..Actual lasers can only melt thing, heat them, there is no such thing as a "freezing laser" and really can't be...
Actually, even usual laser capable to melt the large areas of surface today is beyong Sci-Fi. Actually, changing values of body materal (like hidrogen to iron and vice versa) is no less tnan alchemy. Changing star age - don't even know what to call.
So stop overdoing with realism.
.If we want this sandbox to stay physics based, the devs shouldn't include anything that is not allowed by physics
Including Police Box and Monolith objects? Global gravity constant changing? Objects launching?
You gotta be kidding me.
If we want this sandbox to stay physics based than devs shold continue to keep all the physics calculations strive for reality. But not the user possibilities.
Otherwise, it will not just boring but also less educational. How else do you think I can quickly demonstrate the impact of ice sheets in the albedo and climate, without changing the orbital parameters?
It's not just simulator, but sandbox with educational functions not just for scientists bout for everyone. Don't forget about that. If I will need the realism, I'll just read a textbook, or better yet, go for a walk.
Just because it would be difficult for a civilization to develop that kind of technology doesn't mean it's impossible. A freezing laser actually is impossible.
Sure, changing materials in a planet may be impossible, but it doesn't go against physics either and that is a part of the simulator that really can't be taken out if we want to have realistic planets, anyway.
Changing star age could be taken as speeding up time more than the sandbox can do on its own (Do you really want to wait 11 years for your system to get to just 1 billion years old at the normal 1 day/sec timestep? Even longer if you want to include moons?) Or reversing it, so that your star is younger, or to reset how long you've been running the sim.
I'm not trying to overdo the realism. I just don't want this "game" to stray off the path of near and acceptable realism that has been set. By your logic, why don't we change the rings to look solid instead of as particles? That would make them easier to edit wouldn't it?
Those aren't completely prohibited, pus those are small-scale objects, comparitively. Also, gravity constant changing isn't against physics, because it's changing how gravity behaves, not making it do something it can't.
Objects launching is pure convenience, and I'm fine with that, so that we don't have to spend hours setting up an orbit that will cause an object to collide with another. Sure, that would be more realistic, but at least in my view it's acceptable.
Is reading a textbook hands-on? Do you actually get to see the effects of things if you don't set them up right? No, because a textbook isn't going to tell you about things like that.