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Suggestion for the New maps
davidwford
Member Posts: 1,836 Arc User
I like the new Quadrant maps. It is good that the sector blocks have been consolidated into the much larger Quadrant Maps.
That being said, there are a few suggestions I have to improve on the new maps.
Alpha Quadrant:
Overall very good, but it could use another row of sectors, one row to the north (Galactic Core area is likely to be more populated and have many more systems), and another to the south (the great unknown, and the Galactic Barrier).
Beta Quadrant:
The largest, and the most active area, much occurs on this map.
The south end should have a rendering of the Galactic Barrier, with the map transit contact (the guy in the blue and white with the headset from launch) stating that it is unsafe for the player to attempt to cross the barrier at this time. Perhaps warning about what happened to both the SS Valiant and later the USS Enterprise. If it has not yet been added, the Delta Vega system and the Dilithium Cracking station could be added in the extreme southwest corner of the Ba'aja Sector.
The new map is also missing the Z-6, Bolarus, Devron, and Tarod Sectors. While I understand the need to move Iconia, the other STO original systems that populated the Z-6 sector should still remain. Likewise, what about the Bolarus System? Some of us will want to visit the binary home system of the Bolians. I could be overlooking it, but what happened to the Pelia Sector where many of the endgame Undine missions (old and new) move to? For these reasons, at least one more row and possibly two more rows should be added to the north side of the map.
Delta Quadrant:
Granted, not as much is going on here, but the map really should be three wide by six long. Maybe I am just being nitpicky, but there really should have been two separate maps as the area that covers Borg space during "Scorpion" (VOY) and "The Gift" (VOY) would not easily fit within the confines of the Beta Quadrant map. The Solanae Dyson Sphere should therefore be in the Takara Sector, since that was where the divider between the Beta and Delta Quadrants was defined in "Timeless" (VOY). New Talax should also be moved closer to that area. The Ice Planet where Voyager crashed should be added (maybe get permission from George Lucus to allow it to be called the Hoth System as a tip of the hat).
The north side of the map should also add a few more rows of three to include the areas covered by Voyager's first three seasons. The Nekret Expanse should add the Supply Depot from "Fair Trade" (VOY) as a social zone along the lines of Drozana Station. From there, add the areas controlled by the Vidiians and Kazon, with the Northern most area containing the Talaxian System, the Ocampa System, and the Haakonian System and the areas controlled by the Haakonan Order
With some of these ideas implemented, then the Delta Quadrant map should be three wide by ten to twelve long. While this would make the Delta Quadrant map longer than the Beta Quadrent map, it would also help to highlight the long journey that Voyager took crossing the Delta Quadrent.
That being said, there are a few suggestions I have to improve on the new maps.
Alpha Quadrant:
Overall very good, but it could use another row of sectors, one row to the north (Galactic Core area is likely to be more populated and have many more systems), and another to the south (the great unknown, and the Galactic Barrier).
Beta Quadrant:
The largest, and the most active area, much occurs on this map.
The south end should have a rendering of the Galactic Barrier, with the map transit contact (the guy in the blue and white with the headset from launch) stating that it is unsafe for the player to attempt to cross the barrier at this time. Perhaps warning about what happened to both the SS Valiant and later the USS Enterprise. If it has not yet been added, the Delta Vega system and the Dilithium Cracking station could be added in the extreme southwest corner of the Ba'aja Sector.
The new map is also missing the Z-6, Bolarus, Devron, and Tarod Sectors. While I understand the need to move Iconia, the other STO original systems that populated the Z-6 sector should still remain. Likewise, what about the Bolarus System? Some of us will want to visit the binary home system of the Bolians. I could be overlooking it, but what happened to the Pelia Sector where many of the endgame Undine missions (old and new) move to? For these reasons, at least one more row and possibly two more rows should be added to the north side of the map.
Delta Quadrant:
Granted, not as much is going on here, but the map really should be three wide by six long. Maybe I am just being nitpicky, but there really should have been two separate maps as the area that covers Borg space during "Scorpion" (VOY) and "The Gift" (VOY) would not easily fit within the confines of the Beta Quadrant map. The Solanae Dyson Sphere should therefore be in the Takara Sector, since that was where the divider between the Beta and Delta Quadrants was defined in "Timeless" (VOY). New Talax should also be moved closer to that area. The Ice Planet where Voyager crashed should be added (maybe get permission from George Lucus to allow it to be called the Hoth System as a tip of the hat).
The north side of the map should also add a few more rows of three to include the areas covered by Voyager's first three seasons. The Nekret Expanse should add the Supply Depot from "Fair Trade" (VOY) as a social zone along the lines of Drozana Station. From there, add the areas controlled by the Vidiians and Kazon, with the Northern most area containing the Talaxian System, the Ocampa System, and the Haakonian System and the areas controlled by the Haakonan Order
With some of these ideas implemented, then the Delta Quadrant map should be three wide by ten to twelve long. While this would make the Delta Quadrant map longer than the Beta Quadrent map, it would also help to highlight the long journey that Voyager took crossing the Delta Quadrent.
Post edited by davidwford on
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Member, Shadowbroker
Not linear
I'm not arguing that. I am saying that the existing maps could be expanded quite a bit. At a minimum, the Beta Quadrant map (and maybe the Delta Quadrant map) could extend from the Galactic Barrier(edge of the Galaxy) to the Great Barrier(center of the Galaxy).
