WIP - Space Archaeology Mission Map

[Korash]

...
The archeological mission in the Boas System is led by the late Prof. Dr. Dr. Klaus Bohrenheimer. ... but he's sure he will find there something of enormous importance for the whole universe...

I like what you got going here, and having a story to go with is even better, so I hope you take a little English lesson in the way that it is intended: helpful c&c. When you put "late" before a persons name, it generally means that that person is dead.

I am trying to get a decent workflow to create some planets of my own so I am really interested in your progress. I do have a thought about the clouds, If there is an atmosphere and rotation, there could very well be some sand storms, and quite big ones at that, that could soften up/obscure some of the features on the planet.

[Abu Lafia]

I like what you got going here, and having a story to go with is even better, so I hope you take a little English lesson in the way that it is intended: helpful c&c. When you put "late" before a persons name, it generally means that that person is dead.

Thank you Korash, this is really helpful! I know that it is normally used "in retrospect" but thought it might work on living persons too... But yeah, Bohrenheimer is still very lively in testing the nerves of the other crew-members on the long flight to the Malinowski Sector...^^ (a typical quote while "arguing" with some crew members: "... all of the sudden there seems to be another person in this §$%! spaceship who recieved a honorary doctorate from Gagarin University on Mars!?!...").

I am trying to get a decent workflow to create some planets of my own so I am really interested in your progress. I do have a thought about the clouds, If there is an atmosphere and rotation, there could very well be some sand storms, and quite big ones at that, that could soften up/obscure some of the features on the planet.

You have a good point here. I tried to add some clouds/sand storms, but wasn't too happy with the result so far. I wanted to label some sites on the planet so i need at least some parts of the surface free from clouds that should be clearly distinct in grade of detail. I'l try to figure this out soon.

Edit:

Nice improvements! The labels are perfectly legible now.

Thanks Ilanthar, seems you posted while i was writing my post. I wanted some "retro-sci-fi" look and i'm quite happy with the results and think the colours fit somehow.

[Korash]

You have a good point here. I tried to add some clouds/sand storms, but wasn't too happy with the result so far. I wanted to label some sites on the planet so i need at least some parts of the surface free from clouds that should be clearly distinct in grade of detail. I'l try to figure this out soon.

In which case, don't bother with the clouds at all. Even now we have the tech to look through cloud cover as if it wasn't there, so I am quite sure that the future tech will be able to pierce sandstorms and such. It also explains why the features are so clean. Thanks for the info, it helps put a bit more polish on the story.

[Abu Lafia]

Update of recent changes. More detailed description and explanation of them will follow soon... What do you think?
Cheers,
AL

[Abu Lafia]

So, here's another update:



After my hamster couldn't handle the stress anymore, gimp crashed while saving and ate roughly the half of my layers 8( . Fortunately i had some Elements saved in other projects but it needed some time to bring them back together and rework some other stuff. The freshly done small planets in the Star-System-Map were still alive, only had to redid the main planet (version 3 or 4 now i guess, and still without sandstorms ), the "Sector-Map" on the starfield (the latter was saved in another project too...phew... ), and the labeling. I also tweaked the border and the windows a bit.
Would love to hear what you think about the changes. And ofc any kind of C&C is very welcome!
Cheers,
AL

[Chick]

Sounds like a bad day I like the look of your map, especially the border really does it justice! Are you going to expand the map of the sectors, because otherwise it looks like a lot of open empty space.

[Abu Lafia]

Sounds like a bad day I like the look of your map, especially the border really does it justice! Are you going to expand the map of the sectors, because otherwise it looks like a lot of open empty space.

Thank you Chick. I'm glad you like the map! I was thinking of adding more sectors but am not sure whether it might be to "busy" on the starfield, taking attention away from the important sectors. Maybe i could fade them with the hexgrid.

Updated Map:


- I moved the Sector-Map a bit more to the center, so it looks less "squeezed" to the maps on the right.

- I added some log-entries from Prof. Bohrenheimer for some lore. It also fills some of the open empty space on the map

- I added a logo in the bottom-left corner. Bohrenheimer was not too happy that he had to accept fundings from the IASA, a somewhat dubious organization full of "hobby archaeologists", conspiracy nuts and other "gescheiterte Existenzen" , to get his mission started....The contract says that their logo has to appear on all official documents of the mission. The fact that now Bohrenheimer gets constantly reminded of his "pseudo-scientific" sponsors, isn't exactly lifting his mood...

Cheers,
AL

[Ilanthar]

Nice improvements! The labels are perfectly legible now.

[arsheesh]

Looking really nice Abu! Great colors, and I really like your regional map.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Ilanthar]

I agree with Arsheesh about the regional map. And I find the layout better too.