You might have noticed that there are a few planets nearby, but none further out…
where are all the planets???
The white cursor/crosshair shows where you are currently exploring the map. This is an important part of Dark Forest. By default, the explorer will search in a square, centered on your home planet. However, this can be changed by using the ‘~’ key. Press this, and select a new part of the map!
I chose a little bit to the left of my planets, however you can choose to explore anywhere within the universe - what wonders might await at the center?
You may have noticed the toolbar at the bottom left. This is the explorer toolbar.
This allows you to select how many of your computers cores are used to explore the map, and there are even options for how you want it to explore, other than a square. You can also pause the explorer if you need to actually do some work on your computer…
This is, however, out of scope for this guide. Though I encourage you to ‘explore’ the possibilities of this if you are enjoying the game!
If you are a part of a group playing the game together, you can also share your map. This can be done in two ways.
There are risks involved - someone may send you a fake map! Make sure you trust the person sharing the map with you. Also, be warned that large maps can take a loooong time to load in after they are imported.
This plugin offers better functionality, and can improve load times by allowing you to share only planets above a certain level (there are a lot more lower level planets than high level planets).
Hopefully now you will have been able to capture a couple more planets (or maybe even some other types of celestial bodies!) that you have discovered in the fog of war. You are well on your way to conquering the universe!