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[Discussion] Galactic Geography

Hey, it's not just my opinion that counts. If I'm just a minority and that others find it better, you don't have to give up on it.

For all I know, I'm just being conservative, as I had time to get used to the previous one and "find it nice" and the replacement comes as a "don't fix it if it's not broken" kind of surprise on my part.

Just wait for more people to comment :)
 
Maybe there's some way to strike a balance between the two. I agree the first one looks nice because of how neatly/clearly segmented it feels. Maybe if you threw a bunch of dividing lines and labels on the second map it would look better. It does look more like what a galaxy would like to me based on what I've seen in less than scholarly media but it feels too zoomed out to appreciate what each different area would look like. If you made the map even larger so the segments stood out more you could keep the design and improve the image. I think the lack of the same amount of labels and lines might throw people off when comparing.

To me as things are now the second one feels like a telescope image while the first feels like a practical video game map.
 
Here's another version of the map, redone in 5000x5000 pixel absurd-resolution with the individual areas of the spiral arms marked out.

The grid scale is different from the previous maps due to the change in resolution. I also lightened the colour of the stars so it wasn't quite so bright.

as32.postimg.org_dwrmrjsrp_Absurdres_Kagami_Map.jpg

https://postimg.org/image/kzzi75y75/
 
It looks nice to me. I like how your labels on the first map like "Edge of Reason" reminded me of Exalted and Sunless Sea.
I must confess I was using my phone and didn't view your postimage versions of each of the maps when I suggested. I think it still may have benefited a bit from the increase in size though.
 
In my humble opinion, I think this version is worse. Now what I see are sparkly intestines. I definitely don't think the contours as presented are an improvement. o_O

But don't despair Khasidel. See? Other people like it. I just think you had it right the first time.
 
I'd go with the first one because I can't say this one is really better. I-I just want to be supportive.:eek:

Which one do you like more @Doshii Jun the first one or either of the other ones?
 
The first one is a better looking galaxy, imo, because normal spirals are nicer than barred spirals. The new colors look great, though! Region-wise, the new one looks better as we start off. Maybe a bit of mixture of the two map overlays, with more regions to name around Kikyo.

There's also the Astral Cluster that you could slap on there somewhere.
 
So...I think there's a general consensus to move forward with this. We just need to pick the galaxy and figure out labeling.

Do you guys want to do a vote on the two galaxies? Is that okay with you, @Khasidel ?
 
That's fine :)

Once we've got a general idea which version most people like best (Though it seemed as though folks were leaning toward the first one anyways :p) and what to label everything, I'll finalize the image and put it up for submission to the setting.
 
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So...this one won the poll. Now we just need to figure out how to implement it. I guess the first step is making a wiki page for it.

Is everyone (or most of us, lol), okay with the name Kagami Galaxy? It seems good to me.
 
An absurd-resolution version at 2482 x 2482 pixels is available here:

https://postimg.org/image/9bh943b4n/

Just mouse-click on the image and a full-sized version should load.

I went through the wiki article you've thrown together so far -- it looks good :)

However, it contradicts some of the details written on the map already (mainly the scale, as the larger grid squares are currently written as depicting a 10,000 x 10,000 LY area. That would give it a diameter of about 320,000 LY not the 1,240,000 LY you have listed. The little red sector square indicating the Kikyo sector is also scaled for how big it should be at a 320,000 diameter galaxy scale.

The whole Arm 01 through to Arm 09 were also only meant as placeholder names to be replaced with something more catchy, but given that each race would likely have their own unique designations for those galactic features (and for the galaxy as a whole as well), it might be okay to leave it as is.
 
Wikipedia says the average size of a galaxy is 1,000,000 LY IIRC, and I couldn't read the scale so I went with the numbers I put on the wiki page making my best guess. Is there a way you can update it to more closely match the details on the wiki page? I would be okay with the squares being a more "round" number like 50k instead of 40k too.

Edit: Alternatively if you give me a layered file I can cobble an edit together myself
 
I can change it if that's what you prefer. Though that is going to make our galaxy positively gigantic -- our little milky way galaxy has only a diameter of perhaps 100k LY in comparison, LOL. Give me a bit and i'll have a link for an altered version of the map.
 
50k squares (there's 31 across, right) would come out to 1,550,000 LY across, or about 50% larger than the milky way. That sounds acceptable to me. It would put the Kuvexians around 69 days away from Yamatai in terms of 2.5 LY/minute travel time of a Plumeria-class gunship, which is actually great. The "small universe" issue with starship fights/starship speeds in SARP will be vastly improved. It will create a need for the Kuvexian War factions to actually claim and hold territory in the middle.
 
:) Actually, given those dimensions it would make the Kagami galaxy about 1000x larger than the Milky Way in terms of volume, not merely 50%... but anywhosit:

https://postimg.org/image/qh3ywzu31/

This version has the grid scale altered to 50k, so it would make it 1,550,000 LY like you mentioned above. :D Click on the image to full-view it.

Don't know how I'd go about sending you a copy of the original layered image file -- even compressed into a WinRAR file its 150 megabytes in size ^_^; .
 
Maybe a Dropbox link?

I'll check out the new version and update the wiki page when I get home, Looks like we got ourselves a nice shiny new galaxy!

Thank you Khasidel for making the art and getting this discussion started. You've really helped grow the Star Army universe in a major way and this will be something we can use forever.
 
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