Hah, i like this one. Spends the bulk of it talking in present tense like it already exists, and only at the end notes that it doesn't and may never exist.
Absolutely peak citizen.
Quanta does not control all NPC's the NPC scheduler does that. Each location has it's own population.
You aren't keeping up - there's a reason it has always been called the 'Living Breathing Universe'. They discussed many years ago what the universe will feel like and how the NPC's will behave.
They have likes and dislikes. Favourite places to hang out. Friends and family. They have jobs. It's not just a 24 hours schedule that they have they have a weekly and a monthly schedule, but more than that they can and will react to their environment and may decide to up and move to a new place or new profession altogether.
They have said it many times over and over again: There are no background NPC's in Star Citizen or Squadron 42. They have lives, they live and die. They have jobs and careers. Some will be Murray Cup racers, some will be politicians, some will be billionaire businessmen with protection teams around them 24/7, some will be burger flippers. They have goals. They have friends and family, colleagues. They have allegiances and most of all... they have memory.
It works like this:
When no player is around to see an NPC that NPC is 'virtual' and simulated on the backend systems. Their life goes on in the background and they 'virtually' respond to any events that are pertinent to them.
When an NPC is in a place where a player encounter is possible, they become 'instantiated' - they are present in the world space. There are 3 stages Quanta ->virtual-> instantiated. This is where the Quanta are handed over to the NPC scheduler. The process also reverses Instantiated --> virtual --> Quanta - but even as Quanta any variables previously assigned (face etc) and history stay with that quanta so that if they ever 'instantiate again they come back as they were with a memory of what happened to them.
The more a player or players interact with an NPC the more attributes and backstory that NPC is given, this why they say there are no background characters because any one of them could become a main character for you (this happens dynamically, randomly chosen from a database of variables, but any variables are location and environment aware). This means that some rando NPC you find in a bar could become your crew mate and best friend. They have a history, they have personality traits and preferences they have things they may ask you to help them with.
The universe is full of characters, not just static mission-givers. There is a government system both local and empire wide, you can go an visit the Senate. There are Spectrum stars - TV shows to watch like Empire Report, they have names and lives like Jax McCleary, Jimmy, Timo Baxxi, Laylani Addison, Beck Russom - you can go and finds them. For the first few years one of the perks of subscribing at the $20 level was to be able to name and give a backstory to an outlaw character who lived on Spider. They stopped doing it because so many qualified.
Squadron 42 takes place in the same game universe as star Citizen, (Jared Huckaby described it as one huge dynamic mission in the PU) only a few years earlier. Many of the characters that you meet in Squadron 42 may well be still in the PU after you retire, they may have relatives who know you and what you did in the military. This will affect how they deal with you. There may be some who are not happy with you, there may be some who think you are the great war hero. Choices you make in Squadron 42 will affect your life in the PU.
Events happen in the Empire. The economy booms and busts. Factions fight with each other. Areas come to prominence then fall into disrepair. As the economy booms the more affluent and influential NPC's move into the area, as an economy declines the affluent move out and the crime/low status population move in.
Some NPC's have jobs and careers in the universe. Military, advocacy and you will be encountering them everywhere you go. But they also have 'off time' so you may well find the guard who scanned you at at microTech New Babbage Interstellar Spaceport is they guy laying on the lilo at the pool next you on Cassel. Every NPC will have a unique appearance, you'll recognise them and they will recognise you. There are businesses in the universe - for example a company called Visangio operate a fleet of Genesis Starliners equipped with luxury cabins who operate regular passenger services to such exotic destinations as Aydo on Green to see the Murray cup races, or the Lagora Island Chateau tropical beach resort on Tangaroa.
Star Citizen is also planned to have varying levels of entertainment facilities, restaurants, Theatres (The Metropolitan Opera house at Port Renatus on Mars) bars and clubs for all levels of society - they even have online shopping planned. There is an equivalent of Fortnum and Masons. They have travel agents offering package holidays, tours and regular scheduled passenger services. You can go whale watching on Orison. Every day there will be something happening in the universe somewhere, often several events, and the NPC's will move around and attend those events just like players do. They will be interested in fashions and celebrities and politics, they will be 'aware' of the universe they live in and what is happening in it.
Whether you believe that any of this is possible is neither here nor there you aren't part of the team making the game universe. This ^^ is the stated aim of the plans for the Star Citizen universe to come. I have barely scratched the surface describing what they have told us will be coming.
Absolutely peak citizen.
