It has been bothering me since the beginning. Most of you probably know that... we don't freeze in space, not that fast. Space is cold, but basically void, so, no thermal exchange, nothing to steal our heat, we can only lose our heat by radiation and it is slow. It actually takes tens of hours to freeze, and of course, only if we are not exposed to sunlight. Though spacesuits do have a heater function for the hands, their temperature control system is mainly a cooling system because the sun heats pretty hard. To treat the space temperature like an atmosphere temperature doesn't make any sense. ------ So basically, in space, our temperature should drop slowly depending on what kind of suit we wear when not exposed to sunlight and should rise pretty fast when exposed to sunlight with the speed at which the temperature rise depending on the distance to the sun. Planets without atmosphere should behave that way too. I actually doubt we can freeze in space if we are in a well-confined suit with good thermal isolation since our own body generates heat.
Yes, you are right. But this misconception is adopted by most - if not all - sci-fi movies. This was carried over to games. If things were too realistic we shouldn't hear anything in space but that would be too boring.
Sound in space is an aesthetic choice and generally doesn't have any impact on anything. This behaviour in space is not.
But of course it does. You won't hear an enemy destroyer coming your way, Zirax shooting at you when you invade their CVs you just disabled, any alarms activated, alien lifeforms screeching nearby.
Hmm, coming to think of it, forget what I said about the alien lifeforms with no oxygen. But imagine yourself alone, stranded and unable to hear danger approaching. I'd love that degree of realism, hearing only your own harsh breath and heartbeat, the helmet handicapping you from seeing around, lack of atmosphere to make you turn in time to face an enemy behind you. That kind of stuff is haunting. Haha
I actually had a lot of things to reply but then I realise how pointless it was. Sounds in space is an aesthetic and confort choice, because video games and movies completely rely on images and sounds. The temperature behaviour in space is neither an aesthetic, nor a confort choice. You do it right, or you do it wrong, depending on how much you know. Like black holes, over the times, they had had a lot of different representations from pretty wrong to something closer to reality and what physics tell us as more and more people knows more about space and gravity. Over the times, more and more people now knows more about how temperature actually works in space. By the way, ingame you already don't hear any spaceship coming your way, you don't even hear their turrets shooting at you unless you get yourself near enough.
Unfortunately this is also the case on planets, to a certain extent. We know that gunshots are heard from very far in atmosphere, yet we get hit in total silence when attacked from patrols or turrets. I always though that environmental hazards should be specific to an area or context, not "global" like they are actually on a per-playfield fashion. I can accept that a lava planet or a moon close to a sun could be scorching hot and require special equipment, but for the majority of playfields there should be only specific zones with exceptional conditions, where the playfield or scenario designer can choose to put stuff or mission objectives to force the player in there with good planning. But for the most part, players could have a break for their daily activities in space or on a planet with non-extreme conditions like lava or a total ice world at -250 + kelvin. This is another balance and design element of the game that needs revisiting (or modded) because that forces players to hunt for advanced tech right from the start or else he can't do the daily, normal jobs of early game. It's like skipping a big chunk of the fun to get in end game gear as fast as possible just to stay alive in conditions that players see everywhere in game, and not only in spots that obviously look like hard challenge.
No, it isn't. This is a forum. You started a discussion when you created a topic. I still don't think sound is an "aesthetic and comfort choice" as you're using a helmet with limited vision and movement while on EVA. So sound is important in my opinion. Not in real life space stations of course where nothing really happens outside. But here... I understand that you shouldn't freeze to death while in space but that's the way it's always been in media and art since the beginning of times. This game is based on science-fiction, not pure science. It's just a reckless opinion I guess. This is not a lecture and I'm not underestimating your intelligence. I apologize if it sounded like I was doing so.
