The bubble got it's name during the first Alpha and Beta periods when players were restricted to a gradually increasing bubble of systems at each stage, starting with just a handful of systems. The rest of the galaxy was out there but couldn't be flown to.
Don't Panic: BGS guides and help
- Thread starter Jane Turner
- Start date
Thanks Froggy! 
Ian, from a psycho-sociological perspective, this is so very interesting to hear that Empire and Federation shrunk due to players activity.
I come to think, besides the mathematical and economical dynamics of course, this game is a feast for researchers in a variety of disciplines. Complex systems comes to mind, and I wonder, what level of computational power is assigned to maintain the BGS. It will not be that much I would guess, considering ticks and all.
I would love to learn what projections a brute force calculation would reveal on basis of the current data for the next 12 months.
Perhaps of interest:
https://phys.org/news/2018-12-turbulence-complex-simulations-breeze.html
Oh, Taboo zones, interesting, and that would be?
Best
Georg
Ian, from a psycho-sociological perspective, this is so very interesting to hear that Empire and Federation shrunk due to players activity.
I come to think, besides the mathematical and economical dynamics of course, this game is a feast for researchers in a variety of disciplines. Complex systems comes to mind, and I wonder, what level of computational power is assigned to maintain the BGS. It will not be that much I would guess, considering ticks and all.
I would love to learn what projections a brute force calculation would reveal on basis of the current data for the next 12 months.
Perhaps of interest:
https://phys.org/news/2018-12-turbulence-complex-simulations-breeze.html
Oh, Taboo zones, interesting, and that would be?
Best
Georg
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https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/414170-Office-of-Galactic-Statisti
and
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/419845-PMFs-data-charts-and-the-co
are good for further reading on this topic including charts of the change over time and discussions of the various political pressures leading to this outcome.
The three superpower capitals - Sol, Achenar and Alioth - and Shinrarta Dehzra. They cannot be expanded into, and factions already there can't fight conflicts. The same applies to the Colonia and Ratraii systems, though a bubble-based faction wouldn't be able to reach those anyway.
(Factions in those systems can expand out of them, however)
Additionally, the other permit-locked systems are "more difficult" to expand into (a relatively recent change) - but may still be possible. Not enough testing has been done.
Detention centre systems are entirely exempt from BGS effects as their only faction is the detention centre itself, which is a non-influence faction. Despite having a population they also can't be expanded to.
Jane Turner
Volunteer Moderator
Maybe
Thanks for the guide, quite helpful!
Jane Turner
Volunteer Moderator
I will when I get to the point were I'm updating for the 3.3 changes
Brilliant, thank you very much for the time spent on this !
Can someone annotate this pic?
What is that hashed out area?
What is that diamond in the hashed area?
What does the circle with black and with halves indicate?
What does the black UP arrow indicate after the NONE?
If there were other states pending where would they show up?
Thanks, that'd be great.
What is that hashed out area?
What is that diamond in the hashed area?
What does the circle with black and with halves indicate?
What does the black UP arrow indicate after the NONE?
If there were other states pending where would they show up?
Thanks, that'd be great.
No idea.
Current slider position
The icon for the "None" state
Trend of diamond position (over an unknown time period) is positive
In the "Pending States" row (scroll down below Current States)
Factabulous wrote a decent post looking into the hatching here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/facts-new-theory-of-hatching.477450/
If I had to summarise that whole thread in my own words, the hatching acts a little like an S-R latch, but things get weird around the None state.
EDIT: S-R Latch in a nutshell... lets say you have a light which turns on when a certain level of darkness is reached, and turns off when it's light again... let's say that level is 0.5, where 0 is total darkness and 1 is daylight.
Because light levels are one of those things that can vary, your light might start flickering on and off because the light itself sends the light levels 0.5 again, then below when it turns off. An S-R Latch sets a different upper bound for the light to switch off again. So your initial state might be light is off at 0.6, and turns on when it drops below 0.5. But it won't turn off again until the light level reaches 0.7. Conversely, it won't turn on again til it drops below 0.5. It stops rapid switching between the two states.
The hatching represents that little bit between 0.5 and 0.7.
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That would make sense I think, to stop flip-flopping between states. It would give a Pending state some 'momentum' to continue towards Active.
Hello,
I'm a returning player. I'm sure I've missed a lot of BGS changes in almost a year. Could anyone possibly help me find the updated info? Thanks.
I'm a returning player. I'm sure I've missed a lot of BGS changes in almost a year. Could anyone possibly help me find the updated info? Thanks.
Yes, you really have missed a lot of changes!
Official information:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/beyond-chapter-four-3-3-patch-notes.463020/ (Patch 3.3, scroll down to the Background Simulation section)
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/background-simulation-update-01-03.479111/ (Rebalancing and adjustments that happened in March 2019)
The big differences are:
- states are per-system rather than global (except Expansion) and a faction can be in several states at once
- economic and security states are sliders rather than the traditional states
- conflict states are now always best of 7 days, and influence is fully locked for the factions during the conflict
- conflicts must now have something at stake
- the effectiveness of certain actions has been rebalanced
The implications of those changes are significant, of course.
Official information:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/beyond-chapter-four-3-3-patch-notes.463020/ (Patch 3.3, scroll down to the Background Simulation section)
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/background-simulation-update-01-03.479111/ (Rebalancing and adjustments that happened in March 2019)
The big differences are:
- states are per-system rather than global (except Expansion) and a faction can be in several states at once
- economic and security states are sliders rather than the traditional states
- conflict states are now always best of 7 days, and influence is fully locked for the factions during the conflict
- conflicts must now have something at stake
- the effectiveness of certain actions has been rebalanced
The implications of those changes are significant, of course.
Thank you for the info. Do you know how to determine which update we are on? All I can find says April 2019.
April 2019 was the latest client patch. There's another expected in September.
The vast majority of BGS changes can be made server-side without needing a client patch - as the March 2019 updates were - but it looks like it's just been some fine-tuning of balance since then. Nothing so big they've felt the need to announce it, anyway - though we might see some BGS notes in the September patch for things they've already done, too.
Jane Turner
Volunteer Moderator
there will be a negative effect in the target system yes