What I mean is, they've created a universe where populations seem to be too low. I'm pretty sure that the most populous place in ME2 only had around 2.5 billion inhabitants, which would make the Earth the most populous place in the galaxy since Earth has a population of a little under 12 billiion.
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Earth
Places like the Citadel, for example, seem to be rather small. At 13.2 million inhabitants only, it's population is smaller than that of modern day Shanghai, and just barely greater than the other cities on the list of cities ranked by population that I found on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia....r_by_population
And that's not even looking at the list of urban areas by size:
http://en.wikipedia....s_by_population
Hardly a city worthy of being called the nexus of the galaxy.
Another example is that of Illium, a planet that only has around 85 million inhabitants. http://masseffect.wi...com/wiki/Illium When you consider that today's Earth has over 7 billion people and that there are quite a few countries that count more than 85 million citizens, it really makes that planet look small and insignificant.
And many other planets or places have populations that just seem unreasonably and unrealistically small. It's as if Bioware couldn't grasp the hugeness of space and limited their universe to small concentrated populations. I don't feel any greatness in their universe because they've built it to seem like I'm just looking at countries on a world map.
Where are the overpopulated mega-planets with billions upon billions of people, possibly surrounded by artificial rings that contain millions if not billions of people? Planets turned into one huge city like in Star Wars or whatever? I just feel like the writer's were limited by a lack of imagination and couldn't imagine a bigger, more impressive galaxy. I guess it's not all that surprising since they made the humans the biggest and bestest race of the universe. If you can't imagine other races or other worlds being more impressive than you, that pretty much shows lack of a good imagination.
Bioware underestimates population numbers, lack of imagination?
Débuté par
ReveurIngenu
, févr. 08 2012 04:41
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#2
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:44
legion999
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The vast majority of the human population resides on Earth. That's why it has so many living on it.
#3
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:47
Wulfram
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Korlus is 3,800,000,000.
We haven't seen population numbers for the home worlds, which should probably be higher than Earth.
We've tended to be in the less populous regions. Even Ilium is a pretty recent foundation, though it's population does seem pretty small considering all the skyscrapers we see there.
Presumably there's a tendency for the population to be loosely spread over many planets, rather than concentrate on one world city.
edit: of course, all the population statistics are liable to be out of date pretty soon
We haven't seen population numbers for the home worlds, which should probably be higher than Earth.
We've tended to be in the less populous regions. Even Ilium is a pretty recent foundation, though it's population does seem pretty small considering all the skyscrapers we see there.
Presumably there's a tendency for the population to be loosely spread over many planets, rather than concentrate on one world city.
edit: of course, all the population statistics are liable to be out of date pretty soon
Modifié par Wulfram, 08 février 2012 - 04:48 .
#4
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:49
WizenSlinky0
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Colony worlds are understandably low. Only so many people are going to be willing to uproot themselves to move to a new world, and then from there the population steadily increases.
Also the Citadel is a *hub*, it wouldn't have many permanent residents that don't work there in some capacity. It's mostly used for intergalactic politics, trade, and such.
Also the Citadel is a *hub*, it wouldn't have many permanent residents that don't work there in some capacity. It's mostly used for intergalactic politics, trade, and such.
#5
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:51
Exia001
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This is what we've taken to moaning at now? 
#6
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:51
XDMMX
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Isn't Earth supposed to be an overpopulated acid washed slum compared to the alien home worlds.
#7
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:54
Nerevar-as
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Illium habitable zones are small, most of the planet is too hot, so the colonies are only near the poles.
#8
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:55
Arkitekt
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The Citadel is a space station that harbors millions of people. If you don't think that's impressive then you are the one with a lack of imagination.
#9
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:55
Heraxion
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Earth is described as an "overpopulated slum" by the other species in ME, so i think it's safe to assume that Earth is the planet with the most inhabitants in the galaxy.
If you were a species like the Asari it would make no sense to cluster your whole population on one planet with a giant mega-city when you have a whole galaxy of potential colonies. It would be like the whole of Earths population living in Iceland. It's only natural that a population spreads out into the space that is avaliable. When the whole galaxy is avaliable, there is essentialy unlimited space, so congestion becomes something that can be completely avoided. It should also be mentioned that a city covering an entire planet would be a completely impossible thing in a "semi-hard" scifi setting like Mass Effect. Where would the planet get it's food?, its water, it's resources? What would the people living in such a place do for a living if there is no agriculture or mining or other form of base resource available?
Also, none of the other major species are expanding. Illium is consideres a very recent Asari colony, and it does not seem very recent in the way we look at time. The turians haven't expanded since the unification wars.
Not expanding your species is actually a very good long term policy. Rapid expansion can create diversions in politics ( like happened to the turians), and would later lead to civil war. Only the turians have a history of civil wars, so it can be assumed that the other species have been very conservative at expanding their species.
