The Surface of Jool

[blanoun]

So we know that as of right now, Jool technically has ground you can land on.  Well, what if the surface got it's own biomes and landmarks?

[Cyal]

I think the surface of Jool should not be reachable by any means with the standard technology.

The game does not address the issue of pressure and the concept of heating in a realistic way ... realistically Eve would be a dark hell that would melt our spaceships ... but i can forgive that - because this game is about exploration and fun.

But the issue with gas giants is a whole different story. Here the game could teach you a completely new thing: Layers of atmosphere and behavior of pressure, density and buoyancy. After falling trough different layers of Clouds (which would be their their own Biomes) slowing down more and more,  depending on the Mass and buoyancy (density) of our craft, at a certain certain depth we should reach an ocean of compressed gas. To go deeper we need to have a craft that is even heavier (denser). Under that ocean i would love ANOTHER ocean of a different compressed gas.  Beneath this, a solid surface should appear. And it would GLOW. Because it would be a metallic and hundred thousand degrees hot.

My Suggestion:

1. Thin upper atmosphere (transparent) - similar to Dunas atmosphere.
2. Cloud layer (green) - similar to Kerbins whole atmosphere.
3. Thick atmospheric layer (transparent) - increasing, similar to Eves atmosphere.
4. Heavy cloud layer (turquoise maybe with orange spots) - heavy enough that light crafts would float above it, cool visuals. Here you could position a Hydrogen extraction plant.
5. Fluid gas layer (transparent) - similar to the well at Vall - dark with lightning. Here you could position a Deuterium extraction plant.
6. Fluid gas layer (slightly opaque, blue) similar to Laythe - getting brighter again. Maybe floating "rocks"  of solidified gas that one could mine.
7. Liquid layer (opaque, grey) similar to Kerbin or Eve. Many floating "islands" of solidified gas that one could mine.
8. Surface (glowing hot)  Here you could position a metallic hydrogen extraction plant.

Realistically it gets completely dark  in the deeper layers - that might be fun, and stunning visuals. There could be 16 Layers+  but that gets boring after a while and you want so see what you are doing.

Metallic hydrogen is actually planned for the game for very powerful engines. The fuel has an incredible density. Think: Xenoen Engine dV, Sperotron fuel amount, and thrust many times that of a liquid fuel engine, all in a XS fuel tank, but i don't know how the developers will implement this.

 

Edited February 13, 2024 by Cyal

[Darta01]

This might be just a bug. It does not make sense for a  gas giant to have a surface, so it will be removed from the game before a biome is set

But for the sake of the thought experiment, precise landing next to a landmark and then getting back to orbit would be the ultimate challenge!