I based that on some actual data colected by NASA scientists.  Granted, they are limiting that to stars like the sun, or one class hotter/cooler, but based on measured data, they feel like the math works out. 

Whcih honestly dovetails with the star trek idea of so many poipulated worlds. 

I don't take any issue with the number/frequency of the life-beaing planets (or the math behind their existence), at all. I was just surprised that it's as high as it is, and, of course, it makes perfect sense given the setting.

Quick question regarding gameplay... will each player get to choose their own "starting system" or will they be assigned at random?

I'm figuring that we allow 4-8 players to begin with.  Down the road, we could force whatever amount, expand the map, whatever.  This is just a starting point.

You sign up, pick a species (I fully intend to have more than humans, though for the time being, I'm not going to focus on races).  The map is then quasi-randomly generated.  I say "quasi", as each player will be ensured a solid M class planet for their home system; it wouldn't be fair to start with a desert or glaciated world if others get a lush Earth.  From there, locations are random, planet types and counts are random, etc... though it occurs to me that I may want to look into forcing a spread of planets per area of the map. 

Or not?

The driving idea that I have is that each game should play out uniquely - I don't want people scrambling for given systems, knowing that they have the best resources, are closest to a given wormhole or nexus, etc. 

I'm putting together a huge list of star names, which will be shuffled to further ensure that each game feels unique. 

As of right now, I have named a little over 200 stars... and have gotten almost through letter G of the alphabet. 

Gonna stop here for testing.  I can name as I go.

Been learning a lot about astronomy in a the pursuit of making believable star systems.

I can now calculate the gravity of a planet!

The trick is calculating the gravitational pull of my belly!

This is really cool... but where are the posts you promised us? 

Touche.