Where is everyone?

[Comrade Napoleon]

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?

Reminds me of a planet near Fular back in Beta. It was massive with four Coriolis stations and 5 or 6 outposts, and a population in billions, they neither imported stuff, nor did they export stuff, they had 10 ships available in shipyard though....
Guess they just wanted to be left alone.
They have probably inbred themselves into amoebas by now......

Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

I also think it's weird that when you drop into a station, there are hardly any NPC ships there, but when you leave, they're suddenly everywhere.

And they are all Belugas lined up at the entrance.

 

[Nic727]

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.

I agree!