Me again viz: system names.

Elowan · #1 July 12th, 2002, 06:13 AM

I'm just and old programmer and probably don't understand these things but 256 items is still 0 to 255. Hence there can be 256 systems; 256 names and so on.

Captain Kwok · #2 July 12th, 2002, 06:17 AM

In this case though, zero is not included in the max number of systems, hence the 255 limit.

Puke · #3 July 12th, 2002, 06:45 AM

number 256 is significant (0-255) because MM has used a single byte as the variable that represents the number of systems. one bite has eight bits. between 00000000-11111111 there are 256 destinct combinations of numbers, thus that many unique values. in any binary system, everything is realted to a power of 2. in this case, 2^8.

i hate how accessable technology has become. everyone should have to know things like this. people complain that windows isnt reliable or is to hard to use, but they can use it without knowing how a computer WORKS. it kills me, and im not even a programmer.

back on topic, lots of lists of (real) star's names are available. heres some:

http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/s.../starnames.lst

http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/con...name_list.html

edit: typo

edit: pardon my general rant, im sure everyone on this board is bright enough to know whats going on. im sure those of you who dont abhor my attitude and poor manners (and maybe even some who do) are competant and qualified persons, in whatever field you represent. cheers.

[ July 12, 2002, 05:51: Message edited by: Puke ]

Elowan · #4 July 12th, 2002, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Captain Kwok:
In this case though, zero is not included in the max number of systems, hence the 255 limit.

Right you are! Just looked at the Settings.txt.

Fyron · #5 July 12th, 2002, 08:24 AM

Well Puke, I knew the effect, just not the technical reason.

Gryphin · #6 July 12th, 2002, 12:44 PM

I'm just wondering:
Since it takes 10s of hours to play a game, why would anyone want more than 255?

Growltigga · #7 July 12th, 2002, 02:59 PM

Fair comment Gryph, fair comment indeed....

Personally, I find that too many systems means too much real estate and therefore too much micromanagement to sort out your empire. I personally prefer medium size galaxies.

The two links for system names are excellent. I have changed all the system names on my SEIV to real star names and I think it gives a great feel to the game.

The only problem is that it can clutter up the map as your planets will tend to have long names such as "Australis Coriolis I", "Australis Coriolis II"