Stars and Constellations

from StarControl Forums

One of the things that definitely makes me think "Star Control" is the names of the stars and constellations. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/88_modern_constellations  (FF and PRIII used the genitive form).

They also used names of famous astronomers (Brahe, Copernicus, Lacaille, etc.)

Basically, it is a slightly-modified version of the Bayer designation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer_designation)

I would really like to have this system back, as well as the numbering system using the greek letters for SCR.  If we do not have constellations, it's going to be nigh-impossible to find our way ourselves, as there's nothing that looks as much like a Giant White than another Giant White, from the starmap. Constellations, on the map, helped us group the stars together. Remove the lines between the stars and nothing makes sense anymore, there is no pattern, just bunches of dots of various colors.

It would also be great if the names of the southern hemisphere constellations could be added (Gould)

Also, having procedurally-generated star names would definitely not feel StarControl-y.  Imagine this: "The ship crashed on HD 196761"  How... poetic.  How... romantic. NOT.  Go ahead and google HD196761, it's a star.  Could you easily differentiate it from HD 196385? And when you have 50 such stars referenced by catalogue number?  Yuck.  And good luck finding them.



Editing tools ideas:

- When editing our galaxies, later on, it would be really great to be able to move constellations all at once.
- It would be great, when creating/editing our galaxies, if we could just select, something like (Add constellation) --> (0 through 24 stars) --> (Enter Name) --> They appear, numbered starting from alpha up to (possibly) omega, with random links in between them. We then get to rearrange the links how we see fit, to create a pattern/shape of our choosing, for shape recognition and visual clues.
- Have editing tools that are not only mouse-driven.  For example, have the ability to use "+" or "-" to change the size of any celestial body, use Shift-FKeys to change star colors or planet types, CTRL-Click, etc.

 

What do you guys think?

239 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from StarControl Forums Top

I think constellations are a must and the known constellations configuration should not change when randomizing the galaxy. Their location though can change. Randomly generated constellations can be any form anywhere.

I'm not against randomly generated names for constellations and stars, though. But they also should be proper. Ex.: constellation: Klyrrix, Glodea; stars: Lingolia, Raetz, etc. Or it can be flower, animal, astronomers and explorers names. I don't care as long as it's not ASDF8256.

Reply #2 from StarControl Forums Top

I agree on the inclusion of the traditional constellations in the genitive name form. It is most familiar and truest to both the game's history and to what we know about observable stars.

SC2 did not preserve the asterisms of constellations as we know them in our night sky. Their layout in hyperspace (or actual space, for that matter) does not represent their proximity from us, or from one another, so it may be more straightforward from a gameplay perspective for constellations to be represented close to one another on the map. From our perspective, constellations appear as star groups but are seldom comprised of "neighboring" stars.

I don't know if having a simple 2D layout like the original map is the right decision for the sake of the new game, or wrong for being deliberately derivative of SC2. As much as I'd like to see a fresh take on the starmap layout, having it be simple to navigate at a glance will probably take priority for Stardock. I'd still like to see them mix it up a bit.

I don't expect it to be the case with this game, but if the map were a more realistic "spherical" representation of the universe with stellar arrangements projected out from your point of origin I think it would be pretty cool. Trouble is this would only be the case from Earth; once you are somewhere else, the arrangement of constellations becomes irrelevant. That's a big reason why a 2D/flat hyperspace map appears the way it does to keep the universe consistent and easy to navigate.

SC3 attempted a spherical starmap and failed miserably because it wasn't "true 3D" and was very frustrating to navigate. Trying to navigate a 2D projection of a 3D object is difficult in the same way that imagining a 3D representation of a 4D thought experiment is difficult. Look at how confusing the ending of Interstellar was!

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from StarControl Forums Top

The problems with constellations are that they are only relative to the perspective of our solar system. These constellations will not look the same when your viewing them from a different star system. So unless your starmap will always be centered on Sol, its kind of a moot point. The relative distance between stars in a constellation is never the same and there may be stars closer to each other that are not as bright within the lines of a constellation.  They are great reference from a single earth point of view but worthless just about everywhere else.