Re: [GZG] Re: [FT] NAC campaign setup

Frits Kuijlman wrote:
> Good luck! I suppose all those dashed lines indicate 3D problems? I
> suspect that eventually things won't work (in 2d) anymore as people
> will select more stars from the 3D database.

	No, the dashed lines (with one exception) indicate
	where two empires clash, that is, where a line
	starting at a star belonging to one empire directly
	connects to a star belonging to a neighbor empire.

	The campaign map is not 3-D, nor is it 2-D, it
	is what I facetiously call a "two and one-half D"
	map, or a "node" map.

	Imagine that you take the 3-D map and draw lines
	between each star and its two closest neighbors.
	Then you take the resulting network, and flatten
	it out on a 2-D map, moving the nodes around
	so they do not overlap or otherwise obscure each
	other.

	The advantage is that it avoids fundamental
	problem of the 3-D map: two stars may look
	close on the map, but in reality they
	are far apart in the third dimension.

	The disadvantage is that if you want to know
	the *third* closest star to a given star,
	the node map will not tell you.

	Since people playing in the Full Thrust
	universe will be mostly concerned with
	fleet invasion routes, colonial expansion,
	and trade routes, for these purposes
	the node map is vastly easier to use.
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