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AstroSynth 2 or 3?
Hey guys.
I have Astro 2 but haven't used it a lot. Back when I bought it several years ago at Gencon, it didn't do what I wanted it to do when I got home so I shelved it. I was recently searching for star viewing programs online, saw a place that recommended AstroSynth and I had this "wait a minute...I own that I think" moments. So I went over to the shelf and pulled the disk.
I write stories now, and I would like to use a program to look at space and be able to see how far systems are from each other. How long it takes to fly there and stuff like that. Also just so I can see where they are.
The "universe" of my stories is in OUR universe, so I want a dataset of stars that are as accurate as we know. Also, for story reasons, an F, G, or K type star that does NOT have at least one habitable earth-like planet (or moon if around a gas giant) is a rarity.
Now what I NEED is the ability to look at stars and see how far away they are from each other. This Astro can do.
What I would LIKE is the ability to generate a random system of planets around the star, that will weight themselves with a bias towards being habitable if they are close. For story purposes, I assume terraforming if close.
Now I can run random system selection, but it rarely gets a good habitable world in the Goldilocks Zone. This is in 2. In 3, it SAYS it should be able to do this, weighting towards habitable worlds, but I can't find the option to make it do that in the trial version of the program. Is there an option I'm missing, is that option not actually there, or is there a plugin I need to get that?
On another request, is there a way of adding a RANDOMIZED earth-type habitable world to an existing system? Say I use the basic randomizer and it comes up with no living worlds. So I add a planet to the system in the Goldilocks Zone and have it be RANDOMIZED. I note that AS3 can add a habitable world, but it is the SAME world over and over again. Not really what I'm looking for. Is there a plug in that will do THAT?
Generally, I'm wondering if there is a compelling reason for me to upgrade from AS2 to AS3, and if I can get either program to do what I would LIKE it to do for me?
I can get AS2 to do what I NEED. Star charting. Can I get EITHER program to do what I WANT?
Note for information that for my universe includes general colonization of systems with 300 to 500 lightyears of Earth, with exploration of space two to three thousand lightyears away. And there are other civilizations thousands of lightyears away from Earth. This is basically the Orion Arm in scale, though as noted outside 300 or 500 lightyears, Terran populations are rare.
So how would people who have used this program before suggest I do the mapping of this? One large file with all stars within 10,000 lightyears of Earth? I see there is a file with that information. Or smaller sectors?
I have Astro 2 but haven't used it a lot. Back when I bought it several years ago at Gencon, it didn't do what I wanted it to do when I got home so I shelved it. I was recently searching for star viewing programs online, saw a place that recommended AstroSynth and I had this "wait a minute...I own that I think" moments. So I went over to the shelf and pulled the disk.
I write stories now, and I would like to use a program to look at space and be able to see how far systems are from each other. How long it takes to fly there and stuff like that. Also just so I can see where they are.
The "universe" of my stories is in OUR universe, so I want a dataset of stars that are as accurate as we know. Also, for story reasons, an F, G, or K type star that does NOT have at least one habitable earth-like planet (or moon if around a gas giant) is a rarity.
Now what I NEED is the ability to look at stars and see how far away they are from each other. This Astro can do.
What I would LIKE is the ability to generate a random system of planets around the star, that will weight themselves with a bias towards being habitable if they are close. For story purposes, I assume terraforming if close.
Now I can run random system selection, but it rarely gets a good habitable world in the Goldilocks Zone. This is in 2. In 3, it SAYS it should be able to do this, weighting towards habitable worlds, but I can't find the option to make it do that in the trial version of the program. Is there an option I'm missing, is that option not actually there, or is there a plugin I need to get that?
On another request, is there a way of adding a RANDOMIZED earth-type habitable world to an existing system? Say I use the basic randomizer and it comes up with no living worlds. So I add a planet to the system in the Goldilocks Zone and have it be RANDOMIZED. I note that AS3 can add a habitable world, but it is the SAME world over and over again. Not really what I'm looking for. Is there a plug in that will do THAT?
Generally, I'm wondering if there is a compelling reason for me to upgrade from AS2 to AS3, and if I can get either program to do what I would LIKE it to do for me?
I can get AS2 to do what I NEED. Star charting. Can I get EITHER program to do what I WANT?
Note for information that for my universe includes general colonization of systems with 300 to 500 lightyears of Earth, with exploration of space two to three thousand lightyears away. And there are other civilizations thousands of lightyears away from Earth. This is basically the Orion Arm in scale, though as noted outside 300 or 500 lightyears, Terran populations are rare.
So how would people who have used this program before suggest I do the mapping of this? One large file with all stars within 10,000 lightyears of Earth? I see there is a file with that information. Or smaller sectors?
Comments
In a case of perfect timing, you'll be wanting to check out my shiny new Stellar Mapping page, which has all the stars (from various star catalogues) in the Hipparcos catalogue out to 300ly from Earth.
It's all designed to be easily imported via CSV file format in Astrosynthesis 3.0. I'm not sure if that's compatible with AS2 though (I'm only familiar with version 3).
http://evildrganymede.net/rpgs/stellar-mapping/
Another question. I've found Stargen an its cool. Is there any way of importing stargen system results into AstroSynth?
If you want accuracy, i'd suggest using the Hipparcos database (+ RECONS + DENSE) only.
BTW, if you do manage to import the stars from my site into AS2 please let me know! Then I can say that the data is compatible with the older version too.
So what do you have to do to make the Hipparcos files work with AstroSynth?
I know lots of maps do up towards the core and LEFT towards spin. Is this how AS does it?
If so, is this any less accurate than the other way? And why is it wrong if it is?
Also, if it IS wrong, can AS be modded to READ galactic XYZ coords?
It's pretty simple to convert the Galactic XYZ coordinates to Astrosynthesis 3 though (I presume AS2 has the same orientation) - I describe how at the bottom of Section 1 of the Mapping page.
So for Hipparcos, you'll want to download the zip file from the link that says "Hipparcos dataset (Astrosynthesis XYZ), CSV format"
Then skip down to Section 3 at the bottom of the page for import instructions into AS3 (again, I presume AS2 works the same way, but I don't know since i've not used that version).