Things Starfield Got Scientifically Right and Wrong
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VOICE OVER: Aaron Brown
WRITTEN BY: Caitlin Johnson
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're looking at 10 Things “Starfield” Got Scientifically Right and Wrong. For this video, we're looking at the times Bethesda's hit RPG is painfully accurate, and the times it takes some liberties with reality. Our list includes Black Holes, Spacesuits in Zero Gravity, Atmospheric Pressure, Dogfights, Grav Drives and more!
10 Things Starfield Got Scientifically Right and Wrong
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at 10 Things “Starfield” Got Scientifically Right and Wrong.
For this list, we’re looking at the times Bethesda’s hit RPG is painfully accurate, and the times it takes some liberties with reality.
The Aesthetics
RightSpace agencies are all on an endless mission to get people interested in space, bringing more people into the field and hoping that a bigger public interest in space will get them more funding. So, it wasn’t surprising to see multiple top-level space agencies – in this case, NASA and ESA, the European Space Agency – weighing in on “Starfield”. Both agencies have praised “Starfield” for its realism, as well as its ability to get millions of people interested in outer space. ESA has also praised “Starfield’s” art direction and “NASA-punk” aesthetic, which makes “Starfield” one of the most realistic-looking space games out there. In space research, making something that works is far more important than something that looks futuristic, and that’s what “Starfield” stays true to.
Black Holes
WrongNow, technically, this isn’t something “Starfield” really got wrong. The game’s map stretches out across about 50 light-years, which isn’t all that large in the grand scheme of things; the total diameter of the Milky Way is over 100,000 light-years, after all. The nearest known black hole to Earth is Gaia BH1, over 1500 light-years away, so it makes sense for there not to be any in the game’s map. However, black holes are notoriously hard to detect, and many players were dreaming of encountering a black hole in “Starfield” from the moment the game was announced. It’s got plenty more out-there plot points, so we really think the idea of a black hole hiding somewhere in the game map is a missed opportunity. Unless, of course, we just haven’t found it yet…
Spacesuits in Zero Gravity
RightMoving around in zero gravity is tricky, and existing spacesuits are very bulky. “Starfield’s” space suits aren’t quite as unwieldy as in real life, but they do have a key feature that aids mobility in microgravity: compressed air. While floating around in space, you’ll see little blasts of air released from your suit, which help propel you in the desired direction. “Starfield” isn’t the first game to utilize this; it was also part of the spacesuit design in “Dead Space 2” and the recent “Dead Space” remake. This is something often overlooked but crucial to zero-G environments, and it was great to see it incorporated into “Starfield”.
Soviet Space Program
WrongThis is another thing that’s maybe not “wrong”, but a clear, missed opportunity. “Starfield” has a huge interest in NASA history, as you can find the remnants of NASA and its technology throughout the game. But NASA isn’t the only space agency out there, and it would have been nice to see some other areas of space history represented. After all, the Soviet Union made many advances in space; the first satellite, first humans in space, first probe to land on Venus’s surface, the first lunar rover, and even the first space station. None of that heritage really appears in “Starfield”, which is a shame. As early as 1975, Russia and America were able to work together in space, with the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission – but apparently not in “Starfield”.
Titan
RightWhile we often think of the moon and Mars as the best places to set up permanent, human settlements – and “Starfield” DOES have a large Martian city in Cydonia – there’s another location in the solar system far better suited to human life: Titan. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan certainly isn’t perfect with its methane lakes and cold temperatures. But it DOES have a thick atmosphere, giving it a lot of protection from solar radiation. If you visit Titan in “Starfield”, you’ll find the modest settlement of New Homestead, one of the first human bases on another world. New Homestead is also home to a museum about humanity’s first forays into space travel, and is more in touch with its Earth history than any other place in the Settled Systems.
Atmospheric Pressure
WrongIf a planet or moon is terrestrial, you can land on it in “Starfield”. Sure, you might get a few status ailments if it’s particularly hostile, but exploring planets is never THAT dangerous. There’s one big thing missing from the game’s physics, however: pressure. Yes, there is no real system to simulate higher atmospheric pressures in “Starfield”, which is how you’re able to go and walk around very easily on the surface of Venus. In reality, the pressure on Venus’s surface is over 1,000 greater than on Earth’s, so you would struggle to walk and jump at all. This could be because such a system was too difficult to implement, or because “Starfield’s” lack of vehicles would make planet traversal extremely boring if it was incorporated.
Food
RightYou’ll see all kinds of food products throughout “Starfield”, many of them in vacuum-sealed, aluminum packages, as well as water stored in bags and hard liquor in lightweight juice boxes. This is all pretty accurate to the way food is stored for astronauts in space, with lots of canned and vacuum-sealed products. Astronaut food is notoriously bad, though a lot of research has been done into improving it over the years. And, yes, lots of early astronaut food in real life came in a bite-sized, cube form factor, just like the stuff the Chunks restaurants sell throughout the Settled Systems. The popular sandwiches are accurate, too; astronaut John Young notoriously smuggled a corned beef sandwich onto Gemini 3 in 1965.
Dogfights
WrongWhile “Starfield” goes for hard science-fiction in some areas, in others, it lets the expectations of the genre rule it. That’s very clear in the case of outer space dogfights. Dogfights are a staple in classic sci-fi movies, like “Star Wars”, and many other space games – but, unfortunately, they’re not realistic. You’ll just never have that kind of mobility in a spaceship. If you WERE going to have a space battle, it would be more accurate to be modelled after naval combat, with large, slow ships rolling up alongside each other and firing laser cannons until one of them explodes. Flying into a spacecraft debris field would also annihilate your ship in real life. But, again, it’s not just “Starfield” that gets this wrong, and the fights ARE fun.
Grav Drives
RightThe name “gravity drive” doesn’t necessarily make sense, but the drives in “Starfield” are the very same warp drives we’ve been seeing in science-fiction and theoretical physics for decades. There IS a warp drive model, called an “Alcubierre drive” after its designer, that can exist without violating the laws of physics. It works by bending spacetime around a craft, the craft itself contained in a “bubble”. This means a craft can arrive at a destination faster than it would have if it were travelling at the speed of light, but without actually BREAKING the speed of light locally, because of the way space is bending. That’s precisely how the grav drives in “Starfield” work – though, you’ve still got the problem of meeting the extraordinary energy requirements…
Helium-3
RightFinally, and still related to the grav drives, we have the most valuable resource in the galaxy: helium-3. Helium-3 is a stable isotope that is a key candidate for a nuclear fusion reactor’s fuel source in real life. And how do they power those grav drives in “Starfield”? With helium-3-fuelled nuclear reactors, of course. And if you get into the outpost building mechanic, creating an outpost to mine helium-3 will be hugely beneficial since everybody wants it. We have to credit Bethesda with going for a real fuel source instead of relying on exotic matter to power its spaceships, like the antimatter in “No Man’s Sky” or dark matter in “Futurama”.
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