Is there anything worth discovering

[CMDR Flavius Funk]

Went all the way to The Void. The highlight list was short and a little disappointing.

• 1 Twin Earth Like Worlds orbiting very close.
• 1 Twin Water Worlds orbiting very close. (even closer than the ELW's)
• System with 4 Water Worlds.
• 1 Biological site.....in the whole trip..
• Double Tritium Hotspot in the middle of nowhere.
• Largest ring I've seen in game on a gas giant. So large I could not scan the outer ring as it was so far from the body. ( I did really enjoy this discovery)

I explored in many ships, trying to have as much fun as I could. And I did have fun. But was still a little disappointed I didn't really find anything else.
I really wanted to find a Notable Stellar Phenomenon in an undiscovered system.

 

[AkenBosch]

Traveled all the way from Colonia back to the bubble, scanned hundreds of undiscovered system, for a NSP grand total of: zero. You had it good.

 

[Ted Striker]

Perhaps someone in-game will finally find Raxxla or the Thargoid homeworld/Thargoid bubble (all those permit locked systems around Witch Head?)

I feel like they've been locked forever, as well as other systems, Triton etc.

Locked for possible future content but nothing ever happens with them.

I really hope they manually add some very interesting things to discover to those systems. People will flock there to explore if they were ever unlocked, because there would be a very real chance that something actually interesting can be found and not just a variation of the same systems we find everywhere.

 

[Gwyther]

Largest ring I've seen in game on a gas giant. So large I could not scan the outer ring as it was so far from the body. ( I did really enjoy this discovery)

I too have found a few extremely large planetary rings before. They are quite amazing.

Source: https://youtu.be/NRni51mF1CM?t=269

Source: https://youtu.be/NRni51mF1CM?t=401

 

[[VR] Bulbulunufus]

The stellar forge creates the galaxy through a process of stellar evolution from the origins of the galaxy to the present day. So plenty of legwork in the internal systems.

So are the real galaxy mapped bits just godhanded in afterwards to supplant what the clean stellar forge run had there?

 

[[VR] Bulbulunufus]

Learning a bit of astronomy makes the exploration much better.

I had an idea ages ago of using stellarium (a cool thing to play with all by itself) to plan an explo trip, but I'm not sure the things you'd actually find in game wouldn't often be a downgrade from what's there in reality. Worth a try though!

 

[varonica]

So are the real galaxy mapped bits just godhanded in afterwards to supplant what the clean stellar forge run had there?

No, the real galaxy bits are inserted into the equation first and the galaxy is generated around them using the remaining mass, you can't add or change the galaxy in a major or even minor way "after" it's been created because the Stellar Forge then will then need to mess around with the mass distribution of the galaxy to make it correct again. The mass distribution is a major part of the galaxy generation and it's why you see funny shapes in the stars. The mass is distributed throughout the boxels that make the galaxy, but the smallest boxels will sometimes have strange edges as they meet a neighbouring boxel with less average density, but it can't be changed now because of the danger of wiping the entire galaxy.

This is why they can't just add stuff despite all the requests for newly discovered systems to be inserted into the galaxy. If you add something it increases the mass of that sector, this will then cause that extra mass to be pushed out to the neighbouring sectors until it's possible the entire galaxy has been regenerated almost, but not quite, the same as it was previously, erasing all previously existing discoveries in the proceduarally generated part of the galaxy.

 

[Angelpichu]

No, the real galaxy bits are inserted into the equation first and the galaxy is generated around them using the remaining mass, you can't add or change the galaxy in a major or even minor way "after" it's been created because the Stellar Forge then will then need to mess around with the mass distribution of the galaxy to make it correct again. The mass distribution is a major part of the galaxy generation and it's why you see funny shapes in the stars. The mass is distributed throughout the boxels that make the galaxy, but the smallest boxels will sometimes have strange edges as they meet a neighbouring boxel with less average density, but it can't be changed now because of the danger of wiping the entire galaxy.

This is why they can't just add stuff despite all the requests for newly discovered systems to be inserted into the galaxy. If you add something it increases the mass of that sector, this will then cause that extra mass to be pushed out to the neighbouring sectors until it's possible the entire galaxy has been regenerated almost, but not quite, the same as it was previously, erasing all previously existing discoveries in the proceduarally generated part of the galaxy.

I was under the impression that the Stellar Forge works on a snapshot of the data manually input from the beginning of the game, ignoring all manual changes that came afterwards?

 

[HansAcker]

worm holes

There are lots of wormholes in the galaxy. They just don't last very long, only for a single hyperspace jump. They are so commonplace that most Cmdrs don't even notice witchspace anymore.

Of course, the seed generation has limits. (As far as I know!) planet ABCDE 1 will always be planet ABCDE 1. You won't come back to the system to find that it's now planet BC 4 or has been ejected from the system at all.

 

[Mas s_1nhibited]

A few mysteries remain, notably pilots have reported a strange singing in the Black between the bubble and colonia. There be monsters arrrgh

 

[Ted Striker]

A few mysteries remain, notably pilots have reported a strange singing in the Black between the bubble and colonia. There be monsters arrrgh

You jest but that would be interesting.

