Space & Stars

SPACE

From believing that the universe around you was a pretty large place, the new technology you've gained has gone to show that it is even more than you ever imagined! Your technicians immediately began creating a new recording method to hold the wealth of information that was sure to flood your way.

Your recently acquired galactic map is broken down into sectors, and is probably best thought of as a three-dimensional matrix. The axis are best recorded as:-

x (left to right), y (up and down) and z (back to front).

Each star co-ordinates are then shown as [x,y,z]. The long-range sensing devices that you have recently constructed have given you an idea that the galaxy (as far as theoretical maximums can be judged) extends to the following distances;

X : 1 - 90
Y : 1 - 90
Z : 1 - 90

Each sector may possibly have a star present (or possibly something else) and each star system has a maximum of ten planets. The orbits range in number from 1 to 10, with the zero orbit being the star itself, including any asteroid belts and other bodies. All stars are given records showing all orbits but not every orbit may have a planet actually present. So a star at X-axis 3, Y-axis 5 and Z-Axis 6 is shown as [3,5,6] or [3,5,6],0 to be precise. A planet in orbit 3 of that star would be shown as [3,5,6],3.

You may move a starship to any location in space but to get information about a star system and/or its planets you MUST know its name as well as its location. For suggestions on how best to map the game, see the Hints & Tips section later.

STARS

Every star in the universe is of course unique, but they can be classified as being within a certain type of star. Ranging from the very hottest and fiercest star type they drop through the categories to the coolest, and eventually the collapsed stars which have formed spatial anomalies. All stars can be categorised as follows:-

Blue Star, Blue Dwarf, Blue Giant, White Star, White Dwarf, White Giant, Yellow Star, Yellow Dwarf, Yellow Giant, Orange Star, Orange Dwarf, Orange Giant, Red Star, Red Dwarf, Red Giant, Black Holes, Binary and Triple.

Each star may have planets in orbit around it, and these planets can be any of the classified types (shown below), but generally a certain type of star will have a definite range of bodies in orbit around it. You may even find planets in orbit around a recently collapsed black hole.