Distance Scale in combat

[Raging Deadstar]

I was just wondering what each tiny square in combat is called, or in estimates how long it would be and i what units. Generally how far is it from edge to edge how far a ship moves with one combat movepoint. I'm sure theres a word for it or a rough distance. For some reason parasec comes to mind as a measure but i'm not sure. Any help on this would be appreciated

[Cyrien]

I have always just refered to it as a sector or grid or square when talking about it. As for any actual distance it may represent... well there isn't one. This is most apparant when looking at battles around planets/stars etc. The differences in the number of squares different planets take up vs the number of squares a star takes up make it clear that they don't clearly represent any set distance. It is just a way to contain the combat in an effective system.

[Raging Deadstar]

Lol i just figured that out and spent the Last 5 minutes trying to edit it with no sucess...

Well anyway anyone got an idea what it could be called? i'm sure i heard it called a parasec before...

Note: Anyone who wants to ridicule me for this don't get any brownie points or christmas cards!

[Cyrien]

Do we get christmas cards if we don't ridicule you and can brownie points get me anything?

Parsec wouldn't be the correct descriptor even if these squares did have a set distance.

From one website with info on this...

The Parsec Distance Unit
The method of parallax gives rise to a natural distance unit that astronomers call the parsec (which we shall abbreviate as pc). The parsec is defined to be the distance at which a star would have a parallax angle p equal to one second of arc. From basic trigonometry we find that this distance is equal to 206,265 astronomical units (where the astronomical unit is the average separation of the Earth and the Sun) or 3.26 light years. One also commonly uses the kiloparsec (kpc) and the megaparsec (Mpc) as a distance unit, which correspond to 1000 and 1,000,000 parsecs, respectively. Although the light year is often found in popular level discussions, professional astronomers probably use the parsec, kiloparsec, and megaparsec more commonly as units of large distance. It is useful to remember the following average distance scales:
The average separation between stars in a galaxy like our own is of order parsecs.
The diameter of a galaxy like our own is typically of order 100 kpc.
The separation between galaxies in a cluster of galaxies like our own local cluster is typically several Mpc.
The separation between clusters of galaxies is typically of order 10 Mpc.
The most distant galaxies observed are thousands of Mpc away from us.

Now consider that all engines in SE4 say slower than light speed travel (unrealistically) on them. One combat square is more than 3 light years if you call it a parsec. Doesn't quite work out.

In fact there isn't really any distance you can call the squares in combat. Even the ones in a star system are iffy as to what you could call it.

Quite simply SE4 due to the limitations of the game engine does not accuratly model distances in just about any of the grids you can see in the game.

Make up your own names and stick with em.

I personally call the galaxy map a Quadrant (though it isn't that either really) and consider it to be just a small fragment of the galaxy bounded by strong energy fields that prevent warp points from leaving it within the confines of the SE4 technology tree.

And I won't go into what I call the rest of the different squares... It isn't relevant really.

And there isn't any way to edit the battle grid or the amount of space the planets take up on it that I am aware of.

[ April 09, 2003, 20:44: Message edited by: Cyrien ]

[PvK]

I'd estimate between 100 Km and 100,000 Km, but as others have said, it is a very abstract representation. Unless it is an inertialess 2-D universe, for instance, the squares would represent distance in three dimensions, as well as velocity, etc.

Note that in the real universe, the Earth is roughly 12,750 Km in diameter, and the distance to the moon is about 384,000 Km. This is partly why I gave those figures above.

PvK

[Grandpa Kim]

Not that I would ever ridicule anyone, but the squares are about 1/2 inch on my screen.