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Osito -> RE: GSP: Galactic Starmap Project (7/1/2014 11:46:09 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ParagonExile
quote:
ORIGINAL: Osito
As far as I know, it is not possible to edit the nebulas. In fact, I created the map around a particular set of nebulas, then I found that whenever you load the map into a new customised game (as opposed to loading the map as a scenario from the /maps folder), it resets the position of all the nebulas. So all my work setting the stars around the nebulas was for nothing. I have asked Matrix to look at this in several different posts, but I have never seen any official response from them. I expect they have taken it on board, but as far as I know I am almost the only person pressing for changes to the editing functions, so I expect I'm a long way down the list.
I would have liked to have done a local map with everything in the right direction and distance, but what set me against it was: (1) my OP promised the 'galaxy', and I thought I should aim to deliver what I had originally promised; (2) even a local space map makes heavy compromises.
Let me give you an example regarding point (2): if you do a 2D map with all stars projected onto the galactic plane, Tau Ceti (11.9 light years from Sol) and Beta Comae Berenices (30 light years from Sol) both come out closer than Alpha Centauri (4.4 light years from Sol). If instead, you extend the distance of these stars from Sol so that they are the correct distance relative to Alpha Centauri, then you end up making stars adjacent to each other on the 2D map, even though, in reality, the stars might be hundreds of light years apart - Alpha Fornacis and Delta Leonis would appear almost adjacent on the 2D map, but they are around 100 light years apart in reality, because one is above the galactic plane and the other below.
Thus, even a local map cannot give you a playing space which is in any sense an accurate map of the nearby stars. In the end, whatever approach I took was going to involve compromises, and I preferred the idea of playing on a 'galactic' scale rather than a local one, especially as the edge of the galaxy is (for me at least) a more convincing explanation for having a border to the game.
Another point is that having a whole galaxy provides a more diverse galaxy. In a local space of, say, 1000 light year radius from Sol, there are no known black holes. So, if I wanted any black holes I would need to invent them. No neutron stars either, so I would have to have invented them too. Also, the stars would have been spread rather homogeneously around the playing area in local space. On the other hand, a whole galaxy allows you to have the stars concentrated in spirals [yes, I know that's not realistic, but it 'looks' more realistic :)], and to have a heavy concentration of stars (including black holes) in the centre. I even had space to throw in a couple of 'globular clusters' some distance from the main part of the galaxy.
I'd still like to do a local space map some time, but I'd rather wait to see whether Matrix will improve the editor before doing it. I really have felt that I was fighting the editing tools at every stage of the process, and then when I had finally completed it to find that I couldn't even set up a pre-warp scenario was a bit of a blow.
Osito
PS It was also a bit of a blow that the server timed me out just as I was making this post for the first time :-(
You'd save yourself a lot of trouble by just taking into consideration absolute distance from Sol and general heading. Rule #1 of strategy gaming; don't make your job harder than it has to be :)
We're not astronomers or stellar cartographers, we're dumb; we'll see the local stars and our mouths will go agape.
Ok, well in my 'galactic map' the heading is correct for all 'real stars' in the galactic plane, and the distance is relatively correct (thought a but fudged). Anyway, I should have an upload within a few days. so everyone can form their own view, and amend the base map if they wish. :)
Osito
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