Tomasius Space

 
Star Citizen: Merc's Jump Point Map (As at February, 2953)

2024.0429.1415

This map portrays a strategic arrangement of the star systems and corresponding jump points currently shown on Star Citizen's ARK Starmap. I've coded an XHTML area overlay, with information panels, linking the each of the star systems to the corresponding article, announcement, or video available from the source specified in the tooltip. So, for more information, just hover your mouse over the star system of interest. If you want more in-depth information on any star system displayed above, clicking on the star will open the correspnding article, announcement, video or ARKStarmap coordinates in a separate tab.

If you liked the map or found it useful and want to see it develop further, feel free to upvote it on the Star Citizen Community Hub.

You may notice that TOCC tags are back in new and improved flavours. This is just some shorthand for the system value, name, broad class of gravitational governor (mostly based on spectrographic classification) and a rough indication of orbital mass distribution. For example, in the tag, 1-HELB.1030:

1. 1 designates the presence of one sustainably habitable world (i.e. which requires no upkeep to retain habitability.
2. HEL - designates an abbreviation of the system name, Helios
3. B - designates the emission classification for the main sequence dwarf B star.
4. 1030 - a four digit SCT designating the presence of 1 gas giant magnitude orbital, no gas dwarf magnitude orbitals, three terrestrial magnitude orbitals, and no dwarf planet magnitude orbitals.

For print media, it's probably going to come out better if you have the printer reduce from A2 Portrait to A3 Portrait (71%) or A4 Portrait (50%) but, if all else fails, there are A3 and A4 versions available (if a bit on the fuzzy side):

A2 Portrait	A3 Portrait	A4 Portrait
A2 Portrait Print Version	A3 Portrait Print Version	A4 Portrait Print Version

 
Acronyms and Special Usage

Orbtials are intended to categorise mass along a single orbital trajectory for potential statistical comparison with jump point distribution.

Category 0 Orbitals: encompass artificial satellies including arrays, stations and platforms in orbit - and are not indluded in SCTs (system composition tags).

Category 1 Orbitals: encompass asteroid belts and rings, mesoplanets, protoplanets, iron planets, and dwarf planets of any long term duration in orbit.

Category 2 Orbitals: encompass coreless planets, terrestrial planets, super earths, and cthonian planets of any long term duration in orbit.

Category 3 Orbitals: encompass smog planets, gas dwarfs, and ice giants of any long term duration in orbit.

Category 4 Orbitals: encompass gas giants and super jupiters of any long term duration in orbit.

FCA; Fair Chance Act

SHP(Sustainably Habitable Planets); refers to the number of planets which support habitation without ongoing infrastructure maintenance requirement in order for habitability to continue.

NRTT (Non-Relatavistic Time Threshold); refers to the minimum amount of time necessary to travel a distance equal to the size of the system without incurring noticable time dilation.

 
Assmptions

Systems named in obsolete maps, which are not bespoke elements of existing intellectual property and do not reference politicised issues, comprise neutral and available namespaces with no reason for being discarded. In the context of an expanding universe with an increasing shortage of namespaces on which to draw, it is to be expected that revealed and subsequently withdrawn names will return as the Star Citizen universe fills out. Thus, Adilan's appearance on early maps is indicative of a return of this namespace for a future star system.

System names, referenced in in-lore fiction with connection to cultures which exist in lore (e.g. Banu), are considered to be real within the Star Citizen Universe for the same reason that authors generally only use existing names to reference places on Earth in connection with existing cultures. When writing about a Tanzanian, competent authors will refer to a real place in Tanzania instead of making one up. For this reason, the appearance of the Ophos System in reference to the Banu, as part of an early in-lore work of fiction, serves to indicate that the Ophos System is an in-game Banu system currently under development although not necessarily one that will, initially, be known to players. This has been confirmed by brief reference to the Ophos System on displays at the ArcCorp TDD in the earlier builds featuring ArcCorp.

Smog planets are treated as hot gas dwarfs unless detail is present to specify surface accesssiblity as with terrestrial smog planets.

Ice giants are treated as cold gas dwarfs unless detail is present to specify surface accessibility as with terrestrial ice planets.

All objects on the same orbital are treated as part of the Lagrange mass belonging to the largest object on an orbital.

Asteroid Belts and rings are treated as a single mass for the purpose of assigning an orbital.

 
Acknowledgements

Aside from drawing on Cloud Imperium Game's world building for Star Citizen, this map takes some inspiration from @Archilele's Galactic Guide (originally published back in 2014) and I think Archilele's map is still a good candidate for a printed poster map.

 
Merc's Map Project Management

Tier 0: Base Map
Tool Prototyping and Work Procedures. Completed: 2022.1015
Map Base. Completed: 2022.1021
Map Base Optimisation. Completed: 2022.1023
Map Base Detailed Audit; First Pass. Completed: 2022.1024
Map Base Format Distribution. Completed 2022.1024

Tier 1: XHTML Map Area Overlay
XHTML area overlay link update. Completed: 2022.1028
Map Base Detailed Audit; Second Pass. Completed: 2022.1028
XHTML area overlay link position check. Completed: 2022.1028
XHTML area overlay tooltips NRTT Completed: 2022.1105
Question List. TBC

Tier 2: Geochronology
Reference Database Backup. TBC
Reference Database Update. TBC
Reference Databse Audit. TBC
Counter Chronological Image Decay and Bespoke Generation. TBC
Chronology Interface Design and Markup. TBC
Chronological Page Mask. TBC
Chronological Page Generation. TBC
Counter Chronological Page Decay and Bespoke Generation. TBC

Tier 3: System Dossiers
System Dossier Layout and Markup. TBC
System Dossier Structure. TBC
Intrasystem Mapping Design. TBC
System Dossier Drafting, Editing, and Review. TBC
XHTML Map Area Overlay Link Updates. TBC
XHTML Map Area Overlay Geochronology Propagation. TBC

 
 

Monday, ISO: 2024-April-29, 14:15 hours, UTC.