So if you couple a wish to avoid fracturing your own species politically, with the fact that it's just more economical to have many low population colonies, each with a large supply of natural resources, rather than a "mega-city planet" with no resources at all, i would say that the population levels in Mass Effect are very realistic.
If you were a species like the Asari it would make no sense to cluster your whole population on one planet with a giant mega-city when you have a whole galaxy of potential colonies. It would be like the whole of Earths population living in Iceland. It's only natural that a population spreads out into the space that is avaliable. When the whole galaxy is avaliable, there is essentialy unlimited space, so congestion becomes something that can be completely avoided. It should also be mentioned that a city covering an entire planet would be a completely impossible thing in a "semi-hard" scifi setting like Mass Effect. Where would the planet get it's food?, its water, it's resources? What would the people living in such a place do for a living if there is no agriculture or mining or other form of base resource available?
Also, none of the other major species are expanding. Illium is consideres a very recent Asari colony, and it does not seem very recent in the way we look at time. The turians haven't expanded since the unification wars.
Not expanding your species is actually a very good long term policy. Rapid expansion can create diversions in politics ( like happened to the turians), and would later lead to civil war. Only the turians have a history of civil wars, so it can be assumed that the other species have been very conservative at expanding their species.
So if you couple a wish to avoid fracturing your own species politically, with the fact that it's just more economical to have many low population colonies, each with a large supply of natural resources, rather than a "mega-city planet" with no resources at all, i would say that the population levels in Mass Effect are very realistic.
Modifié par Heraxion, 08 février 2012 - 05:07 .
#10
Posté 08 février 2012 - 04:56
CrimsonDragon86
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Exia001 wrote...
This is what we've taken to moaning at now?
So it would seem. Any opportunity to grouse about something. It's what some fans do.
#11
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:00
LGTX
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The link between the two points made in the thread title is funny.
#12
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:00
Janus Prospero
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ReveurIngenu wrote...
Places like the Citadel, for example, seem to be rather small. At 13.2 million inhabitants only, it's population is smaller than that of modern day Shanghai, and just barely greater than the other cities on the list of cities ranked by population that I found on Wikipedia:
Art Director Derek Watts said in a recent interview that each blade of the Citadel is "about the size of Manhattan." Manhattan has a population of ~1.6 million people. So if you look at it in those terms...
13.2 / 5 = ~2.64 million people on each Citadel arm + 1/5 of the presidium
That is much greater than the 1.6 million people in Manhattan, and considering how crowded Manhattan is, the Citadel must be a nightmare.
"I hate driving in the Citadel. Too much space traffic. I usualy just ride my space bike to work or take the space taxi if I need to go far."
Modifié par Janus Prospero, 08 février 2012 - 05:09 .
#13
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:06
lolerk53
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We're the new guys here, we still didn't conolize a planet like a BOSS only a few hundreds per colony, so we are still preety packed up.
#14
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:06
Bleachrude
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I agree and disagree with you.
For the citadel, the numbers are actually reasonable. Remember, what you're looking for is not "just population" but population density.
Ward length = 43.6 km
Ward Width - 330m
Total ward area = 14.388 square liometres
5 wards thus give an area of 71.94 kilometres squared.
Assuming population is equally dispersed, you end up with a population density of 183, 486 per square kilometre
From Wikipedia, Manila currently has the highest population density in our world at 43, 079 per square kilometre.
The Citadel is literally 4 times as dense as Manila and 9 times as dense as Paris.
Similarly, remember that Illium is a world where the asari can only comfrotably build at ground level at the polar latitudes.which is North of 60N and South of 60S. The former is pretty much above finland and norway while 60S doesn't even hit the tip of either S. America or Australia...Yet the asari have fitted over 85 million in that region...(again, assuming that the image from the game is "true", those latitudes don't have that much landmass...)
That said, the population figures have to be off given how quickly humanity is able to become an important player...
For the citadel, the numbers are actually reasonable. Remember, what you're looking for is not "just population" but population density.
Ward length = 43.6 km
Ward Width - 330m
Total ward area = 14.388 square liometres
5 wards thus give an area of 71.94 kilometres squared.
Assuming population is equally dispersed, you end up with a population density of 183, 486 per square kilometre
From Wikipedia, Manila currently has the highest population density in our world at 43, 079 per square kilometre.
The Citadel is literally 4 times as dense as Manila and 9 times as dense as Paris.
Similarly, remember that Illium is a world where the asari can only comfrotably build at ground level at the polar latitudes.which is North of 60N and South of 60S. The former is pretty much above finland and norway while 60S doesn't even hit the tip of either S. America or Australia...Yet the asari have fitted over 85 million in that region...(again, assuming that the image from the game is "true", those latitudes don't have that much landmass...)
That said, the population figures have to be off given how quickly humanity is able to become an important player...
Modifié par Bleachrude, 08 février 2012 - 05:11 .
#16
Guest_darkness reborn_*
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:09
Guest_darkness reborn_*
Guest_darkness reborn_*
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underestimates population numbers? Maybe.
lack of imagination? They have too much of it (a "magic" super weapon, wtf!).
lack of imagination? They have too much of it (a "magic" super weapon, wtf!).
