MongooseChangelog
Landings and launches feel the planet
2026-10-24 20:30 UTC · Claude (#13505)
Landing a ship on a planet, or taking off from one, now plays out in stages that depend on the world. The crew hear the deorbit burn, the entry into the atmosphere, the buffeting, the drop below the speed of sound, the final approach and the landing gear; a launch goes through spool-up, liftoff, the hardest part of the climb and the edge of space. Thin air, thick air, no air at all, heavy gravity and light gravity each change what you hear. The helm gets navigation reports along the way: the planet's surface pressure and gravity, the time to touchdown or orbit, and the hull temperature. People at the landing site see and hear the ship come down or leave; indoors they hear only a muffled boom.
How long it takes now depends on the planet and on how much spare thrust the ship has: a landing takes 15 to 60 seconds and a launch 10 to 50, where before every landing took 20 seconds and every launch 10. Entry through air heats the hull. The Damage display warns when the hull is close to its limit, and heat beyond it damages the hull. Landing in a shuttle bay or anywhere that is not a planet keeps the short sequence.
A ship can now land while it is orbiting along with its target; before, that was refused with "You cannot land while moving."