Prerelease 3.140 (Galaxy Map Organization, 3 Flak Turrets, Cmd Station buffs)

[x4000]

I think he means arrange the map by wormhole locations rather than having the ability to physically move the worm holes.  I can understand this being a major pain to implement though.

Yea, when I first read that I thought it would be easy, then I sat down to do it and realized, "oh".  Basically if a planet has 13 wormholes it has to be positioned relative to all of those other planets, which is doable by starting with an arbitrarily selected planet and working out from there (with galaxy map dx = some_multiplier * cos(line(planet_center,wormhole_center)) and dy = some_multiplier * sin(...)), but then you run into problems of stuff going off the edge of the map (can be clipped to it but then it's not proportional and probably overlapping and definitely ugly, etc) and it still doesn't really resolve the problem of so many relative positionings to maintain, etc, etc...

Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent

Worse than that, there's no guarantee that it's even possible to do.  It's entirely likely that Planet A is "north" of Planet B, and that Planet C is "north" of Planet A, and that Planet C is "south" of Planet B, which is what really kills that.  Stuff like that is in every galaxy map, I'm certain.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, then you get into the intractable problems.  In that case the "last" one would just take priority... but then what's the point of it all?

Needless to say it didn't take me long to realize this was a no-go

[x4000]

[Lancefighter]

well, theory states that any two non-parallel lines will intersect eventually.. unfortunately, as you said, the map is only so large..

[keith.lamothe]

The problem is worse than that, though, as what happens if you have 3 planets in a cycle all with their +1 wormhole at coordinate 100,100 and their -1 wormhole at coordinate 200,200 ?

Anyway, intractable graph theory problems aside...

[Buttons840]

I think he means arrange the map by wormhole locations rather than having the ability to physically move the worm holes.  I can understand this being a major pain to implement though.

Yea, when I first read that I thought it would be easy, then I sat down to do it and realized, "oh".  Basically if a planet has 13 wormholes it has to be positioned relative to all of those other planets, which is doable by starting with an arbitrarily selected planet and working out from there (with galaxy map dx = some_multiplier * cos(line(planet_center,wormhole_center)) and dy = some_multiplier * sin(...)), but then you run into problems of stuff going off the edge of the map (can be clipped to it but then it's not proportional and probably overlapping and definitely ugly, etc) and it still doesn't really resolve the problem of so many relative positionings to maintain, etc, etc...

Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent

Worse than that, there's no guarantee that it's even possible to do.  It's entirely likely that Planet A is "north" of Planet B, and that Planet C is "north" of Planet A, and that Planet C is "south" of Planet B, which is what really kills that.  Stuff like that is in every galaxy map, I'm certain.

Even simpler.  Planet A is connected to planet B with a "norther" wormhole.  Planet B is connected to Planet A with a "northern" wormhole.  Thus, A is north of B, and B is north of A.  Good luck mapping that.

[orzelek]

Ok I need to write this...

Customizable map is next level of awesome

Small possible changes:
- alt+click on map distance could be a tiny bit larger (like 100% more).
- the galaxy map string saying that this is an alternate view could be moved to right bottom corner to not overlap buttons (1680x1050 res here so have tons of unused screen space there)

PS.

Reading description of alt + click got me puzzled... but actually using it is really nice

[RCIX]

The only problem i found with the draggable planets is that the message saying that you have a custom view active overlapsthe buttons on the bottom left. Also, can it remember what view you were on last? That way i don't forget to change it...

[Winter Born]

[snip].

    * New Hotkeys for galaxy map (likely to be changed to something else):
          o Alt+A+9 : switch to your alternate galaxy layout
          o Alt+A+(1-8) : switch to alternate galaxy layout of player 1-8 (respectively)
          o Alt+A+0 : switch to official galaxy layout
          o Please note that all alternate layouts start exactly the same as the official layout, but there's a flashing note in the bottom left of the screen if you're viewing an alternate layout.

    * While viewing your alternate galaxy layout you may:
          o Shift-left-click-drag planets around
          o Alt-left-click a planet to perform a basic automatic "pull in chains" operation that relocates subsidiary chains (defined as link cardinality <= 2) into a cluster near the clicked planet. On higher-connections-per-planet map types this may not help you at all; on snakes and spokes and such it can be a huge time-saver.

Wow dragable planets are so nice. I notice repeated Alt-left-click generates new layouts for the chains selected. cool

So Alt a+9  and Alt a+1 both give my map for single player.

In multiplayer if I am player 2 then my custom map would show up if I or my team mate used Alt a+2?

[keith.lamothe]

The Alt+A+# key combo is being replaced in the next prerelease, actually.  But fwiw if you are player 2 then alt+a+2 is your layout (for you and your teammate).  That way they can see your layout, but not change it.

[x4000]

New version now out: http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,5344.0.html