The Big Beautiful Bubble

[M00ka]

It seems nearly every second thread mentions the bubble, that sphere of humanity so many of us depend up and live (and some never leave). But just what is the bubble, how big is it, what is considered the centre of the bubble?

The reason I ask these questions is I suspect some here readily quote 'the bubble' without actually knowing what the bubble actually and if they are in it or not.

So to reiterate, I ask three simple questions:

1. What do you consider the bubble is?

2. How big (in lys) is the diameter of the bubble

3. What system is the bubble centered on, is it Sol or some other system?

Ta muchly

 

[Riverside]

I call it the bubble so others will know what I'm referring to (ie not colonia).

The bubble was originally a small sphere of systems, later extended to a tube known as 'the pill'.

The name Bubble now is just a commonly recognised way to mean heavily populated space, it's not rigidly defined.

 

[Lightspeed]

There's this ..... admittedly a tad necro.

 

[Caramel Clown]

If you're an explorer, your definition of a bubble will keep expanding the longer you spend out in the black. For a player who never left the bubble it ends literally with the last populated system you can encounter closest to Sol. Or, as players usually describe it - furthest distance NPCs can spawn. Which by different reports is around 500-1000 LY from systems on the rim. For a seasoned traveler... it's a complex story.
I'm coming back to the bubble right now from my trip, and I've noticed as soon as I'm roughly 10000 LY from the "bubble" it just felt like I'm close...I don't even know how to explain it. It's like I can smell it or something. It doesn't feel remote enough anymore.

 

[Good Whiskey]

There's this ..... admittedly a tad necro.

The bubble is this. Well, at least I'm pretty sure it's this. Flip PP on while in the galaxy map and you see the full extent of it.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Good Whiskey has it dead on in my eyes, were I to have to describe the bubble in words, I'd say its a term applied to a roughly 500LY across iregularly shaped area of space centred around the old core systems. Its rought shape could be alikened to a stack of bubbles on a bath sponge, hence the name. The Old Core Systems being the capitals of the three superpowers, Earth, Achenar and Lave (in chronological order) and their neighbours. It reaches out to the "frontiers", but it does not include every area humanity ocupies, so the Pleiades, Colonia, Witchhead Enclave, the Sothis Bubble, and some outlying settlemetns like 17 Draconis, Exphiay or is it Exioce, Quince.... are not in the bubble.

 

[Good Whiskey]

Earth, Achenar and Lave (in chronological order) and their neighbours. It reaches out to the "frontiers"...

It's worth noting that Sol and Tau Ceti both appear to be somewhat in the dead center of the sphere, mathematically speaking, which makes sense if we assume that humanity effectively radiated outward from its planet of origin in all directions as it began colonizing the galaxy.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Indeed, if you look at EDSM it shows the origin for the grid system as being on our star.

 

[DNA-Decay]

~ 400 Ly Diameter from Sol.

It's where the action is.

 

[WR3ND]

At this point I'd be inclined to say the bubble of colonized local human space extends out to the nearby nebulae that have stations in or near them, also the Pleiades.

I probably wouldn't go quite so far when describing it to others though and expect them to think the same when they probably spend way less time going around and back and forth in the galaxy than I do in general, or are newer to playing the game.

If I can see the Loop, then I'm close to home, or is the black more my home in the game? Tough to say for sure.

 

[Vedmo]

I spend a lot of my time right outside of the PP zones, where extraction systems are plentiful and large pads become scarcer. There's usually a good 50-100 LY outside of the PP areas where there is still plenty of human habitation. I consider this the bubble as well, if not the fringes of it.

 

[M00ka]

Thanks all for the responses.

Isn't it interesting, we have all been using the term 'The Bubble' since well the game was released yet there isn't really a concrete, definitive definition on what the Bubble is. Lots of 'I think …..' but 'this is it ...'. You would think after all this time someone would have declared a definitive sphere or area that is The Bubble.

