400+ Billion Stars but to what end?

[Kars Vandor]

the end effect will be, once there are social interaction systems, people will group up, because we are social animals, and a team can get more done than individuals. there will always be lone wolves but the main thing will be the conflicts generated when one power group goes up against another.

EVE Online has 10,000 systems. Only about 20% of them are used to any extent,even with a huge player base and 25K players on at any one time.

There will be players here that will go to the ends of the galaxy, exploring and report back. there will be those that will strike out and establish new colonies on far flung worlds. But for the most part, small groups of corporations, merc companies and pirate gangs will band together.

 

[anikaiful]

I'd prefer to actually play and explore together with other players than 400 billion stars...

Each their own, I guess.

 

[SeregDuin]

Nexxo, you've brought a tear my eye. Be damned the drudgery of a merchants life or the endless violence of the bounty hunter.. I'm off to explore the galaxy.

 

[aowqyaaw]

Because when an alien race takes over the other half of the galaxy, it's going to be immense.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

It is overkill though, you're probably right. Braben's vision I suppose.

 

[Sysmon]

Is it overkill? Space is vast. It is hard to simulate the vastness of space without making it, you know, really big.

Seems players lump together anyway. This way there is a near infinite choice of where to do the lumping though.

S

 

[Zvanya]

The Devs were sitting around getting stoned and one guy says "Hey lets create a galaxy with 400 billion stars and shaped like a whirlpool spiral!"

And here we are.

EVE Online has 10,000 systems. Only about 20% of them are used to any extent,even with a huge player base and 25K players on at any one time.

I left Eve because it was too small.

 

[Commander Azriel]

Frankly I think the game size is the games biggest drawback, its biggest mistake in fact. It makes most things in the game meaningless.

Multiplayer meaningless. 300,000 player spread across 400 billion systems, lol.
Trading, you can find everything in the game, except rares within a few jumps.
Exploring, 90% of the systems seem like copy/paste, minor variations.
Factions, meaningless. A gazillion minor factions that are not in the least way memorable, and 3 major factions that control hundreds of millions of systems. Are we really supposed to care if the Empire loses a handful of systems?

The factions seem rather peaceful since there is no shortage of resources, or systems. You will never visit 1/100th of the game, and likely wouldn't find anything different there if you did.

If the game had a smaller space factions would be fighting over the limited amount of useable systems, factions would matter. Our action might actually count, we might be able to uninfluenced the game in a meaningful way.

Now it feels like sitting in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean wondering how much you can raise the sea level by pouring a shot glass into the water.

 

[Rhaedas]

300,000 player spread across 400 billion systems

Plenty of things to critique, but given the topic title, and this statement, I have to correct you. This is not accurate at all. I don't know how big the circle of starting worlds is, but they are not randomly distributed across the galaxy, so this kind of image making it seem like every player is so alone is completely made up. There are other issues affecting multiplayer interaction, but it's not due to location.

 

[Zenith]

The biggest draw of 400 billion stars is that 150,000 of them are hand crafted and based on real world observational data.

Being able to jump across thousands of light years in a virtual galaxy gives a sense of scale. Ending up watching a sunrise on a virtual planet in orbit around a star that we've only seen through telescopes... it's pure romanticism, and our imagination.

My interest in astronomy is guiding me towards places and systems in ED. To see a realistic simulacrum of what we think a system is like is enough for me.

 

[Sysmon]

Frankly I think the game size is the games biggest drawback, its biggest mistake in fact. It makes most things in the game meaningless.


If the game had a smaller space factions would be fighting over the limited amount of useable systems, factions would matter. Our action might actually count, we might be able to uninfluenced the game in a meaningful way.

Now it feels like sitting in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean wondering how much you can raise the sea level by pouring a shot glass into the water.

You are very close to grasping the insignificance of our existence in relation to the vastness of space and time! Is it daunting? It should be!

Well done, welcome to the Perspective. Let's huddle together in our little cozy corner of the galaxy and hope the wolves won't find us.

S

 

[almostpilot]

Frankly I think the game size is the games biggest drawback, its biggest mistake in fact. It makes most things in the game meaningless.

Multiplayer meaningless. 300,000 player spread across 400 billion systems, lol.
Trading, you can find everything in the game, except rares within a few jumps.
Exploring, 90% of the systems seem like copy/paste, minor variations.
Factions, meaningless. A gazillion minor factions that are not in the least way memorable, and 3 major factions that control hundreds of millions of systems. Are we really supposed to care if the Empire loses a handful of systems?

