Spaceflight and Vehicles: If You Can’t Fly It, You Probably Shouldn’t Touch It
By Ashton Data Publishing, LLC — trusting players with spacecraft since this morning
Greetings, pilots, drivers, and accidental crash survivors!
Welcome to Dev Blog #10! After arming you to the teeth and dressing you for every hostile environment imaginable, it was finally time to answer the big question:
Can you fly?
And more importantly…
Can you land?
This week, we focused on vehicles — ground and space — and giving players the freedom to move through the galaxy at high speed, moderate control, and occasional panic.
Vehicle Classes: Not Everything Has Wings (Yet)
We introduced our first wave of vehicles, each with a clear role:
Ground Vehicles
- Rovers — Reliable exploration vehicles for rough terrain
- Hovercraft — Fast, agile, and allergic to cliffs
- Cargo Crawlers — Slow, durable, and packed with questionable freight
Spacecraft
- Shuttles — Short-range transports, easy to fly (relatively)
- Light Transports — Cargo-focused ships with defensive options
- Survey Craft — Optimized for exploration and scanning
Each vehicle has unique:
- Handling
- Speed
- Durability
- Fuel consumption
- Storage capacity
Choose wisely. Or don’t. That’s also an option.
Flight Model: Realistic Enough to Be Dangerous
Spaceflight is built around:
- Pitch, yaw, and roll control
- Thrust-based acceleration
- Inertia and momentum
- Gravity effects near planets
- Atmospheric drag during entry
Translation:
You can’t stop on a dime.
You can overshoot your landing zone by several kilometers.
Practice recommended.
Planetary Transitions: From Dirt to Orbit
One of our biggest milestones this week:
Seamless surface-to-orbit travel.
Players can now:
- Take off from planets
- Break atmosphere
- Enter low orbit
- Dock with stations
No loading screens.
Just physics, visuals, and your ability to not panic.
Vehicle Customization: Make It Yours (Before You Wreck It)
Vehicles now support:
- Engine upgrades
- Thruster tuning
- Shield modules
- Cargo expansions
- Cosmetic paint jobs
Performance upgrades improve handling — but increase power draw.
Cosmetics improve morale — which we assume helps survival.
Fuel, Damage, and Consequences
Vehicles aren’t magic.
They require:
- Fuel management
- Repairs
- Spare parts
Running out of fuel:
- Strands you
- Forces emergency landings
- Turns minor missions into survival stories
Damage affects:
- Control response
- Speed
- System reliability
Yes — ships can catch fire.
No — panicking does not help.
AI Pilots and Traffic: Controlled Chaos
NPC pilots now:
- Follow traffic lanes
- Dock and undock
- Occasionally argue with autopilot systems
- React poorly to sudden player maneuvers
Stations feel alive.
And occasionally congested.
Memorable Bugs of the Week
- A shuttle docked sideways.
- A rover drove up a vertical wall.
- A ship forgot gravity existed.
- Two NPC pilots tried to occupy the same hangar.
Negotiations failed.
Final Thoughts for Dev Blog #10
Vehicles and spaceflight fundamentally change how players experience AD Galaxy Traveler. The galaxy is now truly connected — not by menus, but by motion.
Next week:
Dev Blog #11 — “Economy, Trade, and Crafting: Credits Make the Galaxy Go Round”
Until then, fly safe, check your fuel, and remember:
If the landing looks smooth, you’re probably still going too fast.