EVN - Delphi

Pretty cool. Upon seeing the first picture, I thought that was the entire world the player had to wander around in. I was thinking, "That's it? I'm gonna be stuck in two dinky star clusters?" Then I saw the second image and realized there's much more to the map, it just hasn't been mapped yet.

How many clusters do you have?

** Edit:** manticore, Darkstar is also the name of a system from EVC, as is Capella, for which I assume the Capellan Atoll is named.

This post has been edited by darthkev : 08 March 2010 - 08:38 PM

I'll make as many nebulae as I can. As long as I focus on making one star cluster at a time, I should be able to keep the content solid and avoid holes where there's just nothing to do or see. Also, this method is very handy, because I could release entire new star clusters through the use of add-on plugs in the future, with new side-missions and all that.

By the way, transit between systems and clusters will be different than usual. Instead of making long voyages with countless numbers of jumps, there will be an "impeller projection" network that facilitates rapid travel (hypergates, in practice). The interesting thing about spatial impellers is that their principle operating factor theoretically enables them to jump anywhere in the universe almost instantaneously. The only limitation is the starship computer hooked up to them. Because of things like gravity wells, debris, rogue planetoids, black holes, quarks, quasars, etc. etc., a navigational computer has to do MASSIVE amounts of computation before safely allowing a jump. While the engine could technically propel a vessel to a neighboring galaxy with minimal effort, there are no known star charts of the target destination and no calculated graviton point to jump to. Studying the obstacles over such a distance would take centuries. What the impeller projectors provide is pre-calculated coordinates for starships within broadcast/reception range, enabling otherwise limited ships to jump inordinate distances. Really, there's no mechanical impeller feature in the stations themselves, just massive computers and sensor equipment.

There. One big map of what I've thrown together so far. No systems have fully-working planets yet, but I've written down the systems in each cluster and what services I want them to share. I like the Hades Cradle region the best so far. The image for it just looks cool, like claws folded inward in some sort of demonic clutching grasp.

I see potential for a lucrative but dangerous trade route in the Capellan Atoll. Something offered in one end and needed in the other. Notice, it's a slightly shorter route going through the void to get from end to end than it is to travel through the cluster. Just an idea I thought I'd pass on.

I've done a TON of work on the star map. Here's the south-western portion. There's a lot more, but I liked the nebular blending between the Orion Core and the Hecate Verge. More systems, links, and clusters to come.

Suddenly whole new vistas of nebular inventiveness are occurring to me, thanks to this interesting starmap plan you have. Good show, Delphi!

Those nebulae are beautiful.

Something is missing from these maps... I can't quite put my finger on it... some- oh! I've got it! You forgot to add the Medusa Cascade!

Delphi, a note on your planets--I sense you're using Photoshop's LunarCell plug-in. If you are, I highly recommend increasing your canvas size and putting on a very detailed planet, then shrinking it to the size you want. That's what plagues Nova's sprites--they're a tad bit too simplistic.

Ah yes, the Armageddon Veil: a seething nebula of boiling gasses once colonized for its strategic sensor-scrambling properties and the lucrative mining business to be had within its surprisingly many rogue planets and moons. This is the place where it all went down some 600 years ago. This is the site of the Kiev supernova, where the North American Alliance battleship "Constantine" released its several hundred impeller-driven nuclear warheads on the Russian colony of Kiev IV, tragically missing the intended target and striking the already-unstable sun. The resultant explosion literally blasted a hole in space-time, wiping out the star, the colony, the Constantine, and nearly half a trillion human lives, when the nova's explosive force of hellfire was channeled back through impeller-damaged space, incinerating entire solar systems and their populaces.

There is a small memorial beacon left anchored near the last known coordinates of the Kiev star, still a focal point of immeasurable radiation and ejected stellar matter. The names of at least 300 billion of the confirmed victims are stored in a solid-state databank within the small station, broadcasting on wide band to anybody within three parsecs of the site. The station's primitive nuclear fuel source will be exhausted within the next 50 years, and in time, the most monumental loss of human life will fade into the abyss of history.

I'm totally seeing a side mission to install or transport an alternative/replacement fuel source to the beacon. We can't let those 300 billion disappear!

Pretty cool though, I'm liking the backstory, and it gives an idea of what kind of firepower these ships are messing with.

QUOTE

where the North American Alliance battleship "Constantine" released its several hundred impeller-driven nuclear warheads on the Russian colony of Kiev IV, tragically missing the intended target and striking the already-unstable sun.

Wait, they missed a planet? Damn, they totally were not using the force to aim!

Who put those guys on that warship? I mean, how do you miss a planet?! That's just ludicrous!

Still, it does make for a good backstory...

QUOTE

North American Alliance battleship "Constantine"

They were using the age old "Spray and Pray" technique, as commonly seen in movies. Only, they were using nuclear warheads for bullets.

Or the planet was just in really close orbit to the sun, with a very, very long day so they could stay on the dark side of it.

The Constantine missed it's target because of human error. The trick with FTL firepower is that the instant you establish line of sight with your target, they've likely already fired a volley that will strike your vessel in less than a few seconds. As a result, calculations are mostly done before approaching detection range. When the Constantine jumped into the Kiev system, they didn't account for the graviton shear generated by the semi-pulsar the target colony, Kiev IV, orbited. Upon firing, the missiles are programmed to seek large gravitational sources first, and then to pick targets during atmospheric entry. They found a graviton signature, that's for sure: a flare of spacetime instability caused by the pulsar, which directed the missiles right into the star's heart.

You've really thought this out, haven't you? I love it.

QUOTE (krugeruwsp @ Mar 14 2010, 01:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You've really thought this out, haven't you?

Um, yeah, just a little bit... I mean, it's not like I'm crazy or anything... heh. Ahem.

HOW THE?!!??!?1/!1/!/1

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED TC Junkie: Store over 4 GB of TC data. Reward: 100 Overly Insane Points.

This post has been edited by king_of_manticores : 14 March 2010 - 11:10 PM

Wow... simply wow... HOTS is only 144MB in its actual files alone so far and 858MB for the entire folder containing the HOTS Files and all other resources I'm using.

That's amazing, Delphi, especially since you've done all that on your own. Good going! <insert thumbs-up emoticon>