Small Immersion Improvements

[GaelicVigil]

1.  Slower Rocket Engines.
Rockets and rocket drive ships should not be able to zip around your solar system so fast.  They should have a top speed much lower than the grav drive.  I think it would be neat (and realistic) to experience a long journey to another planet in your solar system the first couple times.

The game only has one top speed, and that is the speed of light. Everything is based on acceleration and you can definitely make a spacecraft that has faster acceleration than a space rocket. Newtonian physics likely won't be changed like that, and I doubt it would add to immersion to have a top-speed imposed on space vehicles.

What would help to achieve this would be bigger solar systems. Simply more spacing between the otbit zones and between the sun and the inner most orbit zone. The orbits are very close together and it makes it easy to see other worlds and travel to them is fast. But I wouldn't say it is a major issue, this is not KSP, not everything has to be perfect scale.

More space between planets would help, but then you'd need to consider more space between the stars...and I don't really want to make it even harder for players to find each other.

Perhaps another option is to make rockets drain fuel much faster.  That matches reality closer as well.  In real life we only have just about enough fuel to make it to orbit and maybe do a moon landing (if you don't believe in conspiracy theories :)). 

So you COULD travel to another planet via rocket, it would just take forever because you'd have already reached max acceleration on liftoff and would have to float the rest of the way there without fuel (or just enough to land again).  I like this solution quite a bit.  You still get Eludium from your moon to make a grav ship if you want, but it makes rockets less over-powered.

[Deantwo]

Perhaps another option is to make rockets drain fuel much faster.  That matches reality closer as well.  In real life we only have just about enough fuel to make it to orbit and maybe do a moon landing (if you don't believe in conspiracy theories :)). 

So you COULD travel to another planet via rocket, it would just take forever because you'd have already reached max acceleration on liftoff and would have to float the rest of the way there without fuel (or just enough to land again).  I like this solution quite a bit.  You still get Eludium from your moon to make a grav ship if you want, but it makes rockets less over-powered.

I think you are confusing immersion with realism. Most players hate the space rocket already, and I don't think anyone has ever thought it was overpowered. The space rocket has to be powerful enough to reach the opposite side of the solar system without too much advanced piloting knowledge, since some homeworlds don't have any moons at all. In the rare event that a solar system doesn't have any eludium or oil at all, the space rocket also need to be viable for interstellar travel.

This thread is about minor suggestions to make the universe feel more alive and immersive. If you want realism I would suggest Kerbal Space Program. Or at least a start a new separate thread so we don't de-rail this thread completely.

As a side note, I suggested that space travel should have a slower maximum deadheading speed a while back.
See: (Idea thread) Lower Max Spacecraft Speed

[GaelicVigil]

Perhaps another option is to make rockets drain fuel much faster.  That matches reality closer as well.  In real life we only have just about enough fuel to make it to orbit and maybe do a moon landing (if you don't believe in conspiracy theories :)). 

So you COULD travel to another planet via rocket, it would just take forever because you'd have already reached max acceleration on liftoff and would have to float the rest of the way there without fuel (or just enough to land again).  I like this solution quite a bit.  You still get Eludium from your moon to make a grav ship if you want, but it makes rockets less over-powered.

I think you are confusing immersion with realism. Most players hate the space rocket already, and I don't think anyone has ever thought it was overpowered. The space rocket has to be powerful enough to reach the opposite side of the solar system without too much advanced piloting knowledge, since some homeworlds don't have any moons at all. In the rare event that a solar system doesn't have any eludium or oil at all, the space rocket also need to be viable for interstellar travel.

This thread is about minor suggestions to make the universe feel more alive and immersive. If you want realism I would suggest Kerbal Space Program. Or at least a start a new separate thread so we don't de-rail this thread completely.

As a side note, I suggested that space travel should have a slower maximum deadheading speed a while back.
See: (Idea thread) Lower Max Spacecraft Speed

I gotcha, roger that, no rocket changes.  You brought up light speed limits and newtonian physics, so I thought you wanted to talk realism. But whatevs.