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No one lives on Nohash Patieme anymore, yet the toxic, fungus-ruled planet is overpopulated with procedurally generated habitats, structures, and trash. This is the first planet (out of literally hundreds) […]
No one lives on Nohash Patieme anymore, yet the toxic, fungus-ruled planet is overpopulated with procedurally generated habitats, structures, and trash. This is the first planet (out of literally hundreds) that I have visited where I three base units are within shouting distance of one another. The video below shows how close the three bases are.
Here is an aerial photo marking the location of all three base units:
Note also that there is an odd, white rectangular patch in the image. This seems to be some kind of image artifact created by the game itself, and appears both night and day on the planet. I can find no explanation for its appearance, but it does remind me of redacted maps where sensitive locations are blocked.
This is not the only unusual, base-related phenomenon. The short video below shows what happens when approaching the abandoned player-base on foot: initially appearing as another generic habitable base unit, the base immediately pops into view, fully realized:
It is rare to be able to observe this, but it appears that the base buffers itself before appearing. As with other complex bases created by players, the framerate does occasionally slow to a crawl, adding more context to a complex landscape.
Planet: Nohash Patieme
Base Name: Neptune Acquisitions Inc
Discovered/Built by: DudeofNeptune
System: [Nepcorp Acquisition – G – 179] Tranquility
Type: “Toxic” planet
Weather: Stinging Atmosphere
Sentinels: Regular
Flora: Generous. According to the Discoveries log, 1 plant specie has been identified. The current iteration of the planet is covered in a diversity of plants, but fungus is the dominant lifeform.
Fauna: Numerous. Also based on the Discoveries log, 11 of 12 animals have been identified. I observed a 6-legged, ridgeback dinosaur, which did not appear in the Discovery log.
Economy: Engineering // Sustainable
Dominant Lifeform: Gek
Conflict Level: Destructive
Planet Base Coordinates: 0469:0082:0D6F:0179
Portal Coordinates: pie bird bug galaxy pie dinosaur balloon bug pie tent ship hexagon. The portal is on nearby planet Sentinel, which is appropriately named because of an extremely aggressive Sentinel population.
Resources (according to the log): Star Bulb, Gold, Copper, Heridium. I visually observed instances of Iridium, too, which should have appeared in the resource log (but does not).
Exterior Temp: Ranges between 69.3 F, 0.3 Rad, 69.5 Tox (day) and 41.2 F, 2.0 Rad, 64.2 Tox (night)
Storms: none
Length of Day: 1 real-time minute = 45 minutes on Horner. 32 real-time minutes = 1 day on Nohash Patieme.
Sunrise: 0400
Sunset: 2000
Circumference: ca. 8 minutes (480 seconds) at 4756u/s = 2,282,880u or ca. 2,282ku (exactly the same as Drogradur)
Diameter: ca. 726ku
Volume: 2 x 108 u = 200,358,829u
Waypoints: 8 Waypoints discovered on June 13–14, 2017, all by DudeofNeptune:
2 on June 13, 2017
6 on June 14, 2017
The dates indicate when they were uploaded to the Online Services (Atlas server).
Communication Stations:
No communication stations greeted my arrival on May 24, 2018, but the connection to online services had been lost. I was able to regain online services in orbit, but landing on the planet terminated them.
The toxic surface of Nohash Patieme hosts a variety of scrub-type plants and a wealth of fungus (mostly mushrooms) that range from the small to those that tower above the landscape. Some mushrooms appear squidlike with arms supporting their caps, while others are bulbous, fat stalks. The ground is rugged and hilly, spotted with rocky towers topped with natural, stony rings giving them the appearance of bottle-openers. Geological resources are common, with columns of Heridium and cubes of iridium never farther apart than a two-minute walk.
Perhaps the most notable thing about the planet is that it is reminiscent of how all planets used to behave in the earliest version of No Man’s Sky, frequently populated with structures. This is truly a throwback planet. In this instance, DudeofNeptune’s base is less than a two-minute walk from two other empty, habitable base units, something I have never seen before. Upon arrival, Neptune Acquisitions Inc. looked like just another base unit, but the base appeared once I got within 100 m of it, again something new for this project.
The constant acid rain fills the world with noise broken up only by the arriving trade ships that visit the base every minute.
Neptune Acquisitions Inc is a towering, cobalt blue base resembling a hamster park. The base unit opens to the north. The ground level includes the central base unit, a landing pad, save unit, and signal booster to the right along with a holographic door entrance at the eastern side, and a geobay for a Roamer exocraft just south of the base.
Entering the base unit, the base ID reads “Neptune Acquisitions Inc.” A Gek vendor sits opposite. A short corridor leads east to a high-ceilinged, glass room with four hydroponic trays containing a Gravatino Host, Venom Urchin, and two Albumen Pearl Orbs. A Trade Terminal, Repository 6-E/I84, is centered on the wall opposite. To the right of the terminal is a tire rack and a short, dead-end hallway with “Pikachu” and Korvax decals on the wall. A holographic door leads to a covered, outdoor patio area. On the wall opposite this door, a staircase leads up to the next level.
At the top of the stairs in another botanical area with four hydroponic trays containing a mature Gravitino Host, Albumen Pearl Orb, and two Venom Urchin plants. Two computer terminals are placed along the walls. A staircase to the south leads up to an east-west corridor. Heading west winds one around to a commons area inside a hydroponic dome with two Venom Urchin and one Gravatino Host plant. Continuing through the dome into the next curving corridor leads to another hydroponic dome with a central table and five large decorative terminals. Following another corridor out of this dome heads to a decorative blue Trade Terminal “9”. To the right of this is a set of stairs leading up.
The stairs head up under a floating desk and land in another commons area with planters for an Albumen Pearl Orb and a Venom Urchin plant flanking two chairs. A final set of stairs leads up to a command/control area in another hydroponic dome with a central desk. An observation bubble opens behind the desk, looking onto the fungal landscape. The sound of pelting rain-on-metal permeates the entire structure.
—Andrew Reinhard, Archaeogaming
Archaeogaming is a collective of gamers who are interested in applying archaeological methods while exploring game-worlds. We are interested in the evolution of gaming worlds and in the use of archaeology while in-game. Archaeogaming was founded by Andrew Reinhard on June 9, 2013.
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