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C# Suggestions / Re: galactic map display mode

« Last post by Steve Walmsley on Today at 03:12:47 AM »

You have posted suggestions for a fix without explaining the problem. Could you explain what you are trying to accomplish with the map and why you are running into problems

For example, the images below are from a recent campaign with almost 300 systems. I have had 500+ system maps in the past without issue. Otherwise, I would have made changes myself

C# Suggestions / Re: galactic map display mode

« Last post by nakorkren on Yesterday at 04:33:00 PM »

My priorities in using the galaxy map are "Understand relative position of systems i.e. topology" and "Reduce the amount of time I, the player, spends maintaining the map in a way that facilitates the former"

1. Multiple maps - I think this just makes more work to maintain multiple maps.

2. System Icon Size Alternation - I really like this. Make system icons smaller if they're non-important from a galaxy topology perspective. You might want to modify that by checking the system's importance to the player or other NPCs in some way. Probably just let the player override it to set icon size manually if desired, for instances when your homeworld is on a cul-de-sac etc. As a bonus, this is probably the easiest for Steve to implement, meaning it's much more likely than the other ideas to get done.

3. Subgraph Collapsing - Most of the maps I've played don't lend themselves well to this. Particularly since jumps are instantaneous and it's really the distance within systems that causes the travel time.

4. Toroidal Map - This could help reduce line crossings to some extent, and is relatively intuitive, since Civ players learned to interpret it fairly well.

5. Non-Straight Connections - Might allow reduction in crossings, at the expense of significant additional manual work.

6. Multi-Layered Maps - This makes my head spin a little. I can sort of visualize how this could work/look, but see my point in item 3 above, plus sounds like lots of work to maintain.

Please don't take any of my feedback personally, as I love that you're thinking about this problem! Of all of these, I think item 2 has the most potential.

Development Discussions / Thoughts on map generation

« Last post by nakorkren on Yesterday at 04:23:23 PM »

I've been thinking more about the challenge of maintaining the galaxy map as you discover more and more systems and the connections get so complex and overlapping that it's hard to get them to lay flat-ish without a spaghetti mess of crossing lines.

Likely not everyone considers this a problem worth addressing, but it bugs me, so I was chatting with a friend about it. He pointed me to the Wagner Theorem, which states that "...a finite graph is planar if and only if its minors include neither K5 (the complete graph on five vertices) nor K3,3 (the utility graph, a complete bipartite graph on six vertices)." That got me thinking about changing the underlying map generation process as one route to making map maintenance easier: maybe when creating a new connection, the game could check the map to see if it would still meet the criteria of the Wagner Theorem above, and if not, roll again. Or possibly up to a limit before just accepting the result, to avoid getting stuck in an endless loop. This should, in theory, avoid lines crossing, or significantly minimize it, resulting in a highly planar map that would be easy for a force graph algorithm to lay out neatly.

I haven't yet tried to test this to see what maps built that way would look like, largely because while I can sort of half-way program, the time it will take to figure out the math involved is intimidating. Is there anyone on the forum already familiar with this kind of graph theory/math who can speak to whether this is likely to lead to maps with less (or no) crossings that would still be interesting to play?

Note that this idea completely ignores my other quibble with the galaxy map as implemented today, which as I've mentioned before is that because the map displays systems as nodes and gates as edges, which is the inverse of how long distance actually takes to travel (all travel distance is within systems; edge transit is instantaneous), it's really deceptive about travel time. I'm intentionally not trying to address that here, but wanted to at least note it in case someone was going to say "but what about when you said xyz".

Aurora Videos (C#) / Re: Prometheus Returns | Aurora 4x: Post Diaspora #1

« Last post by SpaceMarine on Yesterday at 01:38:44 PM »

Quote from: trainhighway on Yesterday at 07:18:55 AM

The series is looking good. I'm exited for the next episode.

I appreciate it, that means a lot thank you.

Aurora Videos (C#) / Re: Prometheus Returns | Aurora 4x: Post Diaspora #1

« Last post by trainhighway on Yesterday at 07:18:55 AM »

The series is looking good. I'm exited for the next episode.

Graphics Packs / Re: Feline Race Pack - 482 cat races, including spoiler races

« Last post by Ancalagon on May 02, 2025, 07:48:54 PM »

Hardcoded Spoiler Races – Click "Show" to Reveal

Off-Topic: show

Graphics Packs / Feline Race Pack - 482 cat races, including spoiler races

« Last post by Ancalagon on May 02, 2025, 07:44:26 PM »

I sat down to make a xeno race pack, but wasn't really finding much inspiration with traditional alien races. Then, I happened upon the idea of making a race pack with only cats.

This is a collection of 482 generated and carefully curated images of cat-based xeno races. Big cats, wild cats, house cats, catty cats—they're all here! All hardcoded spoiler races have likewise been converted into appropriately-themed cat spoilers.

Hope you enjoy!

Changelog:
[v1] 2025-05-02
- Initial release of the Felinid Xeno Race Pack.
- 482 painstakingly hand-clicked images of cat-inspired alien races.
- All spoiler races have appropriate feline counterpart race portraits.

Example images of some of the Felinid races you may encounter during your travels within the Local Bubble of the Milky Way:

Aurora Videos (C#) / Colonial Readiness | Aurora 4x: Post Diaspora #3

« Last post by SpaceMarine on May 02, 2025, 01:38:31 PM »

C# Suggestions / Re: Suggestions Thread for v2.4.0

« Last post by Steve Walmsley on May 01, 2025, 07:41:27 AM »

Quote from: paolot on April 25, 2025, 10:04:33 AM

In the Intel window, when a ship class is selected, and some ships are marked as destroyed, is it possible to continue to show the systems where those ships were (apart the wreck marks in the galactic map)? I can think to go and salvage them later, and their location is useful to remember of them.
Moreover, if I salvaged some of them, could these ones be marked somehow (let's say, using an asterisk or adding an "(s)" near the ship in the Intel window)? This mark should be valid only for the ships salvaged by me, as I don't know if a NPR did it, so adding a factor of uncertainty in perfoming these operations in systems controlled by an ostile NPR (I need to survey the system in anticipation, before mounting a mission).

Added for v2.6. The 'destroyed' text is moved to the right-hand column and the system of destruction is now included in the centre column. If a particular ship is salvaged by the viewing race, there will be an (s) next to the 'destroyed' text.

C# Suggestions / Re: Suggestions Thread for v2.4.0

« Last post by paolot on April 29, 2025, 07:02:04 PM »

Quote from: Ghostly on April 28, 2025, 01:46:08 AM

...
I admit it's not the same, but you can double-click any ship in that list to focus the game on its last known location, even if it's long been destroyed or even salvaged.

Thank you Ghostly.
Never thought about double clicking.
For ships salvaged by the player, I hope for the mark sometime.

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