The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Hi everyone - I thought it would be good to put together a star chart for the game, since the Accolade PDF one that's floating around is probably copyrighted.

http://members.shaw.ca/evasiveb/starmap.gif

It doesn't have any of the constellation and star names on it yet, nor the circles of influence of the various alien races.  I can't figure out how to insert plain circles in photoshop, and all my text fonts look terrible.

This was put together by doing screen-captures.  However, in the game, the grid is slightly rectangular, and I have attempted to correct for this.  Just in case you find some stars a few pixels off.  I've also drawn lines connecting the constellations, trying not to copy the Accolade chart.

Not bad for a start!
There are a handful of star charts floating around, and another one couldn't hurt. I like how this uses the game graphics, as it makes it feel very... familiar in a way. Good work.

These lines connecting the constellations are barely visible... Can you make them a bit brighter?

That's one sexy star chart.

How are you determining Coordinates. Im building a large Star Chart for my wall (I have access to Wide format lasetjet Printers), So Far I am sucking coordinates out of a Excel Spreadsheet I found and only having limited Results(also im using the map for a tabletop game of SC)

To make a circle, get the circle tool, make the right cirlce. Rasterize it (spelling?) and then go to edit, stroke, and outline it. then select the middle with the magic want and layer via cut. Then delete the middle layer. Voila, a hollow circle.

I bet there is an easier way to do it somehow ::)

The best source for the coordinates is the source code of the game.
Look here: http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/sc2/sc2/src/sc2code/plandata.c?view=markup
You need to add the decimal point.

Yeow, that's one funky way to go about making a circle!  Still, I can work with that.  Thanks!

Brighter lines joining the constellations?  Easy to fix; I can brighten the background grid too.  How am I determining coordinates?  I'm not.  The whole map is a bunch of captured screenshots, slightly scrunched, so some stars are probably out of strict alignment.

Okay, before I start fiddling, a question to everyone.  How should I do the alien spheres of influence?  There are a couple of issues.  Ideally I'm aiming this map towards people playing the game for their first time.

(1) Which ones to show?  Do I follow the example of the Accolade map, showing the races that Earth knew about from the Chenjesu when they joined the war?  Amongst other things, it shows the Androsynth, the Chenjesu, the Mmrnmhrm, the Ilwrath in a different position, and some "unknown"s (the Pkunk, Druuge, and Traddash) which could be potential spoilers for new players.

(2) If I follow the Accolade example, should I also match the diameters of the circles?  The Accolade map's circles are a bit different in size from the ones in the game.

Another option is to use the circles seen during gameplay, although it's still a matter of choosing which ones to show.

(3) Colors?  All the same color for each circle, or different for each civilization?

My main concern is that I don't want to imitate the Accolade map too closely, so that the map could get distributed with little fear of copyright violation.

And then I have to type in all the names of the constellations...  I'll save that until after the Xmas holidays, methinks.

I'd prefer if you follow the Accolade example - draw all the SOIs as they were on the original map, including the "unknown" races. Also mark the coreward and spinward directions as on the original map.

How about making two versions of the map - one for noobs, the other as a reference map for experienced players?

Of course, that would mean doing it twice. ;)

You could do all the star charts, and then just invisibilize the ones you dont want for the noob map!

Thats the same work as doing it twice, but its all in one go!

Off topic a bit, but wouldn't that piece of code be better of as a separate file like an XML file that just gets parsed.  This would allow content developers to change the locations of planets around later on.  Also if it is just plain old XML files it can be parsed to generate the starmap using SVG.

To make a long reply short: Use the "Search" function of the forum to search for "XML".