Personally, I do like the idea that the bubble is defined by the boundaries of the PowerPlay area (not that I will every touch PP lol). Now another question: if FD decided that locations like Pleiades, Colonia, Witchhead Enclave, the Sothis Bubble, and some outlying settlemetns like 17 Draconis, Exphiay or is it Exioce, Quince.... (credit to Jay Le Chardon) were worthy of having a PowerPlay ruler, does that expand the bubble out or just create new separate bubbles?

 

[WR3ND]

I'm halfway tempted to say "The Bubble" even extends out to include Colonia these days, with the way stations and the like along the way, but even I probably wouldn't go quite that far.

I would say that the Pleiades is currently easily within the bubble, though when some of us helped setup Obsidian Orbital there, it was more of an outpost.The real answer to your question is what Riverside said. The rest is more subjective and a holdover from that.

Looking at this pragmatically, if you can reasonably get there within one play session and human colonization to some extent has taken place there, then it's local human space, in my opinion.

 

[Good Whiskey]

does that expand the bubble out or just create new separate bubbles?

I've been thinking about this myself. I prefer the idea that they become their own bubbles with their own cultures and politics. That would be a monumentally good move by Frontier lore-wise. It allows for the introduction of new extra-bubble mission content, both from a mechanical and roleplaying perspective. I also just like how it mirrors the concept of new meta societies emerging like they do in The Expanse and countless other sci-fi universes. Even Warhammer lore has that element to it.

Separated, but intertwined, and themselves internally complex.

 

[Layne Vakarian]

I think the term 'Bubble' is loosely analogous to 'town' as used in our everyday vernacular.

If I say "I'm going into town, want anything?", you will probably visualise your local shopping/commercial district even though there will of course be lots of small retailers/businesses well outside of that area.

Similarly, if I say "I'm heading for the Bubble", again you will know where I mean, more or less, outlying population centres notwithstanding.

Bubble. Core of human populated space. Either/or, really

 

[Bigmaec]

The bubble is this. Well, at least I'm pretty sure it's this. Flip PP on while in the galaxy map and you see the full extent of it.

This.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

1. What do you consider the bubble is?

My definition is that "a" bubble is a set of systems where a faction in any one system could theoretically - given infinite time, and assuming that any BGS activity restrictions on specific systems (permits, semi- or full-protection) were temporarily lifted - expand to any other system within the bubble without further system colonisation. In rigorous terms, this means that any inhabited system within the bubble must have coordinates within 40LY on all three axes of at least one other inhabited system in the same bubble, and for historical reasons - though it's arbitrary - let's define Sol as system #1 of the bubble.

This is quite a bit larger than the Powerplay map definition, which leaves out an extended fringe region where the inhabited system density is still fairly high and you wouldn't think you were outside the bubble if you were filtering your map by economy or population, but not high enough to support profitable Powerplay control systems.

This means that originally the Sol bubble and the Maia bubble were distinct bubbles, but following the 2.4 AEGIS settlements between the two are now just a single bubble. I think that's a fair reflection of the political developments.

In terms of bubbles, there are therefore currently four of any significance:
- Sol-Maia
- Colonia
- Witch Head
- California Nebula
and the rest is mostly isolated systems with a couple of "pairs" (like Sothis/Ceos, or the two Eagle Nebula systems)

2. How big (in lys) is the diameter of the bubble

Probably about 500LY across in most places, though the Maia spur makes it bigger than that in a few specific directions

3. What system is the bubble centered on, is it Sol or some other system?

Again, the Maia spur will pull it slightly, and there's a few different ways "centre" could be measured anyway, but I'd say it's still roughly centred on Sol.

(Colonia isn't dead centre of the Colonia bubble either, but close enough)

 

[leeG]

I always thought “the bubble” was a 150 ly diameter sphere with Sol at its center.

 

[Florenus]

Core Systems

The Core Systems (aka the Core Worlds, The Bubble) are an ellipsoidal region of star systems approximately 200 light years in radius around Sol in the Inner Orion Spur that contains the bulk of human civilization in the Milky Way galaxy. It is where the Federation, Empire, Alliance, and other...

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