What is with the galaxy? No populated systems?

[OlafTheOne]

Hello, I am a player who is somewhat new to the Elite: Dangerous scene (only about 24 hours played total), however, I have a serious question which an honest answer would greatly help me in understanding.

Why, when I travel some distance away from where I started (LHS 3447, Trevithick Dock), does there appear to be absolutely no inhabited systems? Now, I have only traveled that far in one direction: towards the galactic center; however, I feel that for a game that boasts 400 billion star systems in its game it should at least have some significant portion of this galaxy populated and thus usable in normal gameplay. Correct me if I am wrong, please, but from what I have seen nothing very far beyond the starting point (at least by galactic standards) is useful to the player in the least.

I love this game; I simply want to understand it better. If I am wrong and there are significant populated systems spread throughout the galaxy then I will be thrilled. I just want to know if that is, in fact, the case.

Arigato.

 

[Kerrash]

Space is big. Really big.

The populated area spans around 100,000 systems but once you leave that area you are in uncharted territory.
Sure there are things out there that some would consider 'useful' but mostly it's about the discovery.
Exploration of these expanses is about the joy of finding and seeing things no-one else has.

 

[Cynaqq]

You probably didn't scan the inhabited systems with a discovery scanner. Only the systems with working nav beacons can be seen when you jump there. You have to scan the others to discover system data.

Open you map and choose the powerplay tab. Those coloured clouds are roughly the size of the habitable bubble.

 

[OlafTheOne]

Huh. Only around 100,000 inhabited systems. Makes sense, though to be honest I didn't expect this universe to be so realistic. Well thank you! I will continue on in my search for life in the universe!

And BTW I installed an advanced discovery scanner for exactly this purpose! Although I'm sure I simply haven't found the right systems. Thank you anyway though.

 

[CTCParadox]

It is a bit strange given that the inhabited bubble is only about an hour's travel across.
It's roughly as large as a modern city.

The entire galaxy is only a day or two travel across, so about the same size as the Earth at the moment.

CMDR CTCParadox

 

[OlafTheOne]

Thank you for your prompt response. I have never visited a forum with mods as quick to act as this one. Honestly, good job; keep at it.

Thanks.

 

[Laste]

Right now it's only human based things you are seeing.So for now we are alone in the galaxy. There is the alien background stuff hinted at (thargoids) but only bits and pieces.

 

[bkrownd]

Considering how hostile inhabited space is it's a great thing that most of the galaxy is devoted to a quiet calm nature walk.

 

[OlafTheOne]

Really? Aliens? I never even suspected; I simply thought this was a game based on human ambitions alone... Very intriguing to think that they are proposing to add aliens into the network. That will make the game that much more interesting...

I really like where ED is going. You have all the correct development elements present. I can't wait to see how you employ them.

 

[CTCParadox]

Right now it's only human based things you are seeing.So for now we are alone in the galaxy. There is the alien background stuff hinted at (thargoids) but only bits and pieces.

They turned up a few times in the previous games. And like you said some of the things we find in ED are possible Thargoid relics
Would love to see some external threat that we can all band together against.

CMDR CTCParadox

 

[Limpooka]

If you are heading out to explore uninhabited space I recommend getting a Detailed Surface Scanner too. It doubles the income from unexplored planet scans. The biggest payouts when exploring are from black holes, neutron stars and earth-like worlds... but you don't get paid until you come back to a station and hand in all your exploration data.

 

[Shar]

Huh. Only around 100,000 inhabited systems. Makes sense, though to be honest I didn't expect this universe to be so realistic. Well thank you! I will continue on in my search for life in the universe!

And BTW I installed an advanced discovery scanner for exactly this purpose! Although I'm sure I simply haven't found the right systems. Thank you anyway though.

The game only models our galaxy - the Milky Way - the universe contains billions of Galaxy s some far larger than ours, the nearest galaxy to our own is the Andromeda galaxy which is much larger than ours, if ED ever outgrow the milky way maybe Andromeda could be introduced, we would need a galactic hyper-drive to get there, that's also where the extra-terrestrial life could be. the possibility's are literally endless. although i would doubt there is a computer on earth big enough to model the entire universe.
So although the game is vast it is tiny in terms of the universe.

