So I've been watching more and more videos just brushing up on game mechanics. One questions does come to mind. Do we know if the universe is persistent (as in housed on a server somewhere), or local to the console/PC it's being played on? I ask because it seems that may have fluctuated a time or two during development.
This also opens up another question, being that planets are randomly generated, is every single detail about the planet saved, or only certain values such as type/weather/life/etc.? So if someone, somehow, manages to visit a planet I've been too, will they see the same mountain range I did? Or mountainous terrain that re-generated upon them landing?
And finally, if every aspect of the planet isn't saved and only things like location/type/etc. are, then are there really going to be 18 quintillion *unique* planets, or just 18 quintillion possible *combinations* of planets?