ORIGINAL: ParagonExile
Hope it turns out well!
], 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.
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
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
ORIGINAL: ParagonExile
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
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.
ORIGINAL: Osito
Unfortunatelty, there's another problem: if you create the empires in the correct position, and give them a prewarp start, the amount of starting caslon at their homeworld is insufficient to get to another star system, unless you manage the caslon resource very carefully. You have to have a caslon source in your home system, and you have to prioritise mining it. Most often, the AI fails to do this and is stranded.
ORIGINAL: Solarius Scorch
Can't they just order caslon to be delivered by smuggling? I don't know how the AI handles this.
ORIGINAL: feygan
While it is good that you have managed to at least get some form of workaround, it is tragic that it is simply a band aid to what sounds like a major problem. The more I look over the modding forums the more issues I can see with just how bad DW is at being modded. I can understand that perhaps the original game simply wasn't built with modding in mind and just doesn't allow for it. But to put out grand statements of how open the DWU expansion is and then actually put out a product the contradicts that statement can only be doing long term harm to DW.
ORIGINAL: Hannable
I know this is kind of a minor issue, but I also think that the game should include blue giants and supergiants (Vega, Rigel, Deneb) as well as white main sequence stars (Sirius). There seems to be only red, yellow, and orange at the moment. The only white stars are the neutron stars and white dwarves.
If you're going through the fuss and bother of getting the real-life star color correct, it's all for naught, really, without the blue and white colors.
