Distant binary stars without LPs

[demonblackie (OP)]

Occasionally, I get a binary system where the companion star is >10000 AU away from the primary, but the system has no LPs, meaning it would take like a decade to get there with a decently fast ship.   I'm curious if that was intended as a possibility, or if LPs were supposed to be there.

[Sematary]

A long time ago, three to four years ago, before LPs were in the game, there was a type of engine called the Hyperspace Engine which would shoot your ship very fast across long distances. Due to problems with the system Steve removed it somewhere, and it was very solidly gone when I joined the game in version 5.40. Several people have asked him to either bring that system back or attempt to change LPs so they will always appear with long range systems like that, but as far as I know there are plenty of other features Steve is more focused on. I hope that answers your question and possibly someone else with more knowledge on this will come by and add to what I said.

[demonblackie (OP)]

Yeah, I remember hyperdrives, but my 4. xx game didn't get far enough to use them before i switched to 6. 0.   I guess worst case scenario, that distant star is something to explore later with a much faster engine and a crew that likes being away from family for a decade.

[Sematary]

I think people just mostly ignore them. Its not really worth the effort at the moment which sucks. Sometimes there are NPRs out there and some are undoubtedly very mineral rich.

[Mel Vixen]

The mineral rich ones i always set up with a few automines and massdrivers. It may take a looooong time to get the minerals but i get them eventualy.
Hyperdrives where nice but iirc they broke the speed of light in some instances. Also the Ai wasnt good at handling them.

[Culise]

I usually ignore these systems as well; it's just too impractical to purpose-design ships to cross these vast gulfs between the stars, and distance restrictions mean that these systems will be cut off from civilian development.   

Actually, a thought I just had is to make stars act like LPs.    Since the AI movement algorithms now consider LPs for pathing, it should allow connectivity to be established within these tremendous star systems for players, civilians, and NPCs alike.    I'm not sure if there would be other knock-on effects from doing something like that, since it's just an idle fancy, but it seems like it could work without requiring any alterations to the LP scripts.   

[Bryan Swartz]

I view them as background flavor to the universe.  It's like finding an 'empty' system with nothing but the star.  It's something that I would make a project of if I ever made an empire large enough and stable enough to eventually reach the higher tech levels, but other than that it's kind of like a hunter-gatherer gazing at the ocean.  No point in doing more than wondering what's on the other side, but it's still fun to have them there to look at.