so i know none of these things are slated for release anytime soon, or even soon(tm), but once they do start to get sooner to release, i think it would be most advantageous to do them in this order:

walking in space stations
landing on planets
adding more space to explore

We don't need walking in space stations. I think the game would be better without it.

landing on planets is going to be wierd i presume

the game dosen't really need it anyways

the planets thing is as pointless than walking in stations.

but i would see planet-based stations. so, on their orbits, you'd have an approach vector marker (like a wh for example) and when you hit that, some animation starts and just shows you dock to some planet surface station. for the rest, it'd just be like a regular station. and no walking on the grass.

but, the futility of discussing long-term goals is beyond my understanding, when we have a lot of soon(tm) things to keep us gasping for months to come.

I also do not want to ever "walk" in VO. That would take something away from the game for me, no matter how well they did it.

although i dont want to land on planets, i do want them to be more important.
especially in a war, id rather capture a planet than a station. perhaps when fighting for systems you have to capture all the stations and then go to special planet sectors where you can capture planets by destroying the orbital defenses.

Maybe controlling the stations within the planet sectors denote ownership of the planet, and therefor the benefits?

PLAYER-OWNED PLANETS!!!!!!!!!!!

(egad...)

I also dont' think there should be walking...but I think atmospheric combat (is that what you call it when you're fighting just above the surface?) would be awesome. Throw some gravity into the mix!

Just an FYI.. exploration of new space will probably come before the other two. Since adding it would take a few weeks, where adding a full terrain engine for proper planetary-type rendering would take a few months (not including content development.. like the planet graphics).

When I think "Atmospheric Combat" I think of
1) Craft that can compensate for gravity OR let you turn off compensation for kick-arse maneuvers.
2) The last battle in Serenity, where they try to run the Alliance blockade while the Reavers are behind them.
3) Other fun things.

I concur with uc on the topic of planet bases. We definitely need this (or planets will keep on being nothing but pretty landmarks of little use). The implementation seems very manageable (in fact, it sounds like Wing Commander III, where you head to a waypoint and then a transition scene takes you to the planet's atmosphere).

For the moment, a loading screen would suffice, yes?

Further ideas on planet bases:

- Make it cost money to land and to launch, except for your homeworld, but to balance this, make commodities and equipment cheaper.

- Allow setting a 'homeworld' in addition to a home station.

- Make them launch capital ships for defense.

- Make them destructible (this might tie in well with the conquerable territory).

I think you guys have really lost your perspective.

Before you stop reading my post, take a look;

Currently, they have said;

Kourier
Faction
Trade
Capships
Exploration.

But there is one thing in particular I feel is missing. Something that would drasticly change the gameplay of this game. Actually, to rephrase that, drasticly add gameplay to the game.
A inside-building/'roid/hive mission or object. Roughly 3000m of tunnels, bots, turrets in little cubbyholes, ect. I think 'dungeon trawl' missions should at least be explored. If you need proof, check out descent or descent II, heck, or descent III. Successful games that are extremely popular. I think we should have at least ONE place where it's dark inside..and there are small 'glowbots' that can be destroyed to turn off the lights...and...

it's called doom.

I like the idea of having planets....

*thinks of the planet killers from babylon5, arrrr big ass ships that can blow up planets :D or even have the astroid shooting ships :D which is even better cause then u could watch all those characters running round about to die :s :/