New Map Thread

[LordFowl]

Jackboot has asked me to create a general thread to host discussion concerning a potential new Aurora starmap, to replace the old one. I personally believe the old one is objectively flawed, an opinion I hold because I designed it one summer afternoon on a spur of the moment whim, without really consulting any loredevs or doing any research. Returning to the server, I decided to return to my old hobby of inane bullshit and draw a new map. However, Jackboot would like some onions before he himself considers making such a massive retcon.

Current Map:

 

 

 

New Map (Faux nanoUI is still undone, hence all the empty UI space):

 

 

 

So give your opinions. Which map is better? Which map is shit? Is any of this even important?

Edited December 8, 2017 by Guest

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

thnx for the thread.

I am not opposed to the new map, I have just always had a policy that the bigger the retcon the bigger the conversation needs to be.

My primary concerns are the shrinkage (brr it's cold out) diminishing the sense of scale. Human space is mind-bogglingly massive, and everyone has scattershot out in the galaxy with reckless abandon. That's one of the major conceits of humanity, that they managed to expand so quickly and frantically. But such a huge interstellar civilization is literally impossible to govern, so even with a hundred fleets constantly moving between systems they can't cover it all, so a huge blob breaks off and goes in a thousand little ways (the frontier).

Reducing the size to a single arm I think would mean shrinking the scale of everything else, and make it a little harder to understand how a government as overbearing, overreaching, and expansionist as Sol is able to be kept in check by their ambitions being quintuple the size of their abilities.

[Zundy]

I like the new map. It's sleek and it makes more sense.

Personally I think old map fell into the trap of being too large. People seem to not get how far that map covered. The logistics of maintaining that would actually be impossible. Not difficult, impossible. This new map is still very, VERY, V E R Y large, yet manageable in terms of bluespace travel.

There is nothing stopping humans or anyone else from having been in unmapped space this whole time if we so wish it later on.

Also BygoneHero, out super hot ant lore dev says Sedantis is missing. Just FYI.

[Loow]

A few things I see:

Skrell space is "smaller" and "thinner" in this map, as if a lot of Skrellian space exploration was a quest to make first contact with the Humans they would one day meet.

Jargon is even further from Sol, making it feel even stranger that their territory seems to expand mostly in one direction.

Uueoa-Esa is seemingly even further from the frontier worlds they have periodic spats with.

The Frontier Union has real estate quite a bit away from Anklan. Don't get me wrong. I kind of appreciate the yellow dots. It gives a feel like there might be politics in space.

I also see Elyran friends have a healthy amount of space along with the glorious empire.

I'm half tempted to flesh out a few systems a little more so they may one day merit a dot on this map.

Overall, LF, this map has a nice look to it. I still think Jargon space is a little "small, thin, and in one direction." I would appreciate if it was "fattened" a little bit, at least around Jargon. Still, I really like what you've done with Skrell space and the map as a whole. The "Orion Spur" angle gives us a lot more universe to theorize about, and reminds us that space is vast.

Helpful reminder, [mention]Zundy[/mention], Sedantis hasn't been included in known space. I don't think it's "missing" so much as "was not included" in this map.

Oh yeah. LF.

The Taj and Scalie worlds are a little isolated. Human frontier, imho, ought to reach closer to those two systems.

Biased Skrell loredev demands Skrell borders be expanded.

Could this map potentially be updated to include more dots and such in the future, or would it be incredibly difficult to change like the old map?

Be the change you want to see in the map.

[LordFowl]

If [mention]Bygonehero[/mention] wants Sedantis added to the map I will comply, but it was always my understanding that the location of Sedantis was both unknown to cartographers and too distant for this scale anyways.

[mention]Loow[/mention] I've adjusted Skrell space to be more symmetrical. Their thin-ness is a component of them having spawned on a thing part of the galactic arm, and their smallness is only small in comparison to Sol, who ballooned extraordinarily and then collapsed. I've moved Uueoa-Esa into Frontier territory to make their interactions make more sense. The Frontier Alliance's description is a loose coalition of colonies that try to stand united against Sol aggression, so I thought it'd make sense that their territory would be the most porous, and trend towards frontier worlds closer to Sol Alliance space.

I've also switched into a higher resolution image of the Orion Spur, instead of just zooming in on the old galactic map.

[Zundy]

Well I like it personally, what's everyone else's thoughts?

[SleepyWolf]

I feel like Tau Ceti needs to be moved down and to the right a bit so that it's on the edge of Frontier Space, just so it feels less encompassed by Sol

[LordFowl]

Tau Ceti is only 12 light years away from Sol.

[Bygonehero]

it was more of a meme reaction in discord than anything, I agree that it shouldn't be listed on the map. Otherwise the only thing I'm curious about is where Epsilon Ursae Minoris would be in the map for dionae reasons.

[Brutishcrab51]

Personally, I feel like the 'New Map' is too confusing. I'd prefer if the factions were all named as opposed to simply named by system capital, but that's my only real complaint. If you could find a way to make it clear what factions are what, I'd prefer it over the old map by far.

[Zundy]

I agree with Crab. I'm used to it myself, but I can see it being confusing for newbies/just generally confusing.

Perhaps have the civs colour coded and the capital name's not?

[LordFowl]

Included a more comprehensive Legend. Sloppy copy has slots left open for loredevs interested in fluffing the universe with systems, planets, stations, territories, battle sites, and other locations of interest.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I've definately been persuaded about the new map and new scale. A very powerful sense of scale is given with our size and spread compared to the rest of the galaxy, but there is still a sense of grandness there. Total support.

[LordFowl]

Epsilon Ursae Minoris added. Epsilon Eridani moved closer to Sol.

[Butterrobber202]

Could we potentially give Biseal a few more systems? They have NT's backing and fended off the Sol alliance, I think that’s worth some size.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Tau Ceti is only made up of its single star system and the surrounding space around it. It's a city-state in relative size to everyone else. Yes it is small, but its independence is not and never could be protected by an army of any size. Its strength is political and economic.

[Jakers457]

REDACTED

Edited December 8, 2017 by Guest

[LordFowl]

CSI and Detective should have their offices connected with a cool room that you seen CSI/Detective shows, where they sit at desks and exchange banter.

 

The CSI and Detective office are not astronomically significant enough to be represented on this map, but I appreciate the feedback.

[LordFowl]

[mention]Chada1[/mention][mention]Senpai Jackboot[/mention] This is essentially done, simply need feedback, open to additions of other systems/locations of interest, and then contract the UI.

[Chada1]

Alright, i'll begin work on it as soon as I get the all clear Jackboot.

[Chada1]

Oi, re-did the wikipage. It's all up and working properly now.

https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Aurora_Starmap

I'm open to a resize if it's seen as needed, but aside from a resize which would need full reorientation for the links, adjustments and adding additional systems should be a piece of cake from this point on. [mention]LordFowl[/mention]