It's quiet out there...

[majortopio (OP)]

So I have a game with 30% NPR generation chance and 1 pre-existing NPR, with precursors and star swarm.  I've been playing around 80 years and have explored 20+ systems. . .  However, I haven't met anything.  The closest I've gotten to finding aliens are some ruins on a planet in some distant system.  What am I missing? It's kind of frustrating not being able to test my carefully designed military ships!!

[xeryon]

I've just realized I have run into the same problem.  I am pretty sure it relates to installing 5.6 on my machine.  For the longest time I had 5.54 installed and didn't realize it.  Under 5.54 I had alien systems properly generating.  Now I have nothing but precursor and swarm and definitely have explored more then 50 systems.  I thought something was up and had changed my generation chance up to 50% and still nothing.  Now I know something is amiss.

[sloanjh]

20+ is not that many - how many of them had habitable worlds?  Note that a colony cost of 0 is NOT sufficient for an NPR check - the environmental factors need to be within certain range bands.  Steve posted the requirements a year or two ago (probably in Mechanics or The Academy) - some searching among his posts might find it.

IIRC, I've been up to 40 or 50 systems before finding an NPR....

John

[majortopio (OP)]

The thing is that I haven't found any swarms or precursors, either.  But I'll keep on a-looking then!

[xeryon]

Are you doing geologic scans of the systems as well?

I find that my grav ships, if kept svelte, repeatedly are able to do a survey of a system without ever being detected by swarm or precursor.  One engine, one scanner, one small jump drive and the size is small enough to go under the radar.  Geo ships, on the other hand, fly right up to the precursor ships and poke them in the eye and get themselves blown to bits on a regular basis.  The grav survey only occasionally comes close enough to bodies to be detected on occasion.

[Haji]

First, this game is very random. You can have no aliens after sctouting one hundred systems or you can have them left and right. Once I had thee aliens species within three jumps from my homeworld.

Second, gravsurvey ships often don't make precursors come after them. Geological ships on the other hand.... Well, it's occupational hazard.

Three, twenty systems is really low number. The problem (or not?) with this game is that it generates new systems - and empires - as you progress. So while in other games you can safely stay in your system and the enemies will mind their own buisness, eventually coming to you, here you have to actually expand for new encounters to pop up - they simply won't come to you.