EVE consists of over 5,000 solar systems, and we needed a way to quickly create those systems via simulation. We decided to go with what's called the disc accretion model. Think of it like you put a bunch of dust into space and you spin it around.
The dust settles in space in a couple of particular places based on an equation, that dictates the gravity and decides how the planets form. It's a great, scientific way of putting them together and to make Solar Systems for EVE only takes a little more than 24 hours. We realized when we were making them that the whole thing, all of the Solar Systems, is created from a single seed, a single number. We realized this after the cooking had already started on the systems, and we were sad. Because we wanted the seed to be "42".
We had the time, so we actually threw out the database that had already been created and restarted it with that seed. So the entire universe of EVE originates from the number "42."
CCP CTO Halldor Fannar Guđjónsson
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