Kayse wrote:That is, if two people start with the same seed, the universe, at time of game start, will be identical. Your paths will then immediately diverge as you interact with the universe in different ways, but the contents of the universe (location of materials/habitable planets/factions/etc) are the same. NPCs change the world as you do, so if you visit Planet Y 5 hours into the game but your friend doesn't visit until 50 hours in, you will have different experiences with the state of the planet due to volume of activity generated by NPCs, however, its location and general details will be the same.
I actually have a problem to understand how this can work.
Let me explain:
The procedural generation works with pseudo-random numbers, and those are based on a seed, that generates a given sequence of pseudo-random numbers. So for whatever content is generated at game start, no problem: it will always be the same for the same seed.
But only a small part of the universe is generated at start. The rest is generated on demand, depending where the player is going (if the player turns left, a new sector on the left gets generated, and only when - later - the players returns and go right will the sector on the right be generated). And because the seed defines a sequence of pseudo-random numbers, when the order of generation changes, the content changes...
And don't think this is relative in the sense that the sequence of system/sector visited will be the same ( after all, the first sector generated, be it left or right, will be generated with the same seed). Indeed if a player go from system A - B - C - D, and another make A - B - C - return to B, then A - D, then each system may be the same (D will have the same color / name/... For both players) but the connectivity will be different. Only for player 1 is system D neighbor of C, for player 2 D is a neighbor of A. And this has a huge impact.
Therefore if you play with the same seed as a friend, not only will the universe diverge based on the players action (such as the state of the planet, or the fact the a factions needs or not some bread depending whether the player just delivered some or not) but it will be completely different outside of the zone generated at startup.
In principle this is not an issue, but just a problem if you want to compare notes, "share" a universe in the community by exchanging maps and tips on profitable trade routes...
Unless, as often, I am mistaken...