After the launch of "Starfield", Todd Howard, the boss of the B Society, said that the game had undergone a "complete nerf" before its release, and that the original game had to be more dangerous in space and planetary exploration. At the moment a fan has allegedly spotted an early version of the game's star map, showing what might otherwise be a more punishing difficulty of the game.
According to Reddit forum user Redsaltyborger, this "early map" is not officially published and may not be true. However, it looks very similar to the star map in the game, and contains some features that were cut from the final game.
A highlight in the map is the "Hazards" list on the far right. In the list, "solar radiation" can cause "minor hull damage", while "micrometeoroids" can cause "catastrophic emergency stops". Above these "hazards" are fuel consumption, which can mean that the player may be exposed to additional dangers if they run out of fuel.
Todd had previously stated in 2022 that the player's ship would run out of fuel, causing the game process to come to a complete halt. "It's too punitive for players...... You just want to get back to what you're doing, so we've recently changed it, your ship and the fuel in your ship and the gravity engine limits how far you can go at a time, but it doesn't run out of fuel. ”
To the left of the "Hazards" list, the map also has a filter that allows you to select three filter options: "Galaxy", "Planet", and "Economy". The "Economy" option may show a map of the trade network that does not currently exist in the game. In addition, each galaxy in the map has a short description, which seems to hint at what might happen to the player in these places.