Re: (TFT) Re: TFT Digest V4 #225

[Jay Carlisle <maou.tsaou@gmail.com>]

Here's some stuff I've messed with for this kind of thing.
The idea is to generally map a region of space that will allow not
only RPG scenarios but also suitable for tracking space "warfare".
In this case it's a rework of HT's Warp War.

<paste>

VII Build Map b Each Page is laid out in a 8 by 8 one-inch hex-grid
superimposed on a 32 by 32 quarter-inch square-grid. The z-axis is
handled via notation as needed.
Setting 1 quarter-inch as equal to 1 light-year makes 1 Page about 10
parsecs per side and about 1000 cubic-parsecs in volume.


Example; A large globular vaguely along the lines of NGC 104 (no black
hole) with around 6 million stars across about 50 parsecs (about 160
lt yrs) in diameter requires 27 total Pages representing a 3 by 3 by 3
Page volume of space centered around the core to encompass the densest
portion of the globular.
For convenience (and to avoid addressing issues of galactic
orientation here) Pages are numbered for order from left to right and
top to bottom with the volume centered on the core.
Pages 1 through 9 are on the btopb layer (highest on z-axis), Pages 11
through 19 are the bmiddleb layer, and Pages 21 through 29 are on the
bbottomb layer.
Each layer is oriented such that Pages 1, 11, and 21 form a vertical
column as do any Pages with similar last digits.
Assuming a top down view and the top of the Page to be bnorthb Page 1
sits at the top, northwest corner of the cube with Page 29 diagonally
opposite at the cubes bottom, southeastern corner and Page 15 at the
core.

Page 15; Inner Core - 1000 stars per cubic-parsec, 3,000,000 total

Pages 5, 12, 14, 16, 18, 25; Outer Core - 100 stars per cubic-parsec,
1,800,000 total

20 remaining Cube Pages; - 10 stars per cubic-parsec, 600,000 total

Apply the "Drake equation" to total stars as it suits you.
I use a 1 in 1000 ratio to populate "useful" systems which is likely
exceptionally generous.
That's roughly 6 "systems" per hex at the  inner core, about 1 system
per 2 hexes in the outer core, and about 30 systems per Page in the
remaining area.
I populate Pages with star systems by randomly determining the hex and
square the system is located in.

A 5 by 5 by 5 Page volume would come close to encompassing the whole
cluster at 50 parsecs across.
Outside Pages; 3d big fat cross (Civ city) Pages 54 total with about 5
stars per cubic-parsec and remaining cube (frame) 32 Pages with about
2.5 stars per cubic-parsec (about the same density as our local area
of The Milky Way)



Note; 3 by 3 by 3 Pages (27 total Pages) 8 by 8 by 8 One inch
cube-hexes across per Page (512 total cube-hexes per Page or about
14,000 total cube-hexes)
About 6 cubic parsecs per cube-hex (about 3000 total cubic parsecs per
Page or about 80,000 total cubic parsecs) with 64 cubic-light years
per cubic hex (4 x 4 x 4 quarter-inch squares)

<end paste>

I've got a 8 x 10 x 16 inch cardboard box that I made that uses a
sheet of graph-paper as the bottom Page (numbers 31 - 39) and
transparencies for the other 2 pages to help with the visuals for a
cubic-Page column.
I have a number of wooden dowels cut to various lengths fixed with a
bit of modeling clay that I use to give a 3d visual to a cube-Page.
It makes for a nifty map for a Warp War.
The density of stars per cubic-parsec is probably badly off I'd think.
I pulled those numbers mostly outta my neathers.
I have serious doubts about how well such a structure would hold up
under Peebles but it adds some strategy and gives a rational for the
"edges of the map" as being the limits of the cluster, with some
kilo-parsecs to get back into the main body of the galaxy.
It's the best I can come up with for a cosmic Traveler scale "desert island".
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