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Quote:

But then, technically, the Alpha Octant is home to the Romulans and Gorns; the Federation is in the Beta Sector and the Klingons are in the Gamma Sector, the three comprising the Alpha Octant. But let's not get technical.

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By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 - 07:21 pm: Edit

Troy, Alpha Octant is correct. The galaxy is divided into eighths (octants). Sector is also correct, since an octant is a specific kind of sector.

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 - 07:36 pm: Edit

The Alpha Octant is everything from the ISC border to the Lyran Far Stars (or thereabouts). But this specific instance is talking about the definitions of the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Sectors that make up the Octant.

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 - 09:57 pm: Edit

SVC, I think Troy is correct.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 - 10:06 pm: Edit

See the map

http://starfleetgames.com/galaxy_map_Color.pdf

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 09:15 am: Edit

Mike:
Exactly my point. That sentence is describing the three sectors that make up the octant, but the first sector is referred to as an octant in its own right. This is incorrect.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 04:14 pm: Edit

Gary Carney would like to have aspects of the Omega background rationalized. (There is nothing wrong with Gary wanting this. However there would be a great deal of work involved that, even if the original designer had done this work, would have to be done from scratch based on the existing background as all of the original files the designer had were lost in computer crashes.)

The inevitable starting point would be the creation of a map with NUMBERED hexes. Otherwise you wind up saying "the hex that is four hexes east of the Jindarian Freehold but two hexes above that" or some such.

The flat truth is that I do not have the skill to create such a hex map, and SVC is too busy working on Federation & Empire, Federation Commander, and Star Fleet Marines: Assault to do so.

So, the question as a starting point is can someone create such a map (going from the maps on the back of the various Omega Octant Products)? By Definition this would start as a blank map with probably only a few of the one hex empires (Jindarian Freehold, Ryn Enclave, Qixavalor Cloud, etc.) showing to start with.

At that point we could start trying to place known planets (Wallimi homeworld, Vulpa Homeworld, Tazol Homeworld, Koligahr homeworld, etc.) plus those of minor species (e.g., Chikikk, Floaters, T'Kai, Crell).

Obviously this would not be intended to be a Federation & Empire map, so this is not a case of major worlds (5 EP) and minor worlds (3 EP) and division into provinces. This is just to find locations and make sense of the history (like finding the exact hex location of the Nucian Cluster).

This in turn would allow the creation of an Omega Gazette.

Now, a lot of planets may be in one hex (were the Vari Cells each individual planets, or did some share a single planet?), but some might be distant. (Were the Wallimi, Vulpa, and Tazol all in one hex or were the Vulpa in a separate hex and the Wallimi and Tazol in the same hex or were all three in separate hexes?)

But this cannot really start without a numbered hex map.

Does anyone among the Omega players have both the skill and the desire to create such a thing, and update it as information comes in?

And does everyone understand that any question or suggestion for what should be on the map for background purposes has to include a justification (i.e., a specific citation to the data point in question that can be checked) from something Omega, i.e., the OR section or the OA section, or something culled from elsewhere in the rules?

Does anyone besides Gary Carney have any real interest in trying to rationalize the Omega Octant background to create such a map? (And again, there is nothing wrong with Gary Carney wanting such a thing.)

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 04:58 pm: Edit

Well, I've dropped the various Omega maps into a hex overlay at one or more times in the past.

The real problem is that Omega - far more than the alpha sector - changes hands a LOT.

It'd help to have a target date to work from. Something could be done from that without a huge degree of effort, and given a co-ordinate system, the mapping could then happen.

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 05:07 pm: Edit

I would love rationalization for Omega. I just assumed it was too time-consuming to be worth ADB's effort.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 05:25 pm: Edit

Xander Fulton:

I am sorry if I was unclear (honestly), but the concept here is no borders.

The concept is to first create a "location map."

We know the borders changed a lot, and planets may have changed hands. The point is to determine where those planets were.

The Map in Omega #1 showed 23 empires. Three of them define the hex where the home/capital planet has to be (FRA, Qixa, Jindarian), the other 20 are open to some question. Further, while there were three main species in the Mæsron Alliance (and thus three planets to identify), there are another four member species (not counting the FRA) of the Mæsron Alliance that need homeworlds identified.

Everyone else technically needs a home planet hex, and a review of the history to see if that home planet ever fell (one of the problems with the map in Omega #5 is that the creator did not check the previous maps too closely, and his map makes a strong statement that even though nothing in the history says so, the Worb homewold was conquered because all of the Worb original hexes as shown in Omega #1 except the two farthest from the wasteland have been abandoned, and it is unlikely the Worb expanded only towards the wasteland. There are similar problems with the Probr homeworld on that map.

So the goal is to detemine where the planets are (and any other specific names terrain features) and make sense of the total history. Defining the ebb and flow of the borders is, as you noted, a harder task and does have to be taken into account for where the planets are.

For example, the Wallimi capital is conquered by the Koligahr in Y153 (A1.0), which means it must be someplace where it is reasonable a resurgent Koligahr Solidarity could conquer it (the Koligahr Solidarity having earlier been badly mauled by the Mæsrons), and where it can interact with the Vulpa and Tazol and where the Nucian Vulpas can run away to create the Nucian . . .

and so on.

Detemining locations in concert with the history does not necessarilly require a map with borders (which will change), but it does require figuring out where these places are.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 05:27 pm: Edit

Troy Latta:

It is, which is why I am trying to get player involvement.

