Oolite Bulletins

Is there any agreement on what the eight maps are?

They are called "Galaxies" in several sources, even back to good old Elite.

On the other hand, they look more like snapshots from an area in an arm of a galaxy, so maybe the term "Galaxy Sector" might be more precise - and which galaxy worth this term consists of a mere 256 unordered solar systems?

OK, what do YOU think?

For me, they're sectors. One galaxy has more than enough room for anybody! "Galaxy" is just a slang term, I think. They're clusters of stars, all within a 7-light-year-jump catchment area, selected by some Mysterious Purpose and linked by long-range one-way wormholes ...

Yeah, definitely sectors, or Octants as I think I will call them from now on.

I think Elite/Oolite is a game and that they're called galaxies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy

i was under the impression that they form a kind of circle in an actual three dimensional sense, so if you imagine an octagon that is solid, no scrub that, imagine a solid object, each end is an octagon, then the galaxies are the rectangular faces

that explains how the thargoids who are coreward (in the middle- towards the galactic core) are able to access everywhere

it also explains that the galactic hyperdrive always takes you in the same direction- it is designed to take you spinward or trailing(the direction the galaxy spins, or the direction it trails) and why you end up at the beginning again

nope thats no good either- doesnt explain why it dumps you in roughly the same place- oh hang on- it does, it takes you a certain number of parsecs and as its always in the same direction, it lands you in roughly the same place in the next segment

Yep, the error of my ways was politely pointed out yesterday when I said they were galaxies and I am now converted, they are sectors.

I like your ring theory!

Maybe this is like the hyperdrive in Ringworld, so the standard one will take you 1LY per tonne, and the super-duper one is the next quantum level up and takes you x LY per tonne. How wide is a gal chart? Surely it's not 49LY, but suppose it is, that makes the multiplier 7. So Galactic Hyperdrive takes you 49LY around the ring, and maybe there is a Quantum Level 3 drive available at TL20 that would ping you round 7 sectors at once or ping you between concentric rings around a galaxy.

So why are they in a ring?
- Maybe it's not possible to get any closer to the core because the hard radiation from the central black hole is too intense
- Maybe Sufficiently Advanced Aliens plotted all the witchpoints out as part of a Dyson sphere type project, on a Galactic scale, but the only legacy we have now is the connected network of these worlds... same number in each for reasons of balance around the ring. (Yes, I have re-read The Algebraist recently, what makes you ask?)
- This would also explain what happened to Earth... it is further out than THIS ring. The level 3 witchpoint to sector Alpha on the OUTER ring, which contains Earth, Wolf 359, Epsilon Eridani and co has been lost in the mists of time, so there's no way to get back to the outer ring. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the Oots the Chemists, but that's just peanuts compared to this.

Oo, and, if there is a ROTATING black hole at the core, that might explain why it's too hard to go the other way around the ring...

They are galaxies. They are galaxies because the thing you use to get to one is a galactic hyperdrive, as opposed to a hyper drive and that sounds awesomely powerful, where as galactic sector hyperdrive sounds as impressive as the term 'somewhat bigger gerbil'.

Also, since you can't go back, it's needs some grandness to it. You're going to a whole new galaxy, man,
Once you go there's no turning back.
Whereas again, going to a new galactic sector, sounds like you're going to the next town, and you'll be back before supper.

exactly- the earth is at the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm!

zevens, all well and good- we have nearly explained life the ooniverse and everything, BUT!!! haha

firtly- it doesnt have to be a perfect circle- galaxy 8 does not have to be on the same plain as galaxy 1- it can be a spiral in or out depending which way the gdrives take you

secondly- why cant you just do a normal jump off the screen? that would imply some distance between these clusters of stars

soooooo....

lets go with the spiral, and that our galaxies ar clusters of stars that are navigable from 2 parsecs- 7.2 light years. each cluster is a different distance from the others- so the only drive that can get you from any two clusters is the one that you buy in the cluster you are departing from- it has the correct ammount of whatevers in it to get you further along

the drive that you buy in galaxy 8 jumps the rift between the overlap of the spiral arm back to galaxy one

There are many theories around, and you are free to choose which one you like. They may be positioned octogonal, circular, or even like the eight sectors of a 2x2x2 box. (Remember that the maps are 2-dimensional representations of 3-dimensional sectors of space!) But at the end of the day, who cares? They cannot be reached via normal witchspace jumps through intermediate systems, so it really doesn't matter how they are arranged, and how far apart from each other they are.

And if you read Drew's fiction, they are called neither "Galaxies" nor "Galaxy Sectors", but simply "Charts". Which makes a lot of sense, IMHO.

