet Surface Empty := PlanetSurface_Gas_None_Empty.bmp
Planet Surface Colonized := PlanetSurface_Gas_None_Colonized.bmp
These bmp's don't exist... and their absence will crash the game, at least if the planets are colonized and then viewed.

[Fyron]

Woah... those gas nones have been in there ever since I scripted the stellar objects. Curious that noone ever mentioned them before. I've uploaded a new version without them.

MasterChiToes said:
"If I recall correctly, the Random() calls are re-called every time you view a new system... so the planet spins will keep changing."

Indeed. I'm not going for some crazy level of realism here, though, just trying to break up the monotony.

MasterChiToes said:
"Can they be tied to planet conditions or the map location hex's (x,y) or something?

Not that I am aware of.

MasterChiToes said:
"I don't know if the XFileClasses_Stellar.txt can accept functions/equations/variables."

Many fields do.

[MasterChiToes]

Dang, I wish there was a Get_Planet_Conditions and a Get_Planet_Radiation, or even Get_Planet_Minerals and Radioactives... all of these could be argued to relate to the magnetic field which is tied to rotational speed. (Tilt could be tied to climate, temperature, organics and location.)

Well, good luck! My next idea is to put little effect clouds in orbit of protostars.

[edit] I suspect there is another problem with a single Gas_None, it is that they will be disproportionally represented in the quadrant... Unless the random selection isn't weighted against their appearance, 1 in 5 Gas planets will be that Gas None. I could be wrong about this... but when I tried the FQM beta GPT there were a lot of them in Mid-Life and Ancient Quadrants.

[Fyron]

I've never actually seen a Gas None planet in-game before in my FQM testing, so I don't know what to tell ya.

[Ed Kolis]

As for varying up the speeds, what I liked to do when I actually took the time to mod planets instead of copying them from FQM was to make the smaller planets spin faster... not sure if that's realistic or not, but it's certainly doable in the xfiles data file, given that each entry specifies a specific planet size...

[Spoo]

Typically larger planets rotate faster (at least in the Solar System).

[Fyron]

Of course, the 4 largest planets are gas giants, which have no land masses to disrupt fast-flowing winds.

[MasterChiToes]

Fyron, the link is broken on your Dev page for "FQM 5.00 Beta 13 PR 1 - 12/10/2007"

[Fyron]

Fixed.