Community Input: Freelancer HD Starspheres

[Antonio]

As we continue to improve systems from a quality standpoint, with recent additions such as the restoration of patrol paths, NPC pop zones, fixing countless system-related bugs, infocard updates, and more, the next topic in line is starspheres. Due to unfortunately not having anyone talented and willing to create new starspheres at the moment, we are starved for content if we wish to make improvements in this area. Freelancer HD has re-done all vanilla systems' starspheres, mostly by adding HD textures to the existing ones. Whether this is actually better or not is up for debate, as starspheres fall under the realm of art, which is subjective by nature. Hence, we'd like to know the community’s opinion on the matter.

One important thing to note: Starspheres can be modified locally, meaning that if you do not like the live iteration of starspheres, you can swap them to your liking at any time. Quite a few people here already use different visual packs, some of which include Freelancer HD starspheres. This is very important, as it ensures that no one is forced to use whatever the dev team selects, which is the case with most other assets (e.g., balance, bases, infocards, etc.). The bottom line is this: starspheres are a customizable visual change, regardless of what we choose to implement.

The question to the community is: Would you like to see Freelancer HD starspheres added to Discovery? If so, which systems should be updated, and why do you think this would be an improvement?

One of the main advantages Freelancer HD starspheres have is, as the name suggests, their much higher resolution. This alone could justify their implementation for some, as the difference is very noticeable in certain systems, such as the Western Independent Worlds. A topic for debate regarding Freelancer HD starspheres is their more cartoonish look. Another topic for debate is their "too modern" look compared to other assets, most notably Discovery-only starspheres. This can be viewed as either positive or negative, depending on your perception of Freelancer's universe and whether you feel vanilla starspheres fit better than the HD ones overall. It isn't a black or white "all starspheres or nothing" scenario - only starspheres deemed as an upgrade can be implemented. There are no definitive right or wrong answers, which is exactly why we'd like to hear your thoughts.

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Below is a comparison of several systems from different regions of the game (click on the image for full size). You are, of course, welcome to test all Freelancer HD starspheres yourself, by installing the mod over your vanilla installation.

Upper Picture - Vanilla.
Lower Picture - Freelancer HD.

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Cortez:

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New York:

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New London:

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Dresden:

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Omicron Theta:

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Tau-29:

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Tohoku:

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Omega-41:

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