The factions seem rather peaceful since there is no shortage of resources, or systems. You will never visit 1/100th of the game, and likely wouldn't find anything different there if you did.

If the game had a smaller space factions would be fighting over the limited amount of useable systems, factions would matter. Our action might actually count, we might be able to uninfluenced the game in a meaningful way.

Now it feels like sitting in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean wondering how much you can raise the sea level by pouring a shot glass into the water.

In short, the game lacks content.

But hopefully in a few more two years of patches the game had been finalized

 

[Surly_Badger]

To what end does it matter how big this place really is?

I means you can fly way 'round to the other side, and declare yourself Absolute Monarch of all you survey, and nobody will ever argue with you!!!

 

[CMDR Jaysan Cort]

Why do we climb mountains? because they are there. I for one am looking forward to a trip through a worm hole to the Andromeda Galaxy, this Milky Way is so last year

 

[DieScream]

Yes, it does matter. New players coming into the game a year or two (and even later) from now will also be able to explore unexplored systems.

How cool is that?

Not very tbh.

Explore what, exactly? All systems are pre-labeled, many have established stations and NPCs flying around. Yay, you found..another similar system.

 

[anikaiful]

If the game had a smaller space ...

Then a whole lot players wouldn't bother with ED, expect the pew-pew crowd. And it'd not be canonical Elite then either.

But there's them stars out there in numbers, and that fact ain't gonna change.

 

[xaisis]

if u feel alone u should move back to the more populated systems or join a group with teamspeak etc.
it has allways been pretty clear that elite would have alot of space, devs never kept that a secret, wat u do there is up to u, stay in the populated systems or move out into the galaxy.

play it as a spacesim/solo or play as a mmo/spacesim, ur choise.

 

[Herik]

Do you think we will ever explore all 400+B stars in the ED galaxy? I wonder to what end that ceases to be a selling point and turns into a detriment. Lot of space for a lot of nothing to happen in. Is there inherent value in touting such a high number of PG stars in the virtual sky? Is it the notion that you could maybe, possibly be the one to see that one spec of space before any one or ever again? How do we as players not get ourselves dispersed, lost and ultimately unphased by that vastness of untapped space when most of our interactions require instanced and generated interactions with other humans / NPCs to advance?

To what end does it matter how big this place really is?

I think it matters for all players 'Solo' and 'All'. When you 'Eveangilists' are here in full swing, and 'meta gaming' thousands of systems. Most of us will need any available routes we can find to ply our trading; effectively staying away from you, in order to play our game. Remember it doesn't matter whether your Solo or All; meta gaming taken on a large scale, will drastically change markets in both modes and around those systems being 'gamed'. The more Star Systems the better, so traders can trade...

 

[BlackReign]

Do you think we will ever explore all 400+B stars in the ED galaxy? I wonder to what end that ceases to be a selling point and turns into a detriment. Lot of space for a lot of nothing to happen in. Is there inherent value in touting such a high number of PG stars in the virtual sky? Is it the notion that you could maybe, possibly be the one to see that one spec of space before any one or ever again? How do we as players not get ourselves dispersed, lost and ultimately unphased by that vastness of untapped space when most of our interactions require instanced and generated interactions with other humans / NPCs to advance?

To what end does it matter how big this place really is?

The narrow thinking of many gamers, mentally chained to the conventional copy-and-paste gaming industry, are unable to fathom how revolutionary this game potentionally is.

To answer you directly: It's space, so it''s supposed to be vast. The vastness of it is always a selling point, because it's unmatched in comparison to any other game. The beauty in this game, even years from now, is that there will be densely populated areas, highly saturated conflict zones, and quiet outposts and systems. It's up to YOU to decide where you want to go and make your way, not ED.

If you need structure and linear pathing, ED is not the game for ya!

 

[Mkkt Bkkt]

Not very tbh.

Explore what, exactly? All systems are pre-labeled, many have established stations and NPCs flying around. Yay, you found..another similar system.

From what I hear, if you go a thousand or so light years away from populated space, there is pretty much nothing but you and the system you happen to be in. I'd imagine things would feel different knowing you live and die alone, but that's just my opinion.


Also I would think being close to the galactic center would feel much different with the higher concentration of stars, and of course, the super-massive black hole.

 

[anikaiful]

All systems are pre-labeled

You obviously haven't opened the galaxy map so far even once.