ok, now I realize this is not really a mod thing... but I had an idea.. and so I wanted to see what the community thought about it.... but its kinda does the same thing as a mod, cause it creates very different game (hopefully)

SO... basicly... I wanted to create a set of maps that might be semi-realistic... and may be able to bring "multi-star" maps to multiplayer... and if it works out ok... maybe i can make a few and stick them in that community map pack thing (if i manage to find the time for it all... between school, and life, and making maps takes a nice little while)

so... features (of my test map, and maybe any maps to come depending on what you all think):

1. multiple stars systems.  theses systems are kinda small... not because most star systems are small... but for gameplay reasons... having star systems dominated by gas giants and astroids (like real life star systems as far as we can tell) is not really balanced... consider the planets you see in my map... as sort of the "important" objects... the ones worth fighting over.

2. no phase lanes to the stars. In... erm... "rl" a starship as close to a star as starships in sins get to stars... would mean toasty crews... so I wont let you get close to stars. mostly because cause i am mean... and I dont want you using long range jumps.

3. all planets within the starsystem are connected to eachother... basicly... the choke points are now between stars instead of between planets... kinda like sword of the stars with the human ftl drive... i think... more imporantly... it plays kiinda a bit more like a tbs... unfortunatly... the map set up really makes culture flipping another star system preety much impossible... fortunatly... it makes refinaries a better choice than trade ports (mostish of the time) due to a very short maximum trade chain length... (in order to extend it to something actually reasonable, you have the option to extend your trade chain from your starting galaxy through a wormhole to your second "astroid" galaxy. (explained later)

3. at the edge of the star systems... the point where the solar wind of the star hits the radation of intersteller space... called the heliopause in real life... I have tried to simulate... in order to go from one star system to another your ships must pass through the chaos that happens at the heliopause using normal engines... once they cross the magnetic storm, they can use their phase drives.

4. random! I used the spawn probability setting on many elements in my map so that the map will be different every time... sometimes a system will have quite a few planets and stuff floating in it... some times it may just have a single planet... sometimes THE ENTIRE SYSTEM WONT EXIST AT ALL.   (now... in order to make sure the map will always be playable... about 1/2 of the map is not random... most importantly... the starting solar systems... and the... what i kinda called the "astroid" solar systems... basicly... just like in a random map, you have your starting hw, and a roid right next to it... i have a starting solar system, and a slightly smaller starting solar system right next to it, which, just like that roid, is designed to be your first thing to colonize (after your starting system, of course)... its random enough to be kinda differnt each time (you will recognise it all after a game or 2)... but kinda the same too, and most importantly, never unplayable.

5. semi-realistic! I did my best to try to make it... what i would imagine solar systems to look like... the only terran planets in my test map is the starting homeworlds, (face it... "green" just... does... not happen... very often... at all) planets close to the sun are volcanic... planets far away are ice.... planets dont occupy the same orbits (if they orbited)  the "moons" (roids) are unfortunally farther away from their planets than they should be... but this is because too close means that we get vertical phase lanes... and ugly wierd stuff... a nono... if i tried to compensate... phase lane travel takes FOREVER... another nono.  After you play it, you will prolly end up googling "lagrangian point"

I have seen a bug... once... but i think it had to do with galaxy forge and saving the map, and sins being up at the same time and wierd stuff like that... but... if you see odd phase lanes from your homeplanet reaching to some other point in any other star system... or other seemingly rouge phase lanes... please tell me.

Now... i think i made this map a bit too big... it will prolly end up being a long game... but its supposed to be a different sort of game play... I just kinda want your all's input on it, see if you have any ideas to make it better, and see if you would like to see larger maps (like a 3v3 or a 5v5 map) using this same sort of semi-realistic, semi-random, multiple small star system approach.

so, please, take a look at it, and tell me what you think.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ynmzdninmkd