Where is everyone?
- Thread starter TomS
- Start date
Yeah, i don't understand the NPC spawning system either.
I can drop at a nav beacon in a high population system, and within seconds it's filled with ships.
Then jump to supercruise, and it's a barren wasteland.
I really wish ED could support more ships per instance.
Lots more.
Like, 100. Lol
I can drop at a nav beacon in a high population system, and within seconds it's filled with ships.
Then jump to supercruise, and it's a barren wasteland.
I really wish ED could support more ships per instance.
Lots more.
Like, 100. Lol
Assuming this isn't an 'open is empty' thread (in which case the answer is beta, solo or private groups) the simple point is that despite those two systems being the capitals of the two biggest powers they aren't that attractive. I have to admit that I haven't checked out passenger missions in those two systems so they might be great tourist hubs but other than that they are pretty rubbish profit wise. They don't sell anything special so most people might pas through them as tourists but will trade/ bounty hunt / pirate elsewhere.
Blackcompany
Banned
Playing fun games instead.
I'm not talking about CMDRs, I'm just saying that when I drop into a system that has 4Bn people living in it - I'd expect to encounter more than 2 sidewinders and a hauler.
Presumably this is part of the reason FD put permit restrictions on anywhere players are most likely to want to visit such as Sol and Achenar etc. Although personally, when i found out i wasn't even allowed into Facece or Achenar i just went and parked up in Sol (which i somehow had a free pass for) and continue to wait there until basic spaceflight becomes possible, if ever..
For much the same reasons i've no interest in GTA Online - it leaves the world barren and lifeless, not to mention a screenfull of nasty technicoloured spamjunk intrusions. I play GTA daily, the Steam version but with a nosteam patch to keep it from sabotaging my mod selection (just FFB wheel support, KT's realistic physics mod and a few other QoL mods for head-tracking etc., no "cheats" as such). If the online game had the fun driving physics, FFB wheel support and fully-populated world, i'd likely be addicted.
ED however is totally barren even in single-player mode. In Elite 2 and 3 you could encounter dozens of ships from hyperspace entry to docking. In ED i think i've seen at most 2 or 3 other vessels in deep space away from any starports. In a month of playing ED i had maybe 2 or 3 combat encounters with other ships. In a half-hour of playing FFED3D or any previous Elite, you can battle through swarms of AI.
Obviously multiplayer Elite sounds like a great concept, but the result is so compromised as to no longer fulfill the core game requirements. A lonely desert of speed-limited, blue-zone, no-yaw custard.
For much the same reasons i've no interest in GTA Online - it leaves the world barren and lifeless, not to mention a screenfull of nasty technicoloured spamjunk intrusions. I play GTA daily, the Steam version but with a nosteam patch to keep it from sabotaging my mod selection (just FFB wheel support, KT's realistic physics mod and a few other QoL mods for head-tracking etc., no "cheats" as such). If the online game had the fun driving physics, FFB wheel support and fully-populated world, i'd likely be addicted.
ED however is totally barren even in single-player mode. In Elite 2 and 3 you could encounter dozens of ships from hyperspace entry to docking. In ED i think i've seen at most 2 or 3 other vessels in deep space away from any starports. In a month of playing ED i had maybe 2 or 3 combat encounters with other ships. In a half-hour of playing FFED3D or any previous Elite, you can battle through swarms of AI.
Obviously multiplayer Elite sounds like a great concept, but the result is so compromised as to no longer fulfill the core game requirements. A lonely desert of speed-limited, blue-zone, no-yaw custard.
Agree with the OP, in large population systems I would have thought there should be far more ships in supercruise, especially shuttles or such like plowing between stations, planet surfaces etc.
At the moment the whole thing feels empty. Another pet peeve is the way NPCs spawn noticeably after you've entered a system, as opposed to already being there, to give the illusion of life in the particular system and not just revolving around you...
Cheers
G
At the moment the whole thing feels empty. Another pet peeve is the way NPCs spawn noticeably after you've entered a system, as opposed to already being there, to give the illusion of life in the particular system and not just revolving around you...
Cheers
G
Well, I'm on my way to Sag A* which is why I'm not in the bubble. Sorry.
Good for you - thanks for the apology... [up]
It hasn't really occurred to me before, but you're quite right. It would make sense for there to be many times more NPC traffic in a system with billions of inhabitants than one with a few thousand people all living on the same outpost.
I suppose systems swarming with NPCs is a victim of the p2p and instancing.
I suppose systems swarming with NPCs is a victim of the p2p and instancing.
System population is integrated into the ED universe only in the following ways:
- The number of stations and surface ports a system can support.
- The commodity levels on the trade market.
- The degree of difficulty in causing changes in faction influence within that system.
Besides these, I would also expect system population to directly influence:
- The number of ships seen in supercruise, particularly flying between the planet surface and the orbital stations.
- The number of ships seen in normal space, landing and taking off from the stations.
- The number of missions offered at stations. ideally, I'd like to see a consistent ratio (say, 1 mission per 100,000 population).
- The likelihood of encountering random human-origin debris or minor installations on the surface of planets.
- The number of stations and surface ports a system can support.
- The commodity levels on the trade market.
- The degree of difficulty in causing changes in faction influence within that system.
Besides these, I would also expect system population to directly influence:
- The number of ships seen in supercruise, particularly flying between the planet surface and the orbital stations.
- The number of ships seen in normal space, landing and taking off from the stations.
- The number of missions offered at stations. ideally, I'd like to see a consistent ratio (say, 1 mission per 100,000 population).
- The likelihood of encountering random human-origin debris or minor installations on the surface of planets.
Agree with the OP. Seeing a high pop system teeming with activity and low pop systems with only occasional traffic would make sense.
I'm also a bit baffled at how many replies it took before someone who had actually read and understood the OP posted. Sheesh.
I'm also a bit baffled at how many replies it took before someone who had actually read and understood the OP posted. Sheesh.
You probably wouldn't like tons of npc flying around in high population systems.
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Yeah - it's funny that my local leisure centre has more parking spaces than some of these intergalactic trading hubs.
I just think that high population systems should feel 'busier' somehow. I mean - shouldn't there be a line of interplanetary shuttles between Earth and Mars for a start?