tm.asp?m=3656168
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I personally prefer to play on 'real world' maps rather than random ones, and to that end I have been putting together the data needed to create a galaxy map corresponding to our own Milky Way galaxy. It would probably be more accurate to say that this is a map 'inspired' by the real world, because a good part of it is inevitably speculative.
The tldr for this post is this: I have got to a point where I could go in a number of different directions and I’d like to hear the views of people who would like to play this map (if there are any).
So, if you’re interested in this project, read on! (Believe me, you’ll need to be interested, to plough through all this stuff!)
And if you’re not interested? Just move your hands away from the keyboard and back away from the post
Not necessarily in that order.If no one is interested, then I shall just continue doing my own thing with it.
What’s been done so far?
I have gathered data in respect of all the stars in my ‘Real Star Names’ file (see tm.asp?m=3322531 for the file).
In particular I have gathered the following data: name; size; distance from Sol; spectral class; and direction from Sol.
I have mapped the position of all these stars onto the galactic coordinate system, and have edited 200-300 of them into a DW:U map. The total space will be 15x15 with about 1400 stars, so I still have some way to go. However, the last few hundred systems will be somewhat easier, as they won’t be custom made.
What compromises have been made?
1. As you know, DW is represented in 2D not 3D. I have made the decision that all stars should be positioned at the correct distance from Sol (subject to certain compromises mentioned below), and in the correct direction when mapped on the galactic plane. This inevitably means that some stars will come out much closer in the map than they do in real life, although I have enough stars that I can leave out some, to avoid the worst examples of this problem. So I’ll try not to place two stars adjacent to one another, if they’re actually 10,000 light years apart!
2. The DW:U star types are fairly limited, as there are no yellow, white, orange or blue super giants, and no blue main sequence stars. I have tried to match the spectral class to the DW:U star types as closely as I can. Where there’s a choice, I have gone for getting the colour right, so a yellow giant will be represented in DW:U as a yellow main sequence star, rather than a red giant.
3. Scale is a common problem in DW:U. Most star sizes are limited to a maximum size of 193.0k, while planets can go up to 90.0k, which doesn’t give much scope for star sizes. I have tried to get star sizes relatively correct, but it is not terribly realistic, and there are many stars which are simply stuck with the maximum size.
4. To quote Douglas Adams, “Space is big.” So is the galaxy. On a 15x15 grid, each grid represents a space of about 8000x8000 light years. That means the closest you can place any two stars is about 400 light years apart. It follows that most of the stars in the galaxy won’t be ones you have ever heard of. For example, in my list of real star names, 67% are within 400 light years of Sol and 98% are within 8000 light years. That’s not how I want to play. I want a map in which you can play humans starting at Sol and have a real sense of exploring the surrounding space, then move on to more distant regions and finally the whole galaxy. Therefore I have scaled the galaxy so that distances are not represented linearly. I have had a number of attempts at this, and my latest attempt gives the best feel. It involves these features:
(i) Stars within 100 light years from Sol are arranged within a one sector radius of Sol.
(ii) Stars from 100 to 2500 light years from Sol are arranged within an annulus one to two sectors from Sol.
(iii) Stars over 2500 light years are arranged more than two sectors from Sol.
I’ve found this gives a good playing area for the closer stars while still maintaining the enormous feel of the galaxy as a whole.
What Still Needs to be done?
I still have to add a considerable number of stars to the galaxy and also to add planets. Many of the systems will have personalised planet systems, while for other stars (generally ones that are further away from Sol) I will let the game randomly determine the planetary system in the game editor.
It will be clear from the foregoing that most of the stars over 2,500 light years from Sol do not have a name (or if they do have a name it's something boring like ‘HD 49601’). So I have to decide what to call the remaining stars. This is where I’m particularly open to your views. In particular:
1. Do you have any thoughts on what names I should assign to stars which are distant from Sol (many of which won’t already have a name)?
2. Star Trek Lore can provide some names for perhaps 100-200 star on the other side of the galaxy. Should I do this?
3. Continuing with the Star Trek theme, should I plug closer Star Trek systems into the map? For example, systems like Romulus, Kronos and Cardassia could all be added – they would be positioned roughly 1 sector from Sol.
Congratulations to anyone who has made it this far. Feedback would be welcome.
Finally here are some pics of what I have done so far. The first one is shows the sector containing Sol.
Osito
