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Nyrath

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  1. YASMT (Yet Another Star Map Thread): There has to be an easier way...

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: YASMT (Yet Another Star Map Thread): There has to be an easier way...

     

    Nyrath: Just FYI, I downloaded the "raw" yEd file from your site that has the Hab40ly map put into a rather blockish format.

     

    Trying to go through and edit it, I need to basically go and recolor and reshape and move them all (many / some / most, unknown) and then draw my links which would require I know the distance between each star and adding links since that default only links them to nearby neighbors, etc.

     

    Now maybe I missed this, but it would be awesome if I could just take raw star data (the way you did) and throw it in yEd and have it graph out all the links with Sol more or less in the center, rather than just a few links.

     

    Sorry. To do that you'll have to do as I did and write a computer program to crunch the numbers in the star database and produce a *.gml that yEd can import.

     

    Then you will be able to customize the colors, shapes, and links to your heart's content.

     

    But as far as I know there is no software that will do this out of the box.

     

    Assuming that you know any computer programming at all, you could write a program in pretty nearly any programming language of your choice.

     

    Of course, yEd can export your map in jpg or other graphic format that you can load into your favorite paint program to make it fancy.

  2. WWYD: The Perfect Partner (potentially controversial)

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: WWYD: The Perfect Partner (potentially controversial)

     

    I honestly wouldn't see myself doing the Cherry 2000 thing' date=' even if I didn't already have a real girlfriend. Plastic & Wires vs. The Real Thing? Sorry, it's just not a contest.[/quote']

    Yes, but perhaps the fact that you cannot see yourself doing the Cherry 2000 thing is because you haven't been living in your mother's basement long enough.

    What I mean is that while you are personally immune to the lure of a robot girlfriend, there is sadly a large population of men who have problems relating to other human beings Even moreso relating to female human beings.

     

    This would be the target demographic of any manufacturer of robot girls.

  4. YASMT (Yet Another Star Map Thread): There has to be an easier way...

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: YASMT (Yet Another Star Map Thread): There has to be an easier way...

     

    Well, there are about 558 known stars within 40 light years, so you are talking about a lot.

     

    For broad galactic features, there are some charts in The Guide to the Galaxy by Henbest & Couper, Cambridge 1994, ISBN 0-521-45882-X

    http://www.bookfinder.com

    is showing quite a few used copies for under $10

     

    For a detailed map of a 150 light year cube centered on Sol, get a copy of the Astrogator's Handbook

    http://www.scifi-az.com/astro2.htm

     

    Not quite so detailed is The Astronomical Companion

    http://www.universalworkshop.com/ACOM.htm

     

    By "y graph" I assume you mean "yEd". Did you look over the help file? What exactly is going wrong?

  6. The Puzzle Of The Half Comet-Half Asteroid

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: The Puzzle Of The Half Comet-Half Asteroid

     

    but... the asteroid-comet link has been known for YEARS - a good proportion of the Earth-crossing asteroids are now thought to be dead comets....

    Yes, but these asteroids were apparently not Earth-crossing asteroids. They had standard asteroid belt orbits, which is almost impossible for a comet to alter its trajectory into.

     

    Impossible, of course, unless some sinister alien intelligence had a hand in it...

  10. The Puzzle Of The Half Comet-Half Asteroid

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23942/

     

    Object 133P is orbiting in the asteroid belt with a typical asteroid orbit, but it is emitting dust like a comet.

     

    Possibility 1: it's a comet that managed to ping-pong into an asteroid orbit. The odds against this are ...wait for it... "astronomical." (rimshot)

     

    Possibility 2: it's an asteroid containing ice that recently suffered a collision. Astronomer Henry Hsieh did a sky survey, low and behold, there was a second dust emitting object (176P/LINEAR). Since the odds against two instances of Possibility 1 existing are even worse than astronomical, this argues that Possibility 2 is the case.

     

    Of course, we Star Hero game masters know that the real explanation is that these asteroid like objects are actually giant eggs. That are now hatching...

  12. Defying Gravity TV Series

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Defying Gravity TV Series

     

    2001 never showed more than 1 crew member in the ring at the same time unless they were in the same place. It also required a life-size rotating set that moved when either character moved within.

     

    Ah but it did.

     

    One person was sitting down, while the other was walking.

     

    This means the sitting person was strapped into their chair, and had to act like they were NOT gradually hanging upside down in the air. :D

     

    I'm sure this is why they only did this shot once.

  13. Defying Gravity TV Series

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Defying Gravity TV Series

     

    The spacecraft actually had some scientific accuracy about it.

     

    The woman testing the Venus spacesuit was actually in danger from decompression illness (the bends), which was a nice scientific touch.

     

    The magic nanotechnology artificial gravity clothing made me groan.

     

    The plot foreshadowing was ham-fisted (Gee, an alcoholic put on a six-year mission in a ship with no alcohol, that couldn't possibly be a problem. The main character is always fighting with the blond, so we know it is true love, however he also has a photo of him and the other crew woman whose husband had to be transferred to Earth so she's looking at an unexpected six years of celebacy, and then there is the brunette who keep throwing herself at the main character. )

     

    And then there is that npphefrq ZnpThssva va gur sbez bs na nyvra sebz bhgre fcnpr jub vf bpphclvat cbq ahzore sbhe juvyr orvat n chccrg znfgre (rot13)

  16. 3d grid maps?

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: 3d grid maps?

     

    Does anyone have a suggestion for how to do a 3d visual star sector map. I've got all the sector coordinates I need' date=' but I'm having trouble representing the Z-axis. If anyone has any recommendations, especially software based, please share.[/quote']

    I've seen quite a few attempts with a printed map, but none of them really work.

     

     

    Something like the (free) Google Sketchup or the (for money) Astrosynthesis would work, if a computer is handy.

     

    In many cases, what your players are really interested in is which stars are next door neighbors to a given star. I've gotten usable results by plotting a map with X and Y coords, labeling each star with the X coord, and drawing lines between each star and its two or three closest neighbors.

    http://www.projectrho.com/smap12.html#map03

     

    You can take that to an extreme with what I call "2 and 1/2 dimensional star maps." If the main thing of interest is the star's neighbors, the x, y, z coordinates are not really necessary. Instead, you can make a "node" map, with boxes representing the stars and lines representing the neighbor relationships.

    For instance, go to

    http://www.projectrho.com/smap12.html#winch

    and compare (for instance) HabHYG20ly with HabHYG20lyNode

     

    Node maps are easy to make using the free software yEd

    http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_about.htm

    yEd has a wondeful "auto-format" option that will untangle a map for you.

    It is fairly easy to write a simple program which will ingest your star data and output a file that yEd can import.

    http://www.projectrho.com/smap13.html

  24. Jupiter Impact!!?!

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Jupiter Impact!!?!

     

    Only if you're willing to ignore the major flaw in the core premise of the story.

     

    If the aliens are able to travel interstellar distances they should be easily able to move multiple small asteroids from their orbits and drop them on our cities.

    Ah, it is worse than that.

    The aliens were after our mineral resources.

    Resources that are far more readily available in asteroids, than they are buried under Earth's surface at the bottom of a gravity well.

    So why bother invading us in the first place.

  25. Jupiter Impact!!?!

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Jupiter Impact!!?!

     

    THe movie 2010 is so funny with it's inaccurate special effects. I just giggled though the whole stupid trailer' date=' when it showed before Harry Potter.[/quote']

    Like Marcus said, I was trying to make a reference to the sequel to 2001:

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086837/

    At the end of that movie the astronauts orbiting Io notice a mysterious black spot has suddenly appeared on the face of Jupiter. Hilarity ensues.

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