We're gonna need a pretty big expansion to get all the way to the inner and outer borders. According to the current map, we're nowhere near them:
And even that map is highly exaggerated. Remember, each sector is only 20 light years across.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
I'm not sure I agree with that map. However, you are correct in that the Galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across (estimated by contemporary measurements). That would mean from the Great Barrier to the Galactic Barrier should be about 30,000-50,000 light years depending on where the outer edge of the Great Barrier and the inner edge of the Galactic Barrier are located. At minimum, it would mean that the minimum distance should be about 1,500 sectors across.
Now, keep in mind that the Federation has been estimated to be about 10,000 light-years across according to Michael Okuda in the Star Trek Encyclopedia. Arguably, if one uses that measurement, the maps encompassing the Federation together should be 500 sectors across. The existing maps are nowhere near that large.
I am willing to give a pass as that size would make the maps unplayable. My rather simple work around is that the sectors on the astrometrics map grid are Sector quads, or "mega sectors" that cover several sectors.
Perhaps at some point down the line. There is certainly room to expand, but we aren't ready for that yet.
Our map is no where near the Galactic Barrier. Like the Alpha Quadrant map, there is still much more space south of the Beta Quadrant Map, which could be expanded into at some point in the future.
While the Z-6 and Tarod Sectors were removed, and the Bolarus and Devron Sectors were renamed, all of the systems from Iota-Pavonis should still be around. They were moved, and shifted throughout the upper row of the BQ. None of those systems were removed. What system are you having trouble finding?
While the Sector was named Bolarus, there was never a Bolarus System located there in game.
Here is the old Iota-Pavonis Sector Block map: http://sto.gamepedia.com/File:Iota_Pavonis_Sector_Block.png
The Pelia Sector was added to the upper right of the BQ, as the Noro Sector. Subsequently, most of it's systems were shuffled around to neighboring sectors, but all of it's systems should still be available.
There is so much wrong here, I'm not even sure where to start.
Well, I guess Hoth is a good place. So. . . no. We won't be naming ANY system in Star Trek for a Star Wars system. That's not going to happen. That will get us sued. Also, George Lucas doesn't own the franchise anymore, so if we DID want to get laughed at for proposing this, Disney would do the laughing.
As for adding the Ice Planet. . . sure, but for what purpose? If it's not for story, or a mission, it's just for sightseeing. Please see the FAQ I posted in the Galactic News Network for more on adding extraneous systems.
Now, I agree, the Delta Quadrant should probably be 3 wide and 6 long. However, we didn't have time to expand the DQ, and as the DQ was very recently added, it didn't need nearly as much work as the AQ and BQ did. Those quadrants needed a ton of work, and so that's where we focused. Like the expansions to the AQ and BQ, the DQ's borders could expand at some future date. They aren't going to now, however.
However, the entire scale of the DQ is off. It is very difficult to get people to understand the insanity that is Voyager's travels. Voyager traveled such an unbelievable distance, that there is simply no way to reconcile that with the rest of the shows. I will attempt to impart this lunacy to you through this. The entirety of the space shown in the Star Charts maps of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants is 13 sectors (260LY) across. The distance between Kyana and Nanipia is 10 sectors (200LY). That means the majority of explored space in the Alpha/Beta quadrants would fit between Kyana and Nanipia.
The fact is, Voyager hit a bunch of 'little' spots in the DQ, and skipped over a whole lot of it by [Insert Plot Device]. So, there is very little in our DQ that makes sense of that, since it made so little sense in the first place.
Now, there is no Tekara sector. Maybe you're thinking of the Yontasa sector, which is the furthest south in our map. That sector would still not be bordering the Beta Quadrant, and there is no reason the Solanae Dyson Sphere would need to be represented there. New Talax, sure, maybe. But I don't think that's particularly critical right now.
Again, potential future additions. Not something we're working on at the moment.
http://i3.minus.com/ixYp3Q3yg6Onw.jpgWith some of these ideas implemented, then the Delta Quadrant map should be three wide by ten to twelve long. While this would make the Delta Quadrant map longer than the Beta Quadrent map, it would also help to highlight the long journey that Voyager took crossing the Delta Quadrent.[/QUOTE]
We couldn't even possibly do it justice. Voyager was nuts.
That's right, you're wrong!
That distance (between Great and Galactic Barriers) is some 30,000-40,000LY.
Our Beta Quadrant map is 140LY tall. Extending our maps an additional 29860LY is not feasible.
Hey, Taco! Great work on the new Sector Space maps! I'm loving the whole new feel of grandeur one gets traveling through the quadrants now. Sometimes, I truly feel like I'm the only ship on the map. And the little touches, like unknown nebulae and abandoned ships, are just awesome. This is truly one of the best things to happen for STO this season.
Regarding the Delta Quadrant, one way to possibly tackle that task and make it seem "plausible" from a "canon" perspective is to do the DQ the way Sector Space originally was: separate maps. Take the known areas of the DQ make separate maps (3x3, 4x4, whatever size) and spread them out over the known course that Voyager took, then have each map transited to and from via Transwarp Conduit, Iconian Gateway, Underspace Corridor, etc. It could provide an in-game reason for map transitions, allow for greater expansion of the DQ, and provide that "canon" feel of having DQ systems where they "should" be. Sure, it brings back map transitions and loading screens, but at least for the DQ it makes sense, since you're basically jumping from one area of space to another.
You might even be able to introduce some "new" gameplay with that. In particular, I'm thinking along the lines of bringing back the mechanic where enemy ships in sector space would chase you down and force an encounter. That could do well on a Borg sector map, where all of the systems have been assimilated by the Borg and the Borg try to assimilate every ship that enters their territory; or a Hirogen hunting ground sector, where the Hirogen are searching for worthy prey.
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And I fully support this.