The full-res version is 27MB, and that's jpeg compressed. It's beyond the limits of the CG. So, not going to happen :-) Besides, I really want to finish version 2, because I think it *will* be better overall. Ah, well...

Just because one understands something may not mean one can also manipulate it. Some things may simply be fixed, others might be changable but practical limitations are forbidding. Energies involved in doing anything at very large scales are insane. That's one reason I went with a hyperdrive - I can always pretend that the energy needed to jump to that alternate dimension aren't all that phantastic because it's "just there" anyway, just a slight phase shift away. Still needs a crapload of electricity coming from large banks of ultra-hightech capacitors, but I can pretend that it's practical.

But yes, since this is a setting about the conquest of the galaxy/universe, I am also assuming that at -very- high tech, pretty much anything becomes possible. Ringworlds and Dyson spheres? Commodities. Engineered galaxies? Sure, why not. Custom universes? Want fries with that? - Just not what humans will be able to do during the time of the main setting.