But, to the best of my knowledge the (more or less) canonical facts are these (nicely bundled together by Selezen in his enormously helpful timeline of the Elite/Frontier universe (I consider all of them to be canonical for my gameplay, but of course you don't have to)):

• It all started in "Galaxy 1", in the "Old Worlds" or "Far Colonies" around Lave.
• 2545 - discovery of stable wormhole leading to what is thought to be another galaxy. The next five years see the discovery of a network of stable wormholes joining a total of eight galaxies together.
• 2573 - the first colonisation fleets are dispatched to survey and populate the newly found galaxies.
• 2589 - astronomical study reveals that the galaxies are, in fact, located in our own galaxy, spread across three different spiral arms, including the Perseus Arm. The name ‘galaxies’ sticks, however.
• 2627 - first manufacture of IGH unit, allowing creation of a hyperspace branch to the stable wormhole from any area of the currently occupied galaxy. The IGH unit is too large to fit to small vessels, and is only fitted to larger colonisation and exploration vessels.
• 2663 - Xexor Industries successfully test the first IGH unit small enough to fit on any hyperspace capable vessel. Despite the extortionate cost and mediocre safety margin of the unit, Xexor Industries receive over a hundred thousand advance orders in the week following the announcement of the test’s success.
• 2696 - Passing of Galactic Co-operative of Worlds Charter. The Far Colonies become the Galactic Co-operative Of Worlds. This body is designed to hold jurisdiction over activities within the spacelanes of the eight galactic sectors, but will have no rule over the individual member worlds.
• 2715 - publishing of a report proposing a ratified trading system within GalCop
• 2849 - first contact with Thargoid vessels. Intermittent contact with lone vessels becomes common through the following year. GalCop Federal Law Centres record a great many attacks on these strange octagonal ships – on occasion with no provocation from the Thargoid party. Victories against the alien vessels are few.
• 2851 - first recorded Thargoid invasion of a system. War is declared, and the Galactic Navy is mobilised.
• 2870-75 - Thargoid war settles into a collection of war zones and frontiers. This situation would remain more or less unchanged in GalCop space for the next 300 years.
• 3125 - Commander Peter Jameson begins career as space trader. (start of the original Elite game)
• early 3140's - start of Oolite.
• 3162 - GalCop’s economy begins to collapse.
• 3164 - During this year, the stable wormhole connecting Galaxy 1 to Galaxy 2 and thence to the rest of the seven Galaxies collapses. It is thought highly likely that the collapsing was engineered. Galaxy 1 stands alone. GalCop is reduced from over 2040 worlds to less than 200.
• 3174 - The Galactic Co-operative of Worlds president officially rescinds the GCW charter on the 19th August.

One thing I don't mention in the timeline is that the galaxies are the same distance apart as the "misjump bug" allows ships to jump in Frontier. At this point I can't remember the exact distance.

It was my way of further tying Frontier into Elite's universe...

coool timeline! but what about the wormhole connecting 8 back to 1?

Quote:

"2589 - astronomical study reveals that the galaxies are, in fact, located in our own galaxy,
spread across three different spiral arms, including the Perseus Arm. The name ‘galaxies’ sticks, however."

So it's definitely Octants, then (or Sectors, if you will).

BTW is a mis-jump hardcoded out when using Galactic Hyperdrive?
I've tried to force one. No go.

phonebook wrote:

firtly- it doesnt have to be a perfect circle- galaxy 8 does not have to be on the same plain as galaxy 1- it can be a spiral in or out depending which way the gdrives take you

Ah, I didn't type everything the voices in my head were telling me to, I now realise. My theory was you're following gravitational equipotential around the black hole, which will more or less be a circle around it in most cases.

secondly- why cant you just do a normal jump off the screen? that would imply some distance between these clusters of stars

Maybe there's a gap of more than 2 parsecs between these clusters. I'm sure I could come up with some handwaving that means the galaxy has 8 dust spokes through it.

lets go with the spiral, and that our galaxies ar clusters of stars that are navigable from 2 parsecs- 7.2 light years. each cluster is a different distance from the others- so the only drive that can get you from any two clusters is the one that you buy in the cluster you are departing from- it has the correct ammount of whatevers in it to get you further along

Yep, except we know from Word Of God (by which I mean canon) that this is in fact parts of the Milky Way, which has four unequal arms (as of this week, in fact!), not 8. So my plan now falls to bits! Bugger.

Cmdr McLane's post is what I was thinking of when I said Earth is somehow implicated... I remember reading that timeline before. The Schism in 3164AD must be what I was thinking of in terms of losing access to the outer ring of sectors.

FFE presumably is set between 3125 and 3140 then, whilst Earth is still connected?

If an IGH jump is equivalent to a controlled misjump, that kind of fits with my (oh alright, Niven's) quantum levels of jumpiness theory. A misjump is what you get when tunnelling occurs.