The Elite Dangerous Universe

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Hi
One of the major questions and thoughts that I have is what will the 'Elite' Universe look like from the players viewpoint.
In the original 'Frontier Elite 2' and 'Frontier First Encounters' it was quite expansive and fairly accurate in distances from one star system to another, based on our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Given our modern knowledge of Stars and even recent 'probable' planet discoveries, will the game map be similar to the original in this respect.
I'm presuming it will be, but then thinking about the first release of Elite Dangerous, and that 'Planet Landing' will not be in the first release, I'm wondering if the Universe map will be smaller initially, and perhaps enlarged at some later date in development. Or will the map be a maximum size to start with.
In any event...I'm just curious as to what we might be expecting!

Jack.

 

[Kerrash]

I am pretty sure David Braben has already confirmed that the galaxy would be open, with a few exceptions for some star systems that future special events are planned for.

 

[Hamerstein]

Big...really, really big.

I've played quite a few Elite-type games and other space based games and all of them suffer from the same thing, claustrophic with artificial "zoning points" (jump-gates). I'd want to be able feel like there was nothing for millions of miles around me and if I pointed my ship at some distant point of light, it'd take me an epoch to get there.

I don't mind if the last bit is illusionary, if the galaxy was truely joined together and you could (given a million lifetimes) actually fly to the next star - that'd be amazing, but if not I still want to feel it's possible.

I'd like content to make sense - so solar systems work like solar systems do, planets orbiting stars, moons orbiting planets, asteroids that move like asteroids. Scale needs to be right too - when I fly near a gas giant, I want to feel minute, a gnat snuggling up to a whale.

Stuff needs to feel lived in, so stations need to look weathered and states of repair reflect the level of tech and stability of the area they're in. In war zones, battle-scarring on structures. Cargo stevedores ferrying between stations and planets, maintenance guys working to repair ships and stations, advertising hoardings, radio chatter increasing towards populated areas and dwindling to a whisper of white noise in deep space.

Ok I could go on for ages, but I hope that gives my drift

 

[Sir.Tj]

Big...really, really big.

I've played quite a few Elite-type games and other space based games and all of them suffer from the same thing, claustrophic with artificial "zoning points" (jump-gates). I'd want to be able feel like there was nothing for millions of miles around me and if I pointed my ship at some distant point of light, it'd take me an epoch to get there.

I don't mind if the last bit is illusionary, if the galaxy was truely joined together and you could (given a million lifetimes) actually fly to the next star - that'd be amazing, but if not I still want to feel it's possible.

I'd like content to make sense - so solar systems work like solar systems do, planets orbiting stars, moons orbiting planets, asteroids that move like asteroids. Scale needs to be right too - when I fly near a gas giant, I want to feel minute, a gnat snuggling up to a whale.

Stuff needs to feel lived in, so stations need to look weathered and states of repair reflect the level of tech and stability of the area they're in. In war zones, battle-scarring on structures. Cargo stevedores ferrying between stations and planets, maintenance guys working to repair ships and stations, advertising hoardings, radio chatter increasing towards populated areas and dwindling to a whisper of white noise in deep space.

Ok I could go on for ages, but I hope that gives my drift

Excellent post. Pretty much describes what I'm looking for in the galaxy. The feeling that space is really big. Not just a trip to the shops

 

[Com.Vickers]

I just hope it is huuuuuuuuuuuge and feels like this. Not like an instanced piece of simulated space like "Star Trek".
Just as it was back then. just like....Elite. Please.

 

[Pekka]

One of the things that I've always liked in Elite is the fact that you could visit some "real" locations, of which you can read about in starmaps and astronomical books and articles. I hope this will be the same in Elite: Dangerous.

 

[Rollo]

Good post Hamerstein. Some of it already present in FE2 and FFE. Braben & Co can't go backwards. Original Elite was without correct star systems though, iirc.

"radio chatter increasing towards populated areas and dwindling to a whisper of white noise in deep space."

This would add to immersion. Also consider being an explorer and entering an unknown system. "white radio noise" at first...then some crackling...

 

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

One of the things that I've always liked in Elite is the fact that you could visit some "real" locations, of which you can read about in starmaps and astronomical books and articles. I hope this will be the same in Elite: Dangerous.

Hi

That's exactly what I'm hoping for, travelling to stars like Arcturus, Castor & Sirius the 'Dog star' for example.
Considering the game 'Population' (at release) will probably be below the 130,000 mark roughly the size of Cambridge's population, the mid to outer reaches of the Universe should be VERY sparsly populated....at a guess!
Obviously the 'core' sectors will have plenty of traffic, but anything else outside of this would be relatively devoid of non npc players.

Jack.

 

[DoctorDanny]

Stuff needs to feel lived in, so stations need to look weathered and states of repair reflect the level of tech and stability of the area they're in. In war zones, battle-scarring on structures. Cargo stevedores ferrying between stations and planets, maintenance guys working to repair ships and stations, advertising hoardings, radio chatter increasing towards populated areas and dwindling to a whisper of white noise in deep space.

This.

