I had some ideas that were sparked by vids of Sagittarius A* and news of the buckyball run and such.
I absolutely love the fact that players were the first humans to even simulate going to the supermassive black hole at the core. It filled me with warm fuzzies!
However, I overthought it, and came to realize that the layout of inhabited space doesn't make as much sense as it seems.
Obviously the FSD we have in-game was a recent innovation, but even so, the moment we had tech to cross 26 kLy in a human lifespan, humans would most certainly have established science outposts at the core, and many other unique areas of the galaxy. I haven't done any sort of inventory of things that would qualify, besides the things we explorers have been finding ourselves and one other: extragalactic observatories. They would be placed in locations as far out as possible, where the distance between stars gets up to 40 Ly, and above and below the galactic plane (in particular towards other nearby galaxies in the local group, though I can imagine some being placed particularly towards the more "empty" areas of sky).
Following on from that, today the galaxy should contain a few more interesting areas than it does. Yes it should have a large(ish, space is really big you know ) populated area centered around Sol and other core human worlds. The 4-500 Ly bubble seems reasonable enough. There should also be small bubbles around scientifically interesting locations/phenomena. The older outposts would have more inhabited systems around, and the newer ones might only have a few, if any. Well travelled routes would probably have a few inhabited stops along the way, and the more often a well guarded convoy goes through, the less piracy there would be along the route.
It doesn't take much imagination to see new empires rising (and failing) all over the galaxy! You might even find military outposts in places you didn't expect! Of course I wouldn't expect covert military bases to be placed much outside of inhabited areas, there's plenty of black between local stars that unmodified hyperdrives just can't get to though they might have issues if they stay in one place for too long. Supercruise can (theoretically, not in-game so far) get you into the black with some time and extra fuel tanks.
All this kinda makes some room for more varied gameplay elements. Convoy protection is an old trope in the space shooter genre, but entirely necessary in the galaxy I imagine. Potential for Thargoid encounters abound as well!
Perhaps this is a good direction for Li Yong-Rui & Sirius Corp to move in? Or perhaps another, less profit-focused science organization? New Yembo is one example of the early stages of this (though there isn't anything particularly interesting there), but I think it could be far more fleshed out.
I absolutely love the fact that players were the first humans to even simulate going to the supermassive black hole at the core. It filled me with warm fuzzies!
However, I overthought it, and came to realize that the layout of inhabited space doesn't make as much sense as it seems.Obviously the FSD we have in-game was a recent innovation, but even so, the moment we had tech to cross 26 kLy in a human lifespan, humans would most certainly have established science outposts at the core, and many other unique areas of the galaxy. I haven't done any sort of inventory of things that would qualify, besides the things we explorers have been finding ourselves and one other: extragalactic observatories. They would be placed in locations as far out as possible, where the distance between stars gets up to 40 Ly, and above and below the galactic plane (in particular towards other nearby galaxies in the local group, though I can imagine some being placed particularly towards the more "empty" areas of sky).
Following on from that, today the galaxy should contain a few more interesting areas than it does. Yes it should have a large(ish, space is really big you know
) populated area centered around Sol and other core human worlds. The 4-500 Ly bubble seems reasonable enough. There should also be small bubbles around scientifically interesting locations/phenomena. The older outposts would have more inhabited systems around, and the newer ones might only have a few, if any. Well travelled routes would probably have a few inhabited stops along the way, and the more often a well guarded convoy goes through, the less piracy there would be along the route.It doesn't take much imagination to see new empires rising (and failing) all over the galaxy! You might even find military outposts in places you didn't expect! Of course I wouldn't expect covert military bases to be placed much outside of inhabited areas, there's plenty of black between local stars that unmodified hyperdrives just can't get to
though they might have issues if they stay in one place for too long. Supercruise can (theoretically, not in-game so far) get you into the black with some time and extra fuel tanks.All this kinda makes some room for more varied gameplay elements. Convoy protection is an old trope in the space shooter genre, but entirely necessary in the galaxy I imagine. Potential for Thargoid encounters abound as well!
Perhaps this is a good direction for Li Yong-Rui & Sirius Corp to move in? Or perhaps another, less profit-focused science organization? New Yembo is one example of the early stages of this (though there isn't anything particularly interesting there), but I think it could be far more fleshed out.
