I'm fully aware that if they don't add any ways to get in touch with friends one way or another, it'll be ridiculously unlikely to happen. However I think there will be some ways to do it, and that's where the fault in your argument lies. Not to mention, if you *really* wanted to meet up with a friend, you could just make sure you go to the center of the galaxy at the same time (Say, at 12 o clock tomorrow?). Sure it might take 200 hours to meet up, but that way you'd be guaranteed to meet up eventually.

You're making it sound like it's basically impossible to meet someone else in the game, but that is clearly not the case.

Ok, that is great and all, but I feel like you don't understand what I am telling you.  Every player will be heading towards the same destination.  As players go in that direction, they will start encountering more and more players.  

now imagine if they start each player about the same distance away from the center.  As players progress towards the center from every angle they would make a sort of sphere.  As they get closer and closer to the center that sphere gets smaller and smaller.  Now, even though the universe is gigantic, most the players will be operating in this much smaller sphere of the universe towards the center, does that make sense to you?

Well it seems like there is obviously a way. In the recent IGN video on the economics of the game, they said that you can find a planet that a player has already reached and gather resources. They also implied that trading outposts will be frequently used.

That number of planets is just a pointless gimmick... Something they can put on the cover to impress but won't enhance your experience.

I had thought that everyone starts in a similar region and travel is limited initially by engines you have to upgrade, but I could be wrong. That report discovery feature could help as well.

I certainly plan on getting this game but I still fear it will grow stale quickly. Scale has never been a substitute for gameplay, and the gameplay has looked somewhat weak so far.

I think that as a philosophically compelling feel all of its own. But I am also sure the game will have ways of making sure you can identify plants that are "inhabited" by players and not just AI bots. I should think only a small number of planets (a few thousand perhaps) will start out with AI controlled meeting points like trading posts and space ports.

I also hope the game is designed a bit like how the universe actually appears in terms of presence of complex life, i.e. that planets where life exists beyond the micro-level are very few and far between, and that in any given galaxy there might only be a few 100K planets with complex life.

It will be interesting to see how many tangibly different planets there will be to visit. Given its procedurally generated, the big numbers are all marketing fluff.

The real question is, have they built enough unique assets to feel like you're doing different things for most of the 40+ hours they claim it will take you to reach the centre?

Here's hoping!

This is fundamentally wrong because there happens to be a pont where EVERYONE can aim to go... the center.  So basically as players gradually get closer to the center, the chances of meeting others goes up dramatically.  So if you want to meet someone, just head for the center of the Galaxy.  Problem solved :)

One assumes that they number of planets are equal to the number of possible combinations.   And sense there is no tangible way of visiting even 1 percent of the planets in a life time, you will probably get more than enough variety.  Oh and don't forget you can play the WHOLE game without landing on a single world.... but I assume that would get boring for me really quick

What role would you like to play in this game?

I'm gonna be a lore hunter.  Apparently, there is a lore to the game involving an ancient race.  I will be hunting them down. 

I like the sound of the economy, so probably a trader. Sort of depends when it releases though - if its up against other games I want to play it might have to wait a bit.

I compare it to something like Mass Effect.

The first Mass Effect had a series of cookie cutter environments. Seen 5, seen them all. But it had a strong story to compensate that NMS won't have.

By Mass Effect 3 they had cleared up the problem, but only by removing a lot of the random encounter planets. They did less better, instead of more worse.

By procedurally generating the universe, one assumes they will produce a set number of assets, that can then be reproduced/sorted/arranged in a near-enough to limitless set of configurations. But though that may technically be true, if they only produce enough assets so that you can visit say, 20-30 planets before starting to see substantial repetition, it could get old fast.

Wow, the game will be massive! :O But I'm sure most of them are very similar and some will be almost identical.