I've been playing Sins since the original release and always liked the idea that you could create your own worlds for the game. But I could never get the hang of using the GalaxyForge especially since it's almost impossible to create randomized maps there. (But what's the fun in playing a map, when you know where everything is?)
So after taking up playing Sins again after Rebellion came out I thought maybe the MapDesigner (MD) could do the trick for me. But since I don't like that the starting positions are placed way out of the system with the MD, I just opened the .galaxy files I made with the MD and looked for ways to tweak them.
And that is my result:
TXT
versionNumber 4
isBrowsable TRUE
browsePictureName "ScenarioPicture-RandomLarge"
browseName "Keep the Balance"
browseDescription "You start quite close to the star so watch out as there are 2 other players around here somewhere. Closer to the star you'll find volcanic worlds and further out there are ice planets and gas giants. But watch out for pirates and wormholes out there."
isFirstCapitalShipIsFlagship TRUE
randomizeStartingPositions TRUE
planetArtifactDensity 0.150000
planetBonusDensity 0.400000
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Population 3
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:CivilianModules 1
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:TacticalModules 0
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Home 1
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:ArtifactLevel 10
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Infrastructure 2
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Population 4
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:CivilianModules 1
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:TacticalModules 0
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Home 1
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:ArtifactLevel 10
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Infrastructure 2
recommendedGameTypeCount 1
recommendedGameType "FFA"
metersPerGalaxyUnit 25000.000000
pixelsPerGalaxyUnit 1.000000
useRandomGenerator TRUE
randomizerParams
starPosOffsetRange
minPercentage 10.000000
maxPercentage 15.000000
playerParams
startingCredits 3000
startingMetal 800
startingCrystal 250
homePlanetType "TerranHome"
homePlanetStarRadiusRange
minPercentage 0.280000
maxPercentage 0.460000
areExtraPlanetsColonized FALSE
extraPlanetsMaxRadius 15.000000
extraPlanetsRadiusRange
minPercentage 0.900000
maxPercentage 1.000000
extraPlanetGroupCount 2
extraPlanetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 1
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Asteroid"
extraPlanetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 1
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Moon"
starCount 1
star
type "RandomStar"
radius 345.000000
moveAreaRadius 10.000000
hyperspaceExitRadius 10.000000
connectionStarRadiusRange 0.100000
connectionChance 1.000000
maxPlayerCount 3
ringCount 6
ring
starRadiusRange
minPercentage 0.100000
maxPercentage 0.170000
militiaColonizationPerc 0.250000
planetGroupCount 2
planetGroup
minCount 3
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Volcanic"
planetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Moon"
ring
starRadiusRange
minPercentage 0.200000
maxPercentage 0.250000
militiaColonizationPerc 0.250000
planetGroupCount 4
planetGroup
minCount 3
maxCount 6
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Asteroid"
planetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "AsteroidBelt"
planetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "DeadAsteroid"
planetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "AsteroidSpaceJunk"
ring
starRadiusRange
minPercentage 0.280000
maxPercentage 0.460000
militiaColonizationPerc 0.250000
planetGroupCount 3
planetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Terran"
planetGroup
minCount 4
maxCount 6
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Desert"
planetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Moon"
ring
starRadiusRange
minPercentage 0.540000
maxPercentage 0.620000
militiaColonizationPerc 0.250000
planetGroupCount 4
planetGroup
minCount 6
maxCount 12
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Asteroid"
planetGroup
minCount 4
maxCount 8
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "AsteroidBelt"
planetGroup
minCount 4
maxCount 8
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "DeadAsteroid"
planetGroup
minCount 4
maxCount 8
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "AsteroidSpaceJunk"
ring
starRadiusRange
minPercentage 0.680000
maxPercentage 0.920000
militiaColonizationPerc 0.250000
planetGroupCount 4
planetGroup
minCount 3
maxCount 6
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Ice"
planetGroup
minCount 3
maxCount 6
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Moon"
planetGroup
minCount 3
maxCount 6
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "GasGiant"
planetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "PlasmaStorm"
ring
starRadiusRange
minPercentage 1.000000
maxPercentage 1.200000
militiaColonizationPerc 0.250000
planetGroupCount 6
planetGroup
minCount 3
maxCount 3
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "PirateBase"
planetGroup
minCount 4
maxCount 8
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "AsteroidBelt"
planetGroup
minCount 4
maxCount 8
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "AsteroidSpaceJunk"
planetGroup
minCount 4
maxCount 8
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "PlasmaStorm"
planetGroup
minCount 1
maxCount 1
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "Wormhole"
planetGroup
minCount 2
maxCount 4
planetTypeCount 1
planetType "MagneticCloud"
To run this script in your own game just copy this into a text file, place it into the MapDesigner folder and rename it to 'Keep the balance.galaxy'.
As can be seen you can fully tweak the galaxy settings (artifact dessity, bonus density, Quick Start), add a description and picture for the map, tweak the player starting position, resources and planets (in the playerParams section), add planet groups like in MD (here called "ring") and the planets in those groups (here called "planet group").
This way it is possible to create beautiful random map scripts with the additional benefit of being able to preview the map in game with the MD.
