Mun Facelift

[Giggleplex777]

Don't you think that it's a little too dark, though?

[johnnyhandsome]

They had a similar problem on Apollo 11, so few flat surfaces.

Edited July 26, 2013 by johnnyhandsome
bad quote

[Nikolai]

It still has basically two different sizes for the small craters...

And lots of craters on the maria...

And the craters have dark bottoms.

None of this looks realistic.

I think you're expecting that only things that look like our Moon are "realistic".

I agree with your first point -- that the craters seem a bit uniform in size. I haven't actually measured. But if the lava plains were created before the Heavy Bombardment -- or if there was no Heavy Bombardment, so a lot of the craters we see are uniformly distributed in time -- then heavily-crated maria would be realistic for Mun. And the color of the crater floors depends on the underlying material, which may or may not be the same as the Moon's. (Look at Hyperion for a real-life example of dark-bottomed craters.)

[Brotoro]

Guys, it's not our Moon. It's a satellite orbiting extrasolar planet. It's different - plain and simple

It's not about being OUR moon. It's about how solar system bodies form. There is no physical mechanism that should give you lots of craters of two different sizes...you should get something much closer to a power law distribution. So the nu-Mün looks weird. And maria form later in the history of a moon, when there has been time for radioactive heating to melt the interior enough for the basalt flows to fill up the large impact features...so there should be many fewer craters on the maria (this was an important consideration when choosing the initial Apollo landing sites). And even if there was a late bombardment that added lots of craters to the maria, it should have added even more to the already cratered highlands.

Now, if you want to tell me that Squad chose to order a Mün from the Magratheans that deliberately looked unphysical, I'm fine with that explanation.

[NovaSilisko]

I do agree that the crater bottoms (and the mun overall) are too dark, and their sizes are too uniform. But...

On another thread, Nova said he may want to tweak it.

I'm not really in a position to change it.

Edited July 26, 2013 by NovaSilisko

[Scotius]

I suppose it was effect of finite amount of resources and time available. If Harv would have more of both, i don't doubt we would get Mun of almost photorealistic quality - alas, it was not meant to be

[Brotoro]

I think you're expecting that only things that look like our Moon are "realistic".

I agree with your first point -- that the craters seem a bit uniform in size. I haven't actually measured. But if the lava plains were created before the Heavy Bombardment -- or if there was no Heavy Bombardment, so a lot of the craters we see are uniformly distributed in time -- then heavily-crated maria would be realistic for Mun. And the color of the crater floors depends on the underlying material, which may or may not be the same as the Moon's. (Look at Hyperion for a real-life example of dark-bottomed craters.)

Hyperion is quite unusual in having dark areas in the bottoms of many of its craters (which don't look like the uniformly-dark bottoms of the nu-Mün's craters in any case). The various theories I've heard to explain Hyperion's dark-bottomed craters rely on the fact that Hyperion's surface is primarily made of ice, and sublimation of that ice can leave darker dust behind...but the Mün looks like a rocky object (and it's distance from Kerbol would make explaining an icy surface for it difficult -- the "Minmus Problem" all over again), so I don't think the same process is at work here.

[Brotoro]

I suppose it was effect of finite amount of resources and time available. If Harv would have more of both, i don't doubt we would get Mun of almost photorealistic quality - alas, it was not meant to be

Of course. But hopefully there will be time in the future for improvements. So it helps to point out possible improvements now.

[Tw1]

It does look a little plasticy to me actually. Perhaps they need to add a little tonal variance somehow, to liven things up, and reduce the problem of the craters looking so similar from a distance.

[chaos_forge]

I agree that the Mun should have more different sizes for craters (maybe 4 sizes instead of 2), the bottoms of craters shouldn't be darkened, and the darker regions should have significantly less craters.

Another benefit of giving maria less craters is that it would make for very visually distinct "easy mode" and "hard mode" landing spots.

[Tw1]

Of course. But hopefully there will be time in the future for improvements. So it helps to point out possible improvements now.

While everything is still fresh.

But having just marked out the site for a big mun base, I'm in no hurry for any changes. To those craters, anyway...

[hubbazoot]

Another benefit of giving maria less craters is that it would make for very visually distinct "easy mode" and "hard mode" landing spots.

Totally agree with that. I understand not everyone plays at the same skill level, and while I'm accustomed to games that are more of a challenge, I know how frustrating it is when you're first getting started and not getting any good feedback on how to improve.

I know Mun got a HUGE improvement, but I was kinda expecting the changes on other planets to be more...dramatic. I felt kinda underwhelmed by many of the other planets' changes. Maybe I just gotta spend some more time there...

[Commander Zoom]

(Some) lighter craters, and fewer of them on maria. I concur.