How rare are Wolf-Rayet stars?

aRottenKomquat · Dec 3, 2015

I'm around 19KLY from Sol now, meandering through the Core on a return trip from Sag A*. I've seen almost every type of star I know of. Even some I used to think were very rare, like carbon stars and black holes, are all over the place.

I've even found ELW's around neutron stars, one of which was ringed.

But I have yet to see a Wolf-Rayet star. I filtered my map to only WR's and had panned around in all directions for a few thousand light-years and none showed up. And I've done this at several points in my journey.

How rare are they? I'd love to discover one before I make it back.

iain666 · Dec 3, 2015

Try looking for <sector name> AA-A H in the map. If there are any in a given sector they're probably under AA-A H.

There might be some under AA-A G and the other 7 xx-x G designations but I've only seen them as H.

cf Jackie Silver's sterling (stirling? which is the right one in this context?) work on system naming conventions in this thread if that seemed like so much gobbledeegook.

EUS · Dec 3, 2015

I did not find even one on my journey.

AnnuverScotinExile · Dec 3, 2015

iain666 said:
Try looking for <sector name> AA-A H in the map. If there are any in a given sector they're probably under AA-A H.

There might be some under AA-A G and the other 7 xx-x G designations but I've only seen them as H.

cf Jackie Silver's sterling (stirling? which is the right one in this context?) work on system naming conventions in this thread if that seemed like so much gobbledeegook.

This. I found a few this way, just so I could say I did so. Found and ignored plenty more: already ticked the box in my 'I-Spy' book, and they are not worth much, so not worth lots of effort.

darkwolf79 · Dec 3, 2015

I am currently on my way down the Sagittarius Arm.

My current position is somewhere wedged half way between the Sagittarius Arm and the 3kpc Arm (closer to the later, using this as a reference, since I am not at home just now). Approximately 27kly from SOL.
I filtered my map for Black Holes, Neutron Stars and Wolf-Rayet Stars.
I seem to be finding quite a few in that corner. I can post a more exact location once I am in-game again.

I also found plenty of Wolf-Rayet stars in the neutron fields "north-west" of the core.

fly safe...

Katejina · Dec 3, 2015

There is one fairly close to the bubble, maybe within 500ly or so, above and a bit southwest on the galactic ecliptic.

I've also found a few just by inputting sector names without any of the additional letters, as they seem to show you the center of their particular sector.

newman1702 · Dec 3, 2015

I am currently on my way back from my Sag A - core circumnavigation trip, and have found a grand total of 4 previously undiscovered WR stars so far. What I do is that I periodically (every few days) do a WR-only filter check of my surroundings, and check out the area some 1-2kly from my position. At one point I got lucky enough to have detected one a single jump away.

So, do filter checks often, and of course, having a bit of luck helps

drkaii · Dec 3, 2015

Ultra rare, in game. That was the last thing I ever found by randomly. In real life, they estimate there are only a few thousand in all local galaxies combined...

newman1702 · Dec 3, 2015

There are several hundred estimated in our galaxy - vs. 400 billion stars, that's not a lot!

schizrade · Dec 3, 2015

Info on the Wolf-Rayet star: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf–Rayet_star

Jackie Silver · Dec 3, 2015

Here's a link to my ship's log - there's a bunch of WR stars in there and as note above they're usually if not always found in AA-A H systems. The AA-A H descriptor basically meaning that they're a) massive and b) could be anywhere within the 1280x1280x1280 ly box of the sector.

They're quite rare in the neighbourhood of the Bubble but if you head a long way in towards the Core where there are more stars you will start to find many of them - some sectors can hold a dozen or more, and if you leave the beaten track of Sol - Sgr A* you'll probably find unclaimed examples. I think they're probably over-represented in the game compared to reality.

Pirin · Dec 3, 2015

newman1702 said:
There are several hundred estimated in our galaxy - vs. 400 billion stars, that's not a lot!

I seriously doubt this number. On my current journey i scanned 48 WRs so far and this number doesnt include the WRs which were already discovered by other commanders. And also i didnt manage to scan all the WRs i see around me.
As others point out WRs can be found only in AA-A systems. But outside Core area most sectors contain very few such AA-A systems. In Core you can have 600+ AA-As in only one sector.
Bottom line is outside the Core WRs are extremely rare due to the small number of AA-A systems. In Core you should be able to find as many WRs as you want

Jackie Silver · Dec 3, 2015

Pirin said:
I seriously doubt this number.

Yes, that's what I mean. Newman is quoting an estimated number for the real Milky Way, whereas the number of WR stars in the Dangerous Milky Way is probably much higher based on what we've found.

who? · Dec 3, 2015

drkaii said:
Ultra rare, in game. That was the last thing I ever found by randomly. In real life, they estimate there are only a few thousand in all local galaxies combined...

Really? I just found one on the current trip and didn't think much of it, yet I've yet to see a neutron star or (I think) any ammonia world. Must be hanging around the wrong parts of the galaxy...

aRottenKomquat · Dec 3, 2015

who? said:
Really? I just found one on the current trip and didn't think much of it, yet I've yet to see a neutron star or (I think) any ammonia world. Must be hanging around the wrong parts of the galaxy...

You're just in the wrong parts of the galaxy. My current section of the Core has a neutron star, white dwarf, or black hole about every 5 - 10 light-years. And I looked ahead in my route and it'll be about the same for the next 5,000 light-years of my trip

. I'm never going to make it home at this rate...

Pirin · Dec 3, 2015

aRottenKomquat said:
You're just in the wrong parts of the galaxy. My current section of the Core has a neutron star, white dwarf, or black hole about every 5 - 10 light-years. And I looked ahead in my route and it'll be about the same for the next 5,000 light-years of my trip . I'm never going to make it home at this rate...

Same here. I feel like i am stuck in the Core and will never ever get out

Btw, in you are in the same area we can meet to shake hands...ermm, wings?

Currently i am north-west of Sag. A.

...sorry for the offtopic

aRottenKomquat · Dec 3, 2015

I'm around 5 Kly south of Sag A*.

Pirin · Dec 3, 2015

aRottenKomquat said:
I'm around 5 Kly south of Sag A*.

That means 10KLy+ distance. Too far away

AnnuverScotinExile · Dec 3, 2015

aRottenKomquat said:
You're just in the wrong parts of the galaxy. My current section of the Core has a neutron star, white dwarf, or black hole about every 5 - 10 light-years. And I looked ahead in my route and it'll be about the same for the next 5,000 light-years of my trip . I'm never going to make it home at this rate...

I keep stats on what I find and summarise every 250 jumps. In 7 (out of 18) of those sectors of the journey more than half are either Neutron stars or White Dwarfs, with a bias towards NSs - 700 to 501 thus far out of 4601 systems). So, yes, looking in the wrong place. I have almost exactly the same number of Ammonia Worlds (34) as Earth-likes (32) in those 4601 systems. Black holes, on the other hand, I have not found many of, and most of those I actively looked for by checking the AA_As. But then I have not been anywhere near the core on this trip.