(Excerpts from 'Stellar evolution? Future possibility?' thread)
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When thinking of the star map in 'Distant Worlds' and it's units, such as stars, consider that a galaxy consists of billions of stars. In games like this portraying a galaxy each star system represented is likely abstracted to represent an average, or the best, of millions of stars in it's vicinity.
Thus, for example, a supervova that might happen like every 50 years in real life would be FAR less likely in game...almost to the point of not needing to include supervovas in game or to have it super extremley rare.
I would except supernovas as super extremely rare in game. I won't try to come up with a ratio number chance for them happening in game.
Of course the time scale in these sorts of games that lead to one master civilization of a galaxy can easily reach tens or hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years...or even alot longer (heh), in lore/story time(thus game time can flow accordingly in the game or your imagination). Yet, in a lore setting(and real life) there are billions(maybe 200 to 400 billion)of stars in a galaxy. Look at the game map. There are NOT billions of stars there. Thus, using the supernovas example, there should NOT be supernovas every like 50 years of game time. Supernovas should be like extremely rare, or never, in the game...unless an update adds billions more playable star systems to the game.
These sorts of games are abundant in ABSTRACTIONS. Cosider also that each planetary structure built represents not one but many across the planet. Maybe also that each ship represents many, depending on the flow of time and the time it takes to build one...unless you want to imagine each ship as super massive, tens of kilometers(miles) to hundreds of kilometers(miles) long. That is how I imagine them. That's how some science fiction does also.
Abstractions...like in a Civilization 4 game a soldier unit might equal 1000 people, a tank or plane unit might equal 100, a water ship unit might equal 10...or 1, depending on the game flow of time and how long it takes to build one.
Abstractions. There are not biliions of stars on the game map like in a real galaxy. Each game star is abstracted to represent (maybe the average of, or best of) tens of millions of stars, maybe representing up to around 100 million stars each in game.
Another thought: These sorts of games with units of population are abstracted to also. A unit of population might equal 1 million, 100 million, 1 billion etcetera...depending on a population centers capacity and your imagination. Although some games may specify the amount a unit of population represents.
Thus, transports and colonization ships carrying several units of population are carrying the corresponding quantity.
In relation to the game stars and real stars in a galaxy; a person can die on a planet(of varying reason in life)but that does not mean a whole unit of the game's population dies.
Thus, a star can go supernova but that does not mean that a whole unit of the game's stars dies.
Game abstractions to me:
One population unit does not equal just one person.
To me, one star unit does not equal just one star.
To me, one structure unit on a planet does not equal just one structure on the entire planet. The unit would more like represent various structures spread across the various areas of the surface.
In other 4Ex games, like Civilization 4, one soldier unit or tank unit does not equal one soldier or tank. Instead those units would equal like 1000 soldiers and 100 tanks.
Those are just my way of thinking of these sorts of games.
Wade, are you retired?
