Testing NPC spawning (it's pretty broken)

[Brakespear]

I'm currently drifting, FA off, at a speed of 246, heading out into empty space away from the most remote asteroid belt in Synuefe WL-C B45-0.

This is a remote system, way down low (350LY below Sol). If you can't be bothered to search for that, just enter 56 Ceti. It's next door.

I have been floating along quietly for 10 minutes. I have encountered 22 ships (at the time of writing this sentence). Two of which were pirates (thankfully, I have no cargo capacity, let alone cargo).

I've seen an Anaconda with two eagles escorting it. I've seen multiple lone sidewinders, a viper, and a cobra. I've seen a Type 6, and just now, a type 7. Note: this is an ice belt, so there's absolutely nothing of value here, and it's the 18th belt in the system.

As I type this, the NPCs are still spawning at regular intervals. Click, another contact. Click, another contact. I'm now 200km from the belt, and they're still spawning.

They're spawning, specifically, on me. Not at the belt.

Update: 220km, I thought the spawning had stopped, when a formation of 3 ships appeared at the edge of my sensors.


Note: The NPCs do not seem to spawn if you drop out of supercruise in empty space (could be wrong about this), but once you've arrived at a belt or ring, they keep spawning. Forever.

Suffice it to say, this is not impressive.

Update: 259km, scanned by a third pirate.

320km, still spawning...

Oh, also, this sparse ice belt in the depths of space... dropped my framerate to 13 FPS (from 60, capped) for no apparent reason.

EDIT: Imperial Clipper just arrived. Pretty sure that completes the set now.
EDIT2: Also, I feel I should point out - in supercruise, the system was dead silent. Not a soul.

 

[gazzareth]

You could always ticket it, can't see why they would want them to spawn like that....

G

 

[Veldryn]

I was heading to a conflict zone earlier. Went too close to the gas giant's ring. Emergency exit, 5000 km from anywhere. 20-25 NPCs were there.

Explorers reported heavy NPC activity in the core of the galaxy, far, far away from any inhabited space. Lonely sidewinders, eagles, and bigger ships as well.

You can meet NPCs anywhere. Space is not lonely They just pop where you are

 

[SpySat1]

You could always ticket it, can't see why they would want them to spawn like that....

G

It's because they want people to have targets to shoot at.

In reality space is vast and void. Empty. There's a reason it's called "Space".

They should at least tune the rates on a system by system basis... maybe make spawn rates dependent on the traffic in the system. that way you can have a pressure gauge system with a min and max, and let the traffic reports determine rates.

Also, spawn entities anchored to the location, but ONLY if a player is present. That way you avoid the scenario you described where things are constantly spawning on your location.