I know this is what I do "for a living," so I am trying to get you guys to invest some of your "this is what I do for fun" time in creating it (being honest here).

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 05:35 pm: Edit

I am interested in this, I could probably make something like this, but it would be very primitive and not product ready. It would really be little better than a grid map run through MS Paint.

By Scott Iles (Smrl) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 06:32 pm: Edit

I have a standard hex map drawn in an Excel document with numbers. It wouldn't be a big problem to expand it to as big as needed. Just copy and paste the new hexes, then change the numbers in the new hexes. The hexes can be colored as needed. Its in a standard Excel spreadsheet, just drawn on top of the cells.

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 06:33 pm: Edit

That could be useful, would you send it to me please? admerritt AT gmail.com

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 08:21 pm: Edit

I already have a the maps created. I use visio to draw the maps and export them to PDF.

I will send them to SPP tonight so we can see about getting them posted.

As I use a database to generate where planets and bases are located I can make changes quickly.

I normally use 11.x17" paper to print them out. I have also plotted the maps using 36" wide paper.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 08:24 pm: Edit

As noted, this might produce a map about the size of the current ones that have been published, but which JUST shows the locations of the planets (and perhaps some other features mentioned). The borders in Omega fluctuate so widely that I do not think it is possible to show the ebb and flow on such a map (players would need to figure that out for themselves), but once a map is created it would be possible to do the five existing maps as overlays of it (showing homeworlds and capitals lost and regained), but the first thing is to just find out where all of these things are.

Locations might be added from some scenarios (named planets, bases) for example. Obviously some "dead worlds" could be identified (could be in the same hex as occupied worlds), for example the home planet of the Ka-ma-ty-u, the ursinoid species that guided the Koligahr to sentience (OR3.0), and the Kyrihn who brought warp-technology to the Ymatrians only to be conquered by them (OR15.0).

There are lots of references to things to be tracked down and placed. [Obviously the defunct civilization from which the FRA obtained Shuttle Bomb technology and other things is probably in the FRA hex (OR17.02) for example.]

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 09:01 pm: Edit

If Ken's map works, that sounds good to me.

By Daniel K. Thompson (Dkt0404) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 10:24 pm: Edit

Curious question:

Why do the Drex fighters after the X1 cost so much?

I know they are nice but by the time you get to the X7 they cost more than many heavy fighters for something that looks only a couple steps better than a stinger (which is 10).

Do they get a bonus I'm unaware of or don't remember that makes them cost so much?

ie; do they get the computer bonus or some such?

Just trying to understand the reasons behind it or if I missed something.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Monday, August 22, 2011 - 10:30 pm: Edit

When I started this project I made a overlay in Visio. I then scanned in the back pages of the maps. I used the overlay on top of the maps to get the hexes right.

Normally when I create the maps I use E sized drawings (34"x44"). This way the hex numbers can be seen but this does not help people who want to print out the maps. I normally plot them.

I am changing my program to put the hex number in the middle of the hex and not scale them so the hex numbers can be read.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 12:20 am: Edit

SPP - All files sent to you.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 12:52 am: Edit

re: Drex fighters.

I would have to say speed is the deciding factor here. Y157 with speed 15 fighters.

Who else, anywere, has that kind of fighter?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 01:26 am: Edit

I recall Rick Smith mentioning an interest in an Omega gazetteer project a while back, but I don't know if he is still interested or not.


One thing to note about the shuttle bomb society; based on the FRA R-section, I had taken the reference to imply the tech was from one of the star systems deposited by the Cosmis Nexus in the "storm cluster" prior to Aurora III's own arrival. Where the system was originally is not clarified. (Given the range the Nexus has already been demonstrated to open, perhaps the world came from a different galactic octant altogether?)


Also, when it comes to determining map locations, would it be likely that the Souldra Black Sun would be in one of the Void hexes on the present map, or might it be "off-map" in the as-yet-undefined gap between the Omega map and the ISC Distant Zone?


Speaking of distant locations, there is the matter of the Iridani cluster. While the map is not quite to scale (unless you consider the cluster to be sufficiently "up" or "down" to account for the added distance) should there be some sort of account for the added travel time required to get to (and from) the nearest point on the galactic rim?


Scott:

The Mallaran Empire in M33 has the speed-15 Viper-2 from Y120 onwards. (Granted, they are still playtest units, but still...)

By Daniel K. Thompson (Dkt0404) on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 07:33 am: Edit

The Drex X7 is 19 BPV.
13 damage points, 2x1 heavy weapon charges, 2 pw3, speed 15.

YIS is a reletive thing and I don't think it is a factor in this case.

Nearest analog I found so far are the Vudar Electron fighters.

14 damage points, 2x2 heavy weapon charges, 2 ph3, speed 15.

10 BPV.

Hydran Stinger-2:
10 damage points, 1 PhG, 2x2 heavy weapon charges, speed 15. 10 BPV

So the X7 costing 19 BPV without being a heavy fighter or getting apparently much in the way of weapons upgrades looks weird.

So I/we are missing somewhere somewhere that is causing the Drex fighter to be nearly double the price of something roughly compareable.

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 07:50 am: Edit

Could the Drex's historical opponents be making the difference? After all, Hydrans are facing off against ESGs and ADDs. Vudar fighters tend to get fried by the Ion Pulse Generators and are facing either Klingons (ADDs) or Hydrans (Ph-Gs galore).

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 08:12 am: Edit

Or (since 9 is next to 0 on a keyboard) is it supposed to be 10 BPV and we've run afoul of a typo?