Planetary Effects

Asteroid Belts lower the accuracy of your ships (the penalty is 20%), hence lowering their overall damage output. It cuts both ways, and the only way to mitigate this penalty is through the Akkan's Targeting Uplink.

Gas Giants have an Explosive Gas Pockets ability where if a ship in the gravity well is destroyed the resulting explosion damages nearby ships (I think the damage is like 80). Think of it as everything in the gravity well being afflicted with the Kortul's Volatile Nanites (without the damage reduction penalty and lower explosion damage).

The Explosive Gas Pockets have a very short range round the planet. So you have to be right on top of the planet for it to work.

Thanks--I just haven't had it happen yet.  The damage reduction I did know but I thought you could collide with asteroids as well.

I haven't noticed the gas giant damage even when close...is it automatic or random?

Nope no damage from asteroids. Only accuracy reduction which is a damage reduction basically.

And the gas giant one is automatic if you meet the conditions. Be within it the tiny radius it affect. Blow up a ship in that radius, and have other ships around the ship that blows up. Really the crappy part is the range of the ability, you have to right on the planet more or less. If it affected the whole grav well it be neat.

It would be a lot more useful and fun if it affected ships passing through.  One solution would be have two effects for a gas giant...the grav well effected in a torus around it with one effect and  the more severe one inside the torus close to the planet.  If there was a risk/advantage to each it might bring them into play more often.  Maybe the damage reduction in the well except where the explosive damage area occurs.

I was very disapointed when I discovered how useless the gas planet ability was...

I had built a starbase at a gas giant that was a chokepoint. I figured that giving it the self-destruct mechanism would be great considering the explosive gas.

End of game, I blow it up to see what happens. Yep, major disapointment...

(Where was the Earth shattering kaboom? There's supposed to be an Earth shattering kaboom!)

Maybe reduce damage by 20-30, then have it effect everything in the Grav Well.  Or let the damage stay as it is, but be effected by mitigation(My Preference).

-Twilight Storm

Or perhaps the size or strength of explosion effects the damage and distance that the gas explodes. I don't know, I'm sure that someone can make it work. Damn I need to learn how to do coding. Why can't we learn useful stuff in IT?

The Distant Stars mod more or less addresses the whole 'boring sectors' problem.  You may want to give that a try if you're looking for some enhancements to Sins without drastically changing the core game.