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[Discussion] Galactic Geography

I took a look at the wiki article and this compels me to point out something:

We really should resist the urge to create new species whom are litterally on a different galactic arm, like the note for the Kuvexians say. We ought to expand to the neighboring squares, with 1-2 squares away on the grid being really really darn far away.

In fact, I was thinking it might be a good idea to have a zoom-in view of Arm 6, with a 5-to-10 square radius around the Kikyo sector. That much distance is already unprecedented.

We have a chance to build up our setting in a way we've never been able to before... but let's build it up with tiny steps at a time. If you leap that far away, @Wes it creates a precedent we then can't undo.
 
I agree with this. We should still keep our focus in and around the Kikyo Sector because we need factions to actually have a reason to interact with each other. People creating random remote sandboxes for themselves is not really helpful to the SARP.
 
I think I've managed to set up a Dropbox so I can send you a link to the original .psd file Wes; just need you to pm your e-mail I can send the link to it, or else I need a username on Dropbox.com .
 
@Khasidel Is it possible to get a very zoomed-in version of the map - like a 9 x 9 grid - with the Kikyo sector in the middle?

@Wes we could use this as a 5-sector radius sandbox to start with in our forays beyond the Kikyo sector.
 
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I could probably make something like that given some time (you'd probably have to wait until sunday/monday for me to have enough free time to put it together), as I'd have to make it from scratch using similar techniques to what I did for the galaxy. It would still work, as such a map would be depicting an area with roughly 3-4 million stars inside it (assuming comparable star density to the area around Sol).

Given the Kikyo sector is about ~250 x 250 LY, the map you're suggesting would probably represent an area around ~750-1,000 LY in diameter. About the size of the old, defunct clustered map (if I'm remembering correctly).
 
Represent, yes, but I don't think it needs to be hugely enormous either. In my eyes, it'd be more like a reference sheet.

As I see it, ideally, it should fit within a webpage at native resolution without the need to expand/zoom it up.
 
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^ Correction, for some reason I read Fred's post as me creating a 3 x 3 sector map, not a 9 x 9, which makes my math hella wrong.

Still doable though.
 
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Edto Xar'Sivaree said:
"Blah blah new sector maps..." That way, we could possibly replicate the style to maintain consistency.
Click to expand...

Once finished with Kikyo, perhaps you could share a standardized map overlay .psd so that future creators could slap it over a cool space background and put their own dots/markers on it. Maybe even with a section that has standardized system markers, too. Only suggesting if it's a simple thing to do, though!
 
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I for one would love a standard map overlay. I've been avoiding making my own grid system because it seems tedious. Having a 'sarp approved' grid system look would do wonders for the setting long term.
 
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What if we recycled the grid from either this map or one of the old clustered maps? Then there would be a standard layer that submitters would just plug their nebula and stars into.
 

https://postimg.org/image/9otgxt63h/
(Use hyperlink and click on image to get a zoom-in view)

Anywhosit; this is my first attempt at what I'm presently nicknaming my nonasector (as in nine by nine sectors) starmap. What do you reckon guys? Will this work? It's depicting an area 2250 x 2250 LY; each of the larger grid squares is a 250 x 250 LY 'sector' like the Kikyo sector, further subdivided into 10 x 10 lightyear paler grid squares to help readers better determine distances.

I've chosen only to add homeworlds/empire capitals to the map to avoid over saturating the map with impossible-to-read labels. I've also tentatively titled what is essentially the Astral Cluster in this map the Iroma sector, but it can be renamed Astral Cluster if nessersary... though I kinda think making an area with likely tens of thousands of stars a mere 'cluster' is a little odd, but meh

I've also chosen to make the nebula further from Kikyo a little more Spartan and realistic in their sizes and distances from one another -- making the area in and immediately around the Kikyo sector the only 'odd' area, but which might be explained away at some point with some future plot device.

... now, to drop dead. *immediately keels over and starts snoring loudly*
 
RIP.

Looks good. Time to claim the entire east side and represent.

#BroltLivesMatter
 
That looks absolutely fantastic, Khasidel

Just for reference, it would take the Plumeria-class Y.S.S. Eucharis 1.5 days (37.5 hours) to go across that nonasector map at top speed, from one side to the other.
 
Great work, my dude! To note: the Astral Cluster or Astral Sector, as we should probably generically call it, was always supposed to be itself larger than the Kikyo Sector. Doesn't really change anything, since the map likely represents Yamataian/"Core" cartography. So maybe their nebula should be a little bigger; idk, I'm sure you've already accounted for scaling based on the available info.


This actually makes sense without a plot device. A nebula-dense area of space has more of the building blocks of life!
 
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