Not least of which because sound in space and all that lol.

 

[Mas s_1nhibited]

Actually no jest "sirens" they are called. Possibly linked to "the architects" as mentioned by Jasmina Halsey.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Last night in a single, previously undiscovered, system I found a ringed water world, a ringed water giant, an ammonia world and a Class II gas giant with several moons showing a multitude of biology signals. Several of these moons are very, very close to the rings of the planets they orbit and therefore great photo opportunities. That system alone should entertain me for a few days. Another system a few days ago had a moon with a diameter of only 137 km, again in a very low and fast orbit and therefore a great photo stop and interesting place to drive around on.

Then there was the star orbited by three black holes, the neutron star systems before that, ...

Heaps of stuff to be found out there. Check any of the photo threads and the exploration forum if you feel uninspired. That you posted here suggests you are easily uninspired.

S

So you enjoy contemplating the void.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

the avg is like only 1 to 2 every hundred years in a given galaxy.

AFAIK there's been 4 in the whole of recorded history. So 1 or 2 every thousand years.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Not sure what you mean, except if your definition of sci fi is very narrow and limited to a prime time TV-style naive version of it. There is plenty of alien life, although it is not placed in an amusement park-style setting with a thrill-a-minute script running to keep us glued to the screen. There are even more alien landscapes including some very impressive and outlandish vistas to be found, and they can be found easier with a little bit of research into how different planets and moon interact and where the most craziness can be expected from tidal effects etc.

There is alien life more or less hand-placed specifically for the players to interact with, in form of Thargoids and Guardian stuff. That's your intelligent life and ancient ruins right there.

S

Guardians are dead and thus far there's no sign of the AI if it still exists.
Thargoid appear to communicate via images in sound which we need 3rd party tools to even see and no way to respond even if we had to use

 

[Surdra]

There is stuff to see. However the void becomes a screenshot generator and you’re a glorified flora photographer… and not much else. There are some CMDRs who are ok with this, and that’s fine!

But if you’re expecting to trip over something radical and unique and game changing… new species, new civilizations, ANIMALS … yeah no that doesn’t happen.

That’s the rub for me when it comes to exploration. If the devs dumped a truck load of stuff out there and said “go nuts” or even said “hey guys, you’ve missed a lot of cool crap” (which isn’t just plants or setups for cool screenshots) or gave hints to cool things in the codex as promised long ago then I’d be out in the black with the rest of them.

 

[Terry Daniels]

So, it's a game about space, my question is, how much actual space discovery is there? I mean, in real life, even in our own solar system there are tons of variations of planets and moons with endless things to explore and discover. I've been playing ED for a while, I'm close to end game ships, I'm wanting to get back into the game but, everything seem so samey after a while, like planets are just not that varied or interesting, nor are the systems.

I think the biggest problems (apart from the lack of procgen plants and alien ruins) is how limited our access is to this 7 year old game:
Black holes are still just scenery, two planet types to interact with inc. really limited geo / plant hotspots, no gas giants, no comets, no landable asteroids.
No liquids (water, lava, ammonia), no forested lands, no caves, no planetary cities, no clouds, no space whales, no architectural differences between Fed, Emp, alliance or independant systems...

And they wasted (in my opinion only) 3 years to bring sub par shooter mechanics to the game. They gave us legs but neglected to include 0G EVA, surface mining, updated 'legacy buildings', VR legs and <pause for breath> ship internals (yea, I know, Bingo!).

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Gas giants are as interactive as stars and that's fine.
Liquid would go with atmosphere so maybe at some point in the indeterminate future. Most of the rest of the above list also fits in this category.

 

[El Grillo]

So, it's a game about space, my question is, how much actual space discovery is there? I mean, in real life, even in our own solar system there are tons of variations of planets and moons with endless things to explore and discover. I've been playing ED for a while, I'm close to end game ships, I'm wanting to get back into the game but, everything seem so samey after a while, like planets are just not that varied or interesting, nor are the systems. I know where are neutron stars, but are their pulsars, black holes, worm holes, exotic stars or stars in varying stages of development? What about derelict vassals and salvage? I'm interested in exploring but it just feels aimless and I don't know if there is even anything out there that is worth finding in the first place.

Try Space Engine - procedural universe simulation developed by a single guy, but unlike E it has actual care and attention put in to making things look highly realistic so he has bothered to put in the awesome-looking stuff you can actually find all over the universe like planetary polar aurorae, comets, very close binary/trinary/more planetary systems, etc. - the little details that make everything just feel real, which E is missing.

 

[Mogen Teras]

Nope, nothing. What people like discovering are nice-looking systems. There are NSFs, but in the end, they mean to you as much as you like seeing them.

This is the real answer. Finding stuff is only worth as much as you value of a good screenshot. Besides that, they don't offer anything in gameplay terms besides getting credits for finding them. If you aren't a screenshot warrior, then exploration probably is worthless to you.