Has anyone ever discovered...?

[Tath]

... a rogue planet? That is, a planet with no star present?

A rogue planet, also known as an interstellar planet, nomad planet, free-floating planet, orphan planet, wandering planet or starless planet, is a planetary-mass object that orbits the galaxy directly. They have either been ejected from the planetary system in which they formed or have never been gravitationally bound to any star or brown dwarf. There may be billions of rogue planets in the Milky Way.

 

[Qohen Leth]

... a rogue planet? That is, a planet with no star present?

Were supposed to be the 'dark systems' mentionned in Elite: Reclamation but they never made it to the game.

 

[newman1702]

Given how rogue planets aren't in the game and current game mechanics don't allow you to jump to interstellar space (yes you can supercruise out of a system but to actually get another system / bodies to load you need to jump), I'm going to say no

If these are ever put in we'd need a way to get to them, probably meaning a code change in how supercruise works, as well as some method of detecting them - without that you'd be looking for a microscopic needle in a very, very large hay stack.

 

[StiTch]

Given how rogue planets aren't in the game and current game mechanics don't allow you to jump to interstellar space (yes you can supercruise out of a system but to actually get another system / bodies to load you need to jump), I'm going to say no

If these are ever put in we'd need a way to get to them, probably meaning a code change in how supercruise works.

Would be needed if the thargoids invade in the way they did previously.

Now with the current player base that's not likely, because people are whining about interdictions messing with their peaceful trade runs as it is, but in the previous Elite incarnations Thargoids could pull you out of FSD between systems to attack.

 

[AnnuverScotinExile]

Were supposed to be the 'dark systems' mentionned in Elite: Reclamation but they never made it to the game.

We went into some detail about these in the DDF. Docs of their design intent are in the DDA. Then they simplified down to the point of the minimalist system we have (which is not really exploration, since we have an A-Z of the whole Galaxy). It is enough to make grown men cry.

 

[Varrag]

Would be needed if the thargoids invade in the way they did previously.

Now with the current player base that's not likely, because people are whining about interdictions messing with their peaceful trade runs as it is, but in the previous Elite incarnations Thargoids could pull you out of FSD between systems to attack.

To be fair, we could always roll back to previously saved game in old Elites. It's different when you have semi-persistent, always online universe.