Civilized space should be busy and crowded, economic activity all around you. The frontier should be a dangerous place filled with rebels, pirates, mercenaries, drug lords and whatnot.

But outside the small bubble of known space there should be preciously little traffic and every encounter that you do have should matter in some way. I'd want to feel isolated and all alone in a big big universe.

 

[wayne nicoll]

well we already know the game will have instances in them, though as the game progresses from a development standpoint they may remove the barriers at some point so to speak. certainly once spl comes in i hope it'll be a seamless transition between the two! but it all depends on what the game engine/servers can cope with!

 

[Kerrash]

... if I pointed my ship at some distant point of light, it'd take me an epoch to get there...

David talked about travelling at extreme velocities during a Kickstarter update. He hinted that you would be able to see how faster you a travelling.

I hope the hyperspace jumps between stars actually show streaks of light where the 'background' stars would suddenly 'move'. That would give an awesome sense of scale

 

[DoctorDanny]

David talked about travelling at extreme velocities during a Kickstarter update. He hinted that you would be able to see how faster you a travelling.

I hope the hyperspace jumps between stars actually show streaks of light where the 'background' stars would suddenly 'move'. That would give an awesome sense of scale

Yes! This should go to the suggestions thread. It is the best compromise between 'magic' hyperspace travel and still keeping the vastness of the universe visible to the player!

 

[mikelowndes]

I'd love to see all the original names used as planetary names around real stars - especially if the distribution can also be roughly similar albeit in 3-ish-d. Lave has been promised!

Here's an oldie but goodie. I love this representation of how 'big space is'. Even better I now realise why in part I like it so much - they essentially reuse David's 3D radar from Elite...


http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/index.html

The sheer size of the galaxy is boggling, never mind the halo of 10 or more mini galaxies and the 'nearby' Andromeda that I would like to see added to the game (Galaxy 2!) down the line... Now obviously not every star can have planets that hold life e.g. if there was a general rule that red dwarfs don't that knocks out 80% of stars. There may still be other stuff there to mine or gape at of course - but explorers will need a quickish way to work that out!

 

[mikelowndes]

For instance, this is 50 LY around earth, but ignores all the red/brown dwarfs and large outliers to give a cool display of 'Sun' like suns.

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/50lys.html

Start plotting your courses Captains!

 

[Mazhurg]

If the model in the game is to follow current science, then one is looking at an estimated 100 billions planets http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geek...s-evidence-100-billion-planets-210620867.html of which at least 17 billions are at least earth sized http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...arth-like-planets-across-the-milky-way-study/ in our galaxy alone.

That should keep the Elite: Dangerous ships busy for a while...



<small> Link to the kepler report here: http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.5852</small>

 

[Mazhurg]

Up to100 objects per systems, 100 Billion star systems

Below is an excerpt from PCGamesN

Speaking with PCGamesN, Braben said Elite: Dangerous is set in a randomly generated Milky Way with over 100 billion star systems, including our very own Sol.Each system can have up to 100 objects in it, leading to plenty of opportunities for the player – a “truly giant galaxy of vast numbers”

 

[ak-73]

And around of them there is orbiting a legendary planet called Raxxla. That is the new game that begins when a player hits Elite...! Induct Elite players into the Dark Wheel.

Alex

 

[Mobius]

This is how big i expect Elite Dangerous to be.

as quoted by the Great Douglas Adams

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

 

[Karl]

Hi
Given our modern knowledge of Stars and even recent 'probable' planet discoveries, will the game map be similar to the original in this respect.

I sure hope recent scientific discoveries are included as facts in the game. Also, Beta Lyrae shouldn't crash the game I'm wondering if they will also add in factual locations referenced in science fiction, as the occasional easter egg. Might be fun going to Alpha Centauri A and find Polyphemus orbiting it, like it does in Space Engine - which I hope E4 will try to mimic, but with a lot more variables of course (economical, political, and all that fun stuff).

 

[Bounder]

Big...really, really big.

I've played quite a few Elite-type games and other space based games and all of them suffer from the same thing, claustrophic with artificial "zoning points" (jump-gates). I'd want to be able feel like there was nothing for millions of miles around me and if I pointed my ship at some distant point of light, it'd take me an epoch to get there.

I don't mind if the last bit is illusionary, if the galaxy was truely joined together and you could (given a million lifetimes) actually fly to the next star - that'd be amazing, but if not I still want to feel it's possible.

I'd like content to make sense - so solar systems work like solar systems do, planets orbiting stars, moons orbiting planets, asteroids that move like asteroids. Scale needs to be right too - when I fly near a gas giant, I want to feel minute, a gnat snuggling up to a whale.

Stuff needs to feel lived in, so stations need to look weathered and states of repair reflect the level of tech and stability of the area they're in. In war zones, battle-scarring on structures. Cargo stevedores ferrying between stations and planets, maintenance guys working to repair ships and stations, advertising hoardings, radio chatter increasing towards populated areas and dwindling to a whisper of white noise in deep space.

Ok I could go on for ages, but I hope that gives my drift

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