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After mentioning it on these forums a while ago, I have finally completed my project of a "Thousand Stars Map".

This a top-down view of the local Orion spur area of the Milky Way where the Solar System is located, with the location of 945+ named stars around it. See the description on the map for more information.

The reason I'm posting this here specifically is that I plan to use the map for a Distant Worlds 2 mod focusing on the early expansion of mankind into space. This will ultimately depend on the modabbility of the game, but I could essentially feed the star coordinates and spectral types to the procedural script, or to an existing map file.

Obviously the map can be used for many other things by all hardcore sci-fi folks out there, including roleplay, writing inspiration and, why not, board gaming (though you'd need a pretty big board).

Please share widely! The map is under Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA 4.0 - if you reuse/modify, please cite the source and distribute under the same terms. Commercial use is not allowed without my permission.

UPDATED TO VERSION 1.5!

Very, very cool, Miletkir!

Awesome work!

I'm a bit of a map "enthusiast" myself, and have been doodling them for as long as I can remember. Neat map yourself, I especially enjoy how large the resolution is. You must have a beastly PC to edit an image that large. I couldn't ever make maps as large as yours up until recently, as I built a new computer for myself.

Anyway, I'm rambling haha. Well done. Looking forward to the mod.

That is real cool

So how things coming along with this game? Playing on that huge map, can take weeks or even months, depending on the setup.

isnt 2k the limit for this game?

Thanks Stepan! Your map seems awesome and I'm a hard-science sci-fi fan too [:)]

How did you measure distance though, Proxima Centauri is listed at 1.3 LY? Or is it from end of Oort Cloud (Sol) to beginning of a supposed equivalent in Proxima? Even if that's the case, this is not the usual way of doing, and you anyway travel from inner system to inner system, most of the time.

Or you are listing distance in parsecs?

Bloody awesome work lad! I've always been wanting something like this for a 4X game, a realistic representation of the local stars around sol in a 2D layout.

Thanks guys, may this propel new space adventures!

ORIGINAL: Galaxy227

You must have a beastly PC to edit an image that large. I couldn't ever make maps as large as yours up until recently, as I built a new computer for myself.

Actually, it's more of a software limitation. I've always preferred Inkscape to Illustrator for this kind of things, but the program is struggling with big files. The base diagram itself was done with yED, which on the other hand is designed to handle complex data.

ORIGINAL: Rising-Sun

isnt 2k the limit for this game?

Which is why this map would fit perfectly [:)]

ORIGINAL: Pocus

How did you measure distance though, Proxima Centauri is listed at 1.3 LY? Or is it from end of Oort Cloud (Sol) to beginning of a supposed equivalent in Proxima? Even if that's the case, this is not the usual way of doing, and you anyway travel from inner system to inner system, most of the time.

Or you are listing distance in parsecs?

Indeed... distances are in parsecs! Somehow my mind had switched to light-years some time ago, but the original HYG has parsecs data. Thanks for catching this! The map has been updated (along with some other corrections and graphical improvements).

Wow, this is fantastic. Thank you for sharing.

Now you have a star chart, you just need a star ship !
Then you can verify that your start chart is accurate.

ORIGINAL: Canute0

Now you have a star chart, you just need a star ship !
Then you can verify that your start chart is accurate.

Yeah... I might need help with that [:D]

The map just got its 1.5 update featuring nebulae, supernovae, star clusters, pulsars, and systems with confirmed Earth-like planets within their habitable zones!

This is quite impressive. Humanity's 'Reach for the Stars' epoch. I definitely will want to dive into this sandbox![8D]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Very, very cool, Miletkir!

Please give that guy a beta key, so he could start testing

THX

Just needs the "You are Here" arrow.[:)]

Interesting! Well done, and thank you!

Am curious to know what choices or reasons are behind the chosen lines and 'connecting' distances.

ORIGINAL: arvcran2
Am curious to know what choices or reasons are behind the chosen lines and 'connecting' distances.

Good question. The base pattern is that a star is connected to its three nearest neighbors. However:
- A great deal of lines and distances have been culled to avoid overlaps and make the map clearly readable;
- Designated "potentially habitable" star systems are also linked specifically to nearest habitable systems, depending on max distance and map space;
- A few recent manually added systems have been linked instead to systems nearest to them graphically.
Overall, the purpose of the distance layout is to add a layer of analytical information to the limited 2D and deformed edges of the map. For the purpose of galaxy generation in the planned DW2 mod, only the graphical representation would be used.

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Nice work!