Space is 3d. Well actually it's probly more like 6d, but let's stick with 3d for now.

So, how come every availble map of the IS is 2d? I'm guessing just to keep things simple, but a 3d map would be cool to see.

Well, i know this is not the same, but it's on a simlar topic.

There was a program that someone made where you could entire the starting system and finishing system, and it could plot the number of jumps and the length of time you'd spend getting from point a to point b. I just wish I could remember the name and where to find it.

Yeah, tha'd be pretty cool to see. I've been wondering why there isn't a 3D map by now... Any one got an answer, I mean, fluff wise-ish?

Well, in MW:3 during the into breifing (not the intro movie...) there is a very brief 3d rendering of Clan Space and Clan Occupied space. But that's all I know.

When you figure out how to print a 3D map in a book and make it easily comprehensible, let us know.

easy, just show it from multiple angles.


You could even draw it out in 3d. Games-workshop does it that way often.

Kaylen

One of the old IS map programs was called the Inner Sphere Planatary Locator, This might be the program you were thinking of.

Reu

30th Lyran Guards RCT homepage

The jumpship calculator is there, among other things. Come in, check it out, and read for hours and hours because there's a LOT there.

look at the SW maps that came out in NJO. It is sad that this has become "expanded universe" cannon since it is a pile of crud for a map that doesn't have any clue how travel in the SW univrse works, or event what has been in the books before.

Same thing with CBT, there are a lot of 2-D maps of the IS becasue they are a lot easier to copy and make. ANd honestly, it is a lot of work to represent a 3-D model on a 2-d surface

Now those are some DETAILED maps! at a 25% zoom it doesn't fit on the screen.

Also, the galaxy is a disk.

Imagine the IS as a wide area that has actually little depth.

Maybe, say, if the IS was a disk representing a 250 light year radius as 5' wide, then it might be 2" thick at one side and sloping to 3" thick (coreward towards clan space) at the other side.

I'm no astronomer so don't flame me, I'm just illustrating that there's way more width than depth.

the ratio of our milky way between average width and average hieght is about 5 to 1. still plenty of room to stack things above eachother. heck for our little neck of the Galaxy there are 30 known star systems in a 50 light year radius.

Justbecause of the sheer size of our galaxy i fail to see how it could be detailed enough to show as a 2-D object

In case those Lyran Guards maps aren't detailed enough for you...

Dynamic PHP version...
http://www.netbattletech.com/nbt4/map/starmap.php

PDF version...
http://www.netbattletech.com/nbt4/maps/3063.pdf

One of my favorite sites ever is the Inner Sphere Atlas:

http://isatlas.teamspam.net/

Similar to the 30th Lyran Guards page, it gives you a lot of history, excerpts from BT sourcebooks referring to a given planet, neighboring planets, and some of the novels that planet has appeared in as well.

I think the routes the 30th Lyran Guards page gives are a little long, since it tries to route you through inhabited systems, and frequently ships use uninhabited systems to save time if there's no place with a convenient or friendly recharging station at hand. Each of those jumps is about a week!

One reason for making game/SF star maps in 2D is to make the idea of borders and 'choke point' a little more viable.

If you take a look at a 3-D star chart, it rapidly becomes clear that patrolling a border like that in free-space would be next to impossible - for simplicity, you've just SQUARED the amount of patrolling required.

The most basic reason, of course, has already been stated:

Back when FASA created Battletech, the idea of actually requiring someone to own a computer to view a map of the gaming universe was ludicrous.

If a 2-D starmap is the most unrealistic thing about this game, well...