 

[Jason S]

It is a bit strange given that the inhabited bubble is only about an hour's travel across.
It's roughly as large as a modern city.

The entire galaxy is only a day or two travel across, so about the same size as the Earth at the moment.

CMDR CTCParadox

Exactly this, it is unrealistic given how quick it is to travel across the galaxy.

There should be some pockets of inhabited colonies all over the galaxy given the powerful FSD drives.

The galaxy seems populated in such a way that there were much worse FSD drives or people would travel in real time frozen.

Perhaps FD can now with these FSD drives we all have start doing community goals to inhabit over parts of the galaxy.

 

[Bacalao]

Really? Aliens? I never even suspected; I simply thought this was a game based on human ambitions alone... Very intriguing to think that they are proposing to add aliens into the network. That will make the game that much more interesting...

I really like where ED is going. You have all the correct development elements present. I can't wait to see how you employ them.

THere are huge areas of the galaxy that are "permit locked", we don't know what is there or how we can get there. As it stands right now your FSD will not jump you into one of those systems. It's possible that generation ships or aliens have formed bubbles of their own all around the galaxy.

 

[Jason S]

THere are huge areas of the galaxy that are "permit locked", we don't know what is there or how we can get there. As it stands right now your FSD will not jump you into one of those systems. It's possible that generation ships or aliens have formed bubbles of their own all around the galaxy.

I hope so

 

[CTCParadox]

Exactly this, it is unrealistic given how quick it is to travel across the galaxy.

There should be some pockets of inhabited colonies all over the galaxy given the powerful FSD drives.

The galaxy seems populated in such a way that there were much worse FSD drives or people would travel in real time frozen.

Perhaps FD can now with these FSD drives we all have start doing community goals to inhabit over parts of the galaxy.

The craziest thing is that Achenar and Sol are only 140 ly apart. Even a fairly poor FSD range of 15 ly makes it maybe 15-20 jumps away. Each jump only takes 30-40 seconds. These are superpowers whose capitals are within around 15 mins of each other, literally down to the road from each other. Maybe MAD is the only thing that keeps them from going to war.

CMDR CTCParadox

 

[Jason S]

I suppose if FD were to allow colonies to form in distant parts of the Galaxy then this would need changes to there algorithms or actually define those new stations with stored data and not procedurally generated.

I also think those permit lock areas are probably going to be paid expansions.

 

[Jmanis]

It's worth noting there's very large regions of space (Like Regor Sector, Bovomit etc) that are "permit-locked", so, possibly inhabited by non-humans, but not in this season of content.

EDIT: Ninja'ed coz I went AFK on a reply...

 

[BabySnakes]

Exactly this, it is unrealistic given how quick it is to travel across the galaxy.

There should be some pockets of inhabited colonies all over the galaxy given the powerful FSD drives.

The galaxy seems populated in such a way that there were much worse FSD drives or people would travel in real time frozen.

Perhaps FD can now with these FSD drives we all have start doing community goals to inhabit over parts of the galaxy.

totally agree with you

 

[Louella]

Hello, I am a player who is somewhat new to the Elite: Dangerous scene (only about 24 hours played total), however, I have a serious question which an honest answer would greatly help me in understanding.
Why, when I travel some distance away from where I started (LHS 3447, Trevithick Dock), does there appear to be absolutely no inhabited systems? Now, I have only traveled that far in one direction: towards the galactic center; however, I feel that for a game that boasts 400 billion star systems in its game it should at least have some significant portion of this galaxy populated and thus usable in normal gameplay. Correct me if I am wrong, please, but from what I have seen nothing very far beyond the starting point (at least by galactic standards) is useful to the player in the least.

isn't LHS 3447 towards the edge of inhabited space to begin with ?

like, if the galactic centre is "North", then LHS 3447 is towards the "North-West" of inhabited space, with Sol and Achenar being to the "East" or "South-East" ?