Nebulae in New Eden are currently the quietly repetitive backdrop to all we do in New Eden. I never paid much attention to them as I always felt their presence was unrealistic, and poorly executed. Their randomness appeared to have no relation at all to the area of space one was viewing from and even though your ship could be the opposite side of the known galaxy, the backdrop to space was always the same tired collection of blue, green or red dusty wallpapers. Indeed the development team forged these images from clouds of ink within a murky fluid a decade ago.
But there is hope; nebulae will now become a useful tool of location recognition. During the video shown Ben Bohn explains how they will be located between systems, and if you travel further toward a nebula by jumping systems; its appearance will alter depending on the distance from the nebula you are. And it's not limited to one nebula either; by layering multiple nebulae from several locations in the constellation, each time you move around the star-map the size and angle of the nebulae will alter again, dependant on the location of your viewing.
But there is hope; nebulae will now become a useful tool of location recognition. During the video shown Ben Bohn explains how they will be located between systems, and if you travel further toward a nebula by jumping systems; its appearance will alter depending on the distance from the nebula you are. And it's not limited to one nebula either; by layering multiple nebulae from several locations in the constellation, each time you move around the star-map the size and angle of the nebulae will alter again, dependant on the location of your viewing.
This new technology will enable New Eden's backdrops to appear unique in every system injecting some much needed variation to the star littered backgrounds. Local knowledge will play a key role in knowing exactly where you are in the constellations simply by looking at the nebulae surrounding the views, more so than simply the name of the system; a direct comparison with the view will grant an unparalleled understanding of the geography of each constellation.
I expect this will allow exploration to be a little more of a discovery; each new backdrop unique to it's host system. Perhaps CCP can go a step further and allow the exploration of the interior regions of nebulae; possible lawless pockets within the Empires harbouring great bounties of some kind to lure in potential prey - well, that's something I want for my own sake, for pure pew pew.
It's a feature I'm sure will go a long to way to making each system more than a collection of planets surrounding a solitary star. But I'm unsure how this would work at the edges of the galaxy and whether the same idea can work within a wormhole; the latter proposition possibly allowing the puzzle of positioning the wormhole pocket amongst the catalogue of known nebulae in the galaxy. Only time will tell I guess...
(I had the same idea a few years ago, but I always figured it too petty a problem to post. I hate hindsight...!)
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