#17
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:10
Kilshrek
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Maybe aliens just don't have the concept of welfare, and don't encourage their citizens to breed unnecessarily.
#18
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:12
Haasth
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I don't see how, if they were wrong, this has anything to do with imagination.
It isn't very hard to imagine, statistically, that a planet has a couple of million extra inhabitants.
If anything it'd be a lack of perspective.
It isn't very hard to imagine, statistically, that a planet has a couple of million extra inhabitants.
If anything it'd be a lack of perspective.
#19
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:14
Bleachrude
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Haasth wrote...
I don't see how, if they were wrong, this has anything to do with imagination.
It isn't very hard to imagine, statistically, that a planet has a couple of million extra inhabitants.
If anything it'd be a lack of perspective.
Again, there is nothing wrong with the citadel or illium IMO in terms of population numbers..Indeed, the citadel frankly has TOO many people (didn't count the Presidium ring for area but that's supposed to be low density are restricted manily to diplomats)
#20
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:17
ReveurIngenu
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I also didn't want to say anything about it because my first post was already long enough, but I just find it absurd that there are no solar systems that have as many if not more planets than ours. All the solar systems we can visit only have like, 3 or 4 planets on average. The most I've seen has to be 6 or maybe 7. I don't think it would be absurd to imagine a solar system with more planets than that.
And it just goes to back up my opinion that Bioware couldn't imagine anything bigger than what we currently have or know. Our solar system has 8 planets and Bioware couldn't imagine a solar system existing with more than 8 planets. And they couldn't imagine a world with more people than ours, thus Earth is the most populous.
I can understand that with space technology, the aliens spread out. But you should still see very populous mega cities. It's just like our planet. I remember reading that populations are getting more and more concentrated as migrants from the countryside move to the cities (phenomenon happining in Asia, especially China).
Here's a very interesting article about world population living in urban areas: http://www.gizmag.com/go/7613/
I am not convinced that populations will thin out with space travel.
And it just goes to back up my opinion that Bioware couldn't imagine anything bigger than what we currently have or know. Our solar system has 8 planets and Bioware couldn't imagine a solar system existing with more than 8 planets. And they couldn't imagine a world with more people than ours, thus Earth is the most populous.
I can understand that with space technology, the aliens spread out. But you should still see very populous mega cities. It's just like our planet. I remember reading that populations are getting more and more concentrated as migrants from the countryside move to the cities (phenomenon happining in Asia, especially China).
Here's a very interesting article about world population living in urban areas: http://www.gizmag.com/go/7613/
I am not convinced that populations will thin out with space travel.
Modifié par ReveurIngenu, 08 février 2012 - 05:19 .
#21
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:20
Heraxion
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ReveurIngenu wrote...
I can understand that with space technology, the aliens spread out. But you should still see very populous mega cities. It's just like our planet. I remember reading that populations are getting more and more concentrated as migrants from the countryside move to the cities (phenomenon happining in Asia, especially China).
Part of the reason we haven't seen any of this is that ME1 and ME2 have taken place ( apart from the Citadel) in the lawless, unexplored and unsettled parts of the galaxy ( Attican Traverse in ME1 and Terminus Systems in ME2)
Expect to see more populated planets in ME3 when we are going to the different species homeworlds.
#22
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:22
Pattonesque
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If a fictional universe doesn't conform exactly to my personal dictates, the people who made it lack imagination and are trash.
#23
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:22
Someone With Mass
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I'm pretty sure that building interstellar utopias takes a little more than thirty years. Unless you're talking about the aliens. In that case, they already have that.
The most likely reason to why there aren't any huge populations like Earth's on planets is probably because they'll just locate a new planet if their current one becomes a little crowded.
Not to mention that we haven't gone to a single alien homeworld yet. It's on Thessia where the billions of asari lives. Same with Palaven and the turians.
The most likely reason to why there aren't any huge populations like Earth's on planets is probably because they'll just locate a new planet if their current one becomes a little crowded.
Not to mention that we haven't gone to a single alien homeworld yet. It's on Thessia where the billions of asari lives. Same with Palaven and the turians.
#24
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:22
Wulfram
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Heraxion wrote...
Earth is described as an "overpopulated slum" by the other species in ME, so i think it's safe to assume that Earth is the planet with the most inhabitants in the galaxy.
I think it's considered a slum because it's polluted and still has a lot of run down old fashioned housing. Lots of people still live in traditional housing rather than the modern arcology skyscrapers which mass effect technology allows.
#25
Posté 08 février 2012 - 05:24
Bleachrude
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ReveurIngenu wrote...
Here's a very interesting article about world population living in urban areas: http://www.gizmag.com/go/7613/
I am not convinced that populations will thin out with space travel.
Um, did you totally ignore my post where I pointed out that by the numbers, the citadel has a pop density 4 times as high as Manila, the densest city on Earth?
