FQM Quadrant Shapes

[Fyron]

What shape of quadrant would you like to see added to FQM?

[Tnargversion2]

A spiral with a dense center that has several radiating arms.

[Fyron]

Here is my first attempt at a logarithmic spiral shape:

http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral.jpg

[mrscrogg]

That's nice !

[Raapys]

How about something more ala this:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/503179-spiralarmgalaxy.JPG

The picture is from MoO3, but you get the idea. I.e., seperate arms. Not sure how hard that'll be to construct.

[Kamog]

Wow, I like the logarithmic spiral quadrant. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Thy_Reaper]

I like the log spiral a lot, and I like the idea of a spiral arm quadrant too.

[Tnargversion2]

Your Logarithmic spiral looks great.

Is there any way to make the arms have more width as far as instead of only one star system width strings, maybe 3 or even 4 width star system arms? Similiar to MOO3 picture. Perhaps using 255 systems?

In addition to the spiral galaxy format what about a globular cluster that has a very dense core and the further one gets away from the center the more space between the stars.

Also anyway to set up a few warp lines that a very limited but stretch over great distances connecting one corner of the map to another for example.

[Fyron]

SE5's map doesn't have enough precision to do very much with thick spiral arms, unfortunately. The map is only 67x49 squares. Plus, when I do place multiple stars into the spiral, it gets really ugly WP lines. Here is an example I had worked on last night:

http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral_band.jpg

Raapys:
It only takes as long as determining the a,b,c parameters for the polar logarithmic function. The real kicker is coming up with decent parameters that make layouts SE5 can work with.

[Baron Munchausen]

What we really need is for SE to support interlinking of maps to make larger play areas. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Tnargversion2]

Fyron, the one you worked on last night actually looks like what I am trying to explain, just with two more distinct arms to fill those larger voids.

[Fyron]

If only SE5's map had decent resolution....

http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral_v2.jpg

[Raapys]

That's a nice one. Possible to discard those connecting points between the arms?

[Fyron]

Sadly no... that is already using a max wps per system setting of 2 (which SE5 only follows on the first pass).

==0==

In depressing news, look what happens with that last spiral quadrant, and 60 systems instead of the full 93...

http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral_v2_60.jpg

[Fyron]

Ok I'm a liar... d'uh, just fiddle with r! It's not quite as nicely spiraled though...

http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral_v3.jpg

The 60 system version doesn't turn out quite as badly. Hmm...

http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral_v3_60.jpg

[Raapys]

Hmm, that first one is very neat indeed. Number 2 obviously isn't pretty, but it might do the trick. Don't suppose you'd manage to seperate the arms in that one too?

[Captain Kwok]

Those are some really cool quadrants!

[Raapys]

I was thinking; how about manually setting in the coordinates for all hundred systems so that they'll fit with all quadrant sizes?

The smallest quadrant type is 15 systems. That means we'll need a working spiral quadrant with that few stars. So say you set the coordinates for the 3-5 first stars, in a circle of some such, in the middle of the map. Then you start making arms with the remaining 10-12 stars, adding one arm-part for each round, so we end up with a neat little quadrant.

As you get more and more stars, you slowly add to the existing pattern, changing between adding to the core and the arms, making it grow evenly in overall size. Thus it would not be a problem whether the user picks small, medium or large quadrants, because you'll have placed it so that it looks fine regardless of the number of stars.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Spiderweb!

[Kamog]

I like the ones with a few more interconnecting warp points on the spiral arms. If you happen to start at the end of arm with unfavorable systems nearby, you'd have more options to expand in other directions.

[Fyron]

Manual input is a no go. I can get a similar effect by parsing the locations in different ways, such as doing every 3n system, then 3n+1, then 3n+2. I'm not sure how much it would improve SE5's WP placement though; will have to experiment.

[AgentZero]

Imperator Fyron said:
Manual input is a no go.



So no spelling out our names in the stars then? But my megamegalomania needs a fix!

[Fyron]

Ok, for the "flower/web" type setup, it can be made decent-looking at smaller sizes. However, for the "spindly" type (the last image, where each arm is totally separate), there is not much to be done to make it appear good at lower system numbers. They tend to work out ok at medium map sizes though.

Keep in mind that the "arms" are essentially an artifact of the parameters fed to the logarithmic spiral function and how SE5 tends to place WP lines. If you look back at the very first image, you can see how there are in fact 4 separate spiral lines coming out of the center of the map. The latter quadrant images do not have WP line connections that are in any way related to the actual spirals; the WP line "arms" are actually cross-cutting through the spiral lines.

<hr>

This is essentially how the locations are calculated (in python), with the uniqueness and outside-the-map checking coming after the calculations:

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
# first attempt, where spirals get connected as WP lines
param_first = {'a': 2,
'b': 0.1,
'c': math.pi / 8,
'phase_list': [0, math.pi / 2, math.pi, 3 * math.pi / 2]
}

# Flower/web type
param_flower = {'a': 1,
'b': 0.1,
'c': 1,
'phase_list': [0, math.pi / 2, math.pi, 3 * math.pi / 2]
}

# discrete spindly arms
param_spindly = {'a': 1.85,
'b': 0.1,
'c': 1,
'phase_list': [0, math.pi / 2, math.pi, 3 * math.pi / 2]
}

param = param_flower

# Make the difference between t0 and t1 decrease as t gets larger
t_vals = [3]
for j in range(1, 50):
t_vals.append(t_vals[j-1] + (100 - t_vals[j-1]) * 0.01)

for phase in param['phase_list']:
for t in t_vals:
t0 = t
t1 = t * param['c']

x = round(param['a'] * math.exp(param['b'] * t0) * math.cos(t1 + phase) +
map_center['x'])
y = round(param['a'] * math.exp(param['b'] * t0) * math.sin(t1 + phase) +
map_center['y'])
</pre><hr />

[Fyron]

Hmm... if I stick to 2 engineered arms, I can make them actually have some thickness.

Large:
http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral_2_thick_l.jpg

Medium:
http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral_2_thick_m.jpg

Due to the bulge in the center, the small often doesn't get much in the way of an arm. C'est la vie.

[Raapys]

I think they're good, especially the large one. Would it be possible to thin out the center without messing up the WP lines? Would be neat if the arms went even further 'around' the center.

Even if that doesn't work, they're still cool as they are. Looks like a broken web.

[GuyOfDoom]

I like almost all of them. The shapes give a lot more versitility to the galaxies you can create. Awesome job all around Fyron.

[Fyron]

Spiral galaxies exhibit a dense cluster of stars in the middle, which is what I was seeking to implement.

I thinned out the cluster a lot from the original setup I was testing, so that the smaller quadrants would have less in there and more in the arms, while the larger quadrants would still have a dense cluster. There are only 13 fixed system positions in the center; the rest are generated by the spirals themselves. Here is an example of the Small quadrant:

http://fqm5.spaceempires.net/img/spiral_2_thick_s.jpg

[Kamog]

Is it possible to make a 255-system spiral quadrant?

[Fyron]

Probably not. 255 systems is a massive jumble of systems on SE5's tiny map.

[mrscrogg]

I think you already have that in the grid galaxy with 255 systems it looks like the board from the game show "Consentration" before they turn squares over { did I just date myself ? }

[cshank2]

Mmm, FQM. Favorite SEIV mod, now with the goodness of SEV.


Thanks, Fyron.