Bring A New Era to Space: Re-introduce Atmospheric Flight

How can atmospheric flight be made into more than just another way to travel, and instead connect meaningfully with cities, GCW, guilds, missions, crafting, and the existing space game?

• Starport-only takeoff and landing, with protected landing and departure corridors.
• Minimum flight speeds at certain altitudes.
• GCW supply convoys that players can escort or intercept.
• Smuggling and courier missions between planets, starports, cities, and orbital stations.
• Reconnaissance, patrol, bounty, rescue, and search-and-recovery missions.
• Atmospheric capital ships designed as group encounters that require multiple coordinated pilots.
• City Lockdown mechanic. Controlling factional ships patrol around player cities and scan for covert enemy players. Atmospheric pilots can intercept and destroy these patrols.
• City Ship Landing Tax. Cities could charge pilots for landing within city-controlled infrastructure, giving mayors another source of city revenue.
• Landing Pad House. A large player structure that supports up to four ships parked in designated landing spots. Landing or long-term parking could require a fee, with the owner paying maintenance to keep the pads operational.
• Dynamic pirate attacks and faction invasions around planetary zones, settlements, trade routes, and starports.
• Resource hauling that connects atmospheric and space gameplay with ground crafting, harvesting, and player cities.
• Guild-versus-guild objectives involving control of trade routes, orbital locations, or other strategically valuable areas.
• Dockable guild orbital stations managed by Guild Leaders. Stations could be upgraded with storage, repair services, defenses, mission terminals, crafting facilities, hangars, vendors, and other guild services. Guild Leaders could also relocate the station between eligible space zones for a cost or after a cooldown.
• Events that require both pilots and ground groups. For example, pilots might escort cargo through hostile airspace before the cargo lands and has to be defended by a ground group.
• If you have a POB ship, you basically have a portable house.

Now the maps are big, but not that big. On maps of SWG size, atmospheric flight could fill the gap between ground vehicles and space travel. Ground vehicles would still make sense for local travel, while ships become the better option for crossing large parts of the planet. You could also add in a fuel mechanic, requiring you to replenish it. Another credit sink.

Higher altitudes could require a minimum speed, while lower altitudes allow slower flight for combat, approaches, scanning, and landing. You probably still want enough travel time that interceptions, convoys, pirate attacks, and other encounters can actually happen along the way instead of ships just instantly crossing the map.

That would also give starports and potential player-owned landing pads more purpose as actual transportation hubs.

There could also be multi-stage events built around this:

• A supply convoy could start in space, enter the atmosphere under player escort, land near a city, and then transition into a ground defense event.
• A planetary assault could require pilots to destroy fighters and defensive positions before transports can safely deploy ground players.
• A rescue mission could have ground players locate survivors while pilots establish air superiority and protect the evacuation ship.
• A city siege could begin with hostile ships blockading the city, requiring pilots to clear the skies before ground players deal with whatever forces were deployed.

Basically, atmospheric flight should give players a reason to be in the air, not just another place to travel through. The more it ties into GCW, cities, guilds, crafting, hauling, missions, and ground content, the more it becomes a meaningful bridge between ground and space gameplay.

I don't mean to derail the PV but just wanted to add additional interest to the questions of "why?".

+1

Xenolution said:

One of the biggest problems that I think many players have with space is that it feels like a completely separate experience from the rest of SWG.
A good way to remedy this, in my opinion, is to work to develop atmospheric flight and introduce it within SWGR.
We have plenty of community feedback from the way it was implemented in live, and an improved version of the mechanic could be introduced, mitigating the concerns many have.
Allowing proper interaction between players in ground and space will bring the communities together.
It seems plenty of spacers are already interested in this change, and pursuing this should boost the space player population in the long term.

For a first implementation, it would be nice to see if the development team can get the mechanic introduced and working.
Then changes to current gameplay methods brought about by this change can be discussed.

(EDIT: To remove confusion and correct my initial wording, I have edited the PV to make it clear that I want a custom implementation in Resto, not just copying the way it was made in live)

Click to expand...

Honestly... I"m still trying to properly getting into space for resto. I'll get there eventually with the big boyz. Knock on wood.
I Love anything that adds immersion. When I see stuff flying over head its kinda fun animation wise, might even be fun to see players fighting in a sky box above everyone else once in a while.

Even if the devs Don't have time "Right" now, I've learned its silly to just say don't bother saying you like it.
Be hopeful and Show your support for what is interesting.

This is interesting, I want it, Here's hoping someday we see something of it.