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	Hard Data -- Decisions Made	0
	Archive through September 02, 2011	25		09/02 01:52pm

Gary - any updates for the Omega maps?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, September 10, 2011 - 07:57 pm: Edit

Not that I'm aware of; the locations listed above are either already in "terrain" pieces shown on the map, or have yet to be assigned locations.

Unless I'm missing something else...

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, September 11, 2011 - 10:01 am: Edit

Gary - Do I have the maps right?

Should I be putting the planets on the map.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Sunday, September 11, 2011 - 01:30 pm: Edit

Ken,

Remember not all the planets will be on the map. Just look at the regular F&E map to get a perspective on the number of "planets" on the map vs. the number of planets in the universe.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, September 11, 2011 - 06:02 pm: Edit

Ryan, I understand that. I would like to see if we should start putting what we know on the map.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, September 15, 2011 - 01:20 pm: Edit

I'm not sure we're at the stage where we can start adding planets in just yet.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Friday, September 16, 2011 - 12:22 pm: Edit

How should the void, galactic rim and wastelands be handled for EP's. Should it be that they are broken up into 4-6 hex groups or as one big group? Would you expect to get no EP from these areas?

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Friday, September 16, 2011 - 09:46 pm: Edit

They should probably be 0EPs. As even "empty" hexes in F+E have small colonies or miners working away.

I don't believe The Void can support colonies or miners, so they should be worth nothing.

Additionally, the void has been known to "swallow" ships which adventure into it. So it's probably filled with monsters or other hazards. (probably special rules for every hex entered, a roll for each ship to be damaged.)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 02:14 am: Edit

I would suggest they be left as individual hexes, with no EPs generated for non-Souldra empires (and with campaign-specific details for the Souldra themselves).

The only "terrain pieces" which would go in any of the three would be Souldra-occupied dark matter caches; and they should probably be left un-marked on the base map (for the same reason the Andros would not have RTN nodes shown on-map either).

In terms of access, the Wasteland would be the most readily traversable of the three; though not too many empires would have cause to notice it.

The Galactic Rim is really only important for the Andromedans, Souldra, Loriyill and Iridani; and in the case of that latter empire, I'm not sure how best to account for the true distance to the galaxy's edge the Cluster is supposed to be.

The Void is another matter. Only the Souldra and Loriyill are confirmed to be able to enter it at will; and even there, the Souldra would still only have dark matter caches away from the Black Sun (which may not even be in the part of the Void shown on-map; we don't know exactly how much further "off-map" the closest reaches of the Alpha Octant would be). I'd simply not allow anyone else to go in there at all.


Actually, that raises an interesting question; can the Andros go into the Void, or cross from one side to another with or without help from the RTN? If not (as in, if they have to go "up and over" the galactic barrier to get from Alpha to Omega) that could help explain why they and the Loriyill were reported to have some sort of ceasefire. If the Andromedans couldn't get rid of the Souldra infestation by smashing the Black Sun themselves, they could let the Loriyill do it for them (and would still have the option of eventually taking a pop at the Homestars at some future point if/when they weren't needed anymore).


Bear in mind that these are suggestions/guesses only; only ADB can say for certain what kind of details should go in, beyond those we can harvest directly from published sources.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 11:06 am: Edit

To keep the quadrant's seperate wouldn't the void need to be at least 7 hexes across as a minimum?

I created the sector between the alpha and omega quadant but made the map 30 hexes wide instead of 20.

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 11:21 am: Edit

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Quote:

To keep the quadrant's seperate wouldn't the void need to be at least 7 hexes across as a minimum?

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By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 05:58 pm: Edit

You guys can knock yourselves out doing this Omega thing but know that any of F&E design ramifications (ie EP values) that you all may 'decide' are not in any way binding unless ADB says so. And unless ADB changes the F&E schedule; F&E-Omega is near the bottom of the design priority list so please don't think that if there is some F&E staffers involved in these discussions that it implies some sort of endorsement of ADB and the F&E staff.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 02:27 pm: Edit

@Terry - possibly a combination of 6-hexes being the max distance for a ship to be 'in supply' in F&E, combined with (possibly) Souldra presence being higher in these 'void zones'?

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 05:47 pm: Edit

The six-hex in supply distance rule applies to ships which are expecting combat and relying on a supply train. Ships which have been specifically prepared for a long-distance voyage would have a longer "in supply" range. Such as the ship that the FRA tried to send back to the Alpha Quadrant after they got sent through the Cosmic Space Wedgie. It may be Souldra presence, but I seem to recall a comment by SVC somewhere that sensors in the Void(s) went haywire for some reason making it difficult to navigate. So no matter how wide or narrow, in game terms you'd simply declare it the edge of the map and that's it.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 07:14 pm: Edit

I don't see how you can just make it a map edge as the Paravian's made it across. If it is a absolute barrier then the galaxy is divided by five voids spaced equally around the galaxy. (Galaxy Map) Using the galaxy map the void does not extended all the way north to south on the map.

Also, if you don't make it fill the whole sector a empire would just go around it and not through.

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 09:10 pm: Edit

Did the Paravians officially make it to Omega?

I understand it's possible to get around by skirting the edge of the Storm Zone at the centre of the galaxy. At least that's how the Xorkaelian reconnaisance ships get to Alpha. In any case, for purposes of F&E, I think it would make the most sense to simply declare the edge of the void as the edge of the world. Too hard to cross, nothing there to conquer.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 09:55 pm: Edit

They're on official maps, so yes.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, September 19, 2011 - 03:40 pm: Edit

A few notes....

Planets on the F&E map are major industrial planets; zillions of minor colonies are not listed. I wouldn't put any planets on the omega maps (not in an F&E sense).

The voids are more than six hexes wide. Not sure how wide (and no decision will be made anytime soon). Voids produce nothing, and ships in them cannot survive. You do not go through a void, you go around it. That's what the Paravians did. But the narrow gap between the void and the rim is a radiation zone very bad for ships, and the pathway around the inside end of the void goes thorugh a storm zone that is very bad for ships.

The galactic rim is just a barrier, no one can go through it. Well, not without a few pages of special rules that apply in very few cases.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Friday, December 02, 2011 - 05:29 pm: Edit

Any progress made on putting things on the map(s)?

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 09:02 am: Edit

Ken, you may want to nudge this in January. We've got things to do with finishing up the CL issue and the Borak module, Hailing Frequencies and Communique to get out by Friday, and then we may need to collapse and recover. When I get to Amarillo, SVC tries to clear his days (and evenings) for me to pull my 12+ hour days to get RPGs out.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 07:15 pm: Edit

Jean, not so much from ADB but the other guys who were interested. I was wondering if anyone found any errors with the current round of maps.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, December 17, 2011 - 03:38 am: Edit

Just one quick note so far; hex 6129 on the uploaded Y210 map is purple (perhaps a hold-over from the Y192 map, where it was part of Souldra-held territory); it should be marked as unclaimed space instead.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, January 15, 2012 - 04:20 pm: Edit

Gary - any updates I could make? I have made all the updates listed to date, plus the e-mails you sent.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, January 16, 2012 - 02:52 pm: Edit

At this point, barring any mistakes yet to be found in the maps as they are, I don't think there's much else to be added to them for now.