About "Worlds of Empire"...

[Grymlynn]

I was wondering how much (if any) real, placed stars were going to play in this book. I know Steve recently got himself a copy of the Astrogator's Handbook, and I was wondering if there was going to be an effort to place some (or all) of those Worlds around stars that have been reasonably well located? What I'm trying to ask is: will the author be using actual stellar data to place worlds around, or will he be making it up?

Finally, how much grief is the author going to go through putting together star charts? I realize that it's probably early, but that's kinda the point, I wnat to get folks thinking about it while they have some room to move...

[Steve Long]

Virtually no effort's going to be put into that for this product. We have too much space to cover in this book, and too many fictional worlds. The only exception would be using easily-obtained information, such as assigning the right spectral type to some stars (though even that tends to be debatable in some instances ).

Reasonable efforts to follow real-world data will have to wait for Interstellar Hero and Solar Hero (or whatever we end up callin' 'em), which deal with a much smaller scope of space nearer to Earth, thus narrowing the focus and making research tasks easier.

[keithcurtis]

Amen!

The Galaxy is one honkin' BIIIIG place. If you're going to locate a particular star it is either:

A. So close to earth that to show it on the galactic scale would require them to overlap.

or

B. So dang bright no reasonable liveable world could exist there.

Unless you're dealing with local space (i.e. within ~50 LY), there's no real point to strive for any kind of accuracy. The Terran Empire spans a respectable percentage of the galaxy.

Keith "Imperial Cartographer" Curtis

[Grymlynn]

Okay, I understand. Well, I didn't realize the scale of Worlds of Empire, or I would've asked regarding Interstellar and Solar Hero instead. I think it would be very cool for those books to follow known stellar cartography (as it is when they're published, anyway..). Just wanna make sure Steve gets his money's worth out of the Astrogator's Handbok...

[Steve Long]

Oh, I'm sure I'll get my money's worth. It'll come in darn handy for Interstellar Hero in many respects; too bad it doesn't cover the entire scope of space that book will (but in that case, the AH would probably fill five bookshelves -- 5000 LY is a lotta room).

[HappyCat]

I have to say that Solar Hero sounds like it could be great.

I've been wanting to run a near-ish future, man colonising the solar system type game for years now but can never get round to thinking it through properly ... assuming that's what Solar Hero is of course, then this could well be my saviour

[Steve Long]

That's exactly what Solar Hero is, pretty much. A lot of the colonization will already have gotten started, but there'll be plenty of real estate left to poke around in.

And, of course, plenty of juicy mysteries and exotic weirdness. What were Native Martians like? Why is Phobos so light? Where else does/could life exist in the Solar System? What's that weird black thing floating out near Jupiter? etc.

I've been wanting to write this game/supplement for years. I'm already looking forward to it and jottin' down notes. And the fact that there's all sorts of free JPL photos out there to keep art costs to a minimum is definitely a bonus.

[HappyCat]

Wooooo! Now I'm excited! Now I'm excited!

[BasilDrag]

Originally posted by Steve Long
Oh, I'm sure I'll get my money's worth. It'll come in darn handy for Interstellar Hero in many respects; too bad it doesn't cover the entire scope of space that book will (but in that case, the AH would probably fill five bookshelves -- 5000 LY is a lotta room).

And elsewhere...

Originally posted by Steve Long
That's exactly what Solar Hero is, pretty much. A lot of the colonization will already have gotten started, but there'll be plenty of real estate left to poke around in.

So, Intersteller Hero is going to be space out to circa 5000 light-years, and Solar Hero will be the Solar System? Any plans for a book at an in-between scope?

Actually, that sounds like over-kill, perhaps. So, I suggest lots of hints in Intersteller Hero on handling a smaller, more local section of space. Anyone positing a future without FTL would find that very, very useful.

--
I'm glad the sky is painted blue;
And the earth is painted green;
And such a lot of nice fresh air
All Sandwiched in between! -- Anon

[Steve Long]

IH, by covering exploration of space out to 5000 LY, of necessity covers space closer in. It's not like I'm going to describe space from, say, 500-5000 LY and leave 0-500 LY unmentioned.

[Grymlynn]

I am really glad you're looking foreward to writting these books, 'cause I gotta tell ya, I am really looking forward to buying them when they arrive! I have allways wanted something that contained some ideas for this genre, and I have never found anything. So, just you keep working, and I'll keep buying!