Rifts - do they stop or go away?

[JayNic]

So these rift things... (I assume are what that annoying message is that keeps saying "strange subspace signals")

 

We have a dedicated server, and these things are just eating up the starting region... And they move fast. Seemingly faster than in single player.

 

Can you mitigate them? Do they eventually fade in a given area, or do they just consume the whole map until there's nothing left? Can we disable them for the dedicated server?

[Tiberiumkyle]

Those signals are alien ships on approach, you will always get them, short of modding them out.

[Snoweh]

As Tiberium said, Those messages are a warning that alien ships are on the approach. So you can use them to plan things out and be on your toes (conversely, pirates just show up whenever they want, how rude).

 

The rifts however, as far as I know, don't actually grow, it just seems like that, because they're only revealed once they enter your jump distance, or was it your scanner distance?

 

Then again, I remember a post somewhere, where someone thought that they were smart, and actually tried to trap you. I'm a bit skeptical about that though. In any case, they've never moved for me.

 

So no, as far as I know, there's no mitigating them, and they don't fade. However they don't grow as far as I can tell either, and you can sometimes find warpgates and wormholes that jump right over them. So it's not all bad.

[MrVorgra]

In rare cases where for some unknown reason your Game seed changes by a little bit and they can move a little bit, but they are not coded to actively move and relocate.

[JayNic]

Thanks guys... You're right, Snoweh: it looks like they don't move. It feels like they do because I guess they get revealed as you get closer... still... watching those buggers close...

 

And I had not made the connection between subspace signals and aliens... man those aliens are more of a nuisance than anything... I'm going to look in to modding down their frequency

[Canute]

You shouldn't turn them off.

Since they are "weaker" or easyer to destroy/salvage then regular faction ships you should use them to gather resources and modules, special later when you are at the core.

 

To bad you can't use them to gain faction like pirates.

 

[MetalX]

I can say for absolute certain that rifts in space DO definitely grow, consuming the galaxy.  Of that there is absolutely zero question or argument.  I have had quite a few systems now that have been consumed by rifts.  I even have a wormhole entrance/exit I once used frequently that got consumed by the rift.  And there are no less than two factions have their prime sectors now that have been consumed as well, I mark each one with a note as I discover each faction.

 

It may not have been a big deal, really, because I can work around it, expanding my hyperdrive jump reach.  But, uh, I got to thinking, will it ever stop?  That is the only question here at this point.  Does it stop?  Or will it grow to consume the entire galaxy?  ANd I have actually only been playing this particular save for 2 days now.  I am trying to imagine what it will look like a month from now with regular daily long term play...  Could our galaxies have finite lifespans?