The Aresian Cluster

[Haseri]

It is so damn weird seeing places you know as stars. Especially one's own town as what I assume as a K-Class. Keep the names, I say.

[elemental_elf]

Thanks for the feedback!

Sorry I haven't been regular, life just seems to keep getting in the way

Here's a new map for the updated vision for the setting. I changed the emphasis from concentrating on a single large cluster of stars to several densely populated clusters. The average speed vessels can achieve is only 10 times the speed of light, so most exploration and colonization is very localized. Massive rings, surrounding Class-A and some White dwarf stars, built by aliens unknown, allow for the near instantaneous transportation between clusters. Small satellites located around target stars allow for return voyages. Most clusters are separated by hundreds of light years, so the Alien Technology is utilized to its fullest potential by the denizens of the various Clusters.

This is a rough draft and the non-english names are simply place holders (they lack the charm of the English ones).

[zaffu]

Looks good! Is "Zues Cluster" a typo?

[elemental_elf]

Looks good! Is "Zues Cluster" a typo?

Definitely, typo.

Thanks for the catch!

[Relic Kimah]

I can't pretend to understand how to use digital systems for drawing star charts, or therefore how to make them represent three dimensions on a two-dimensional space. But the lines of travel between star systems should be straight lines from point of departure point to destination. Traveling to the orbital plane of another set of stars doesn't make much sense to me unless it is to avoid unknown or dangerous parts. Doing straight trajectories from each possible source to each possible destination would make it too cluttered, surely, but the red lines as posted as of February 2008 don't serve expedited interstellar travel as well as they could.

As to the idea of using unconventional means of travel, I hope I am not too late in manifesting and suggesting this. I know FTL and gates are overdone. Hyperspace jumping is not necessarily the same concept, so you could tinker with it. But have you thought about trans-phasic drives? They could shorten travel time without using hyperspace itself, be influenced by physical properties of the universe (rather unlike most representations of FTL or equivalent drives) or going at greatly accelerated speeds. I can't come up with much else besides teleportation or warp travel- both of which depend upon precision and complete knowledge of the route and destination. I would prefer a longer way to accidentally manifesting inside a star.