Below is the artwork for Arid planets. If you compare this to the earlier Desert and Barren planets, you can see a clear progression in habitability. Part of this is reflected in the landscape, and another part in the way the atmosphere is drawn.
The Arid planet has a fuller, more Earth-like atmosphere while the Barren planet is almost airless. The Desert planet is in between.
Arid planets are, essentially “typical Firefly episode planets”
LikeLike
someone on twitter compared it to the setting for a John Wayne movie. It think both of those are fair comparisons!
LikeLike
Gorgeous pictures. Your instinct about the habitability of the planet types with similar-seeming names is also in keeping with MoO’s original design. In the original game, the progression of planet quality was:
Terran > Jungle > Ocean > Arid > Steppe > Desert > Minimal > Barren > Tundra > Dead > Inferno > Toxic > Radiated.
LikeLike
I think the only difference in that order is I mentally put Steppe > Arid since, to me, Arid and Desert are synonymous. However Arid planets start at size 55-70 while Steppe are 45-60 and Desert are 35-55.
Go figure!
LikeLike