Author Topic: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)  (Read 8463 times)

Mal-3

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The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« on: 04 May 2020, 12:32:13 »
A few months back I was messing around with an AU map of the Inner Sphere (as you do) and I ended up throwing a hexagonal grid pattern over the top of the thing as an aesthetic flourish. It looked pretty good, and it set off two thoughts in the back of my mind: "Hey, this looks pretty good" and "You know, everything else in BattleTech is dependent on hexagonal grids, so why not the starmap?"

So with this in mind I grabbed some data off of Sarna, grabbed a few other tools and set out to do a thing. A month and a half of lockdown later and I had a thing. Now, friends, comrades and MechWarriors all, for your edification and amusement I present to you the final product of this particular brain squeezing:


113pp, over a hundred maps showing every major settlement listed on the current map of BattleTech's known space with borders and status set to the 3025 timeframe, all done up in a nice, easy to digest (and printable! If you're the kind of person who still does hardcopies) format for the sake of those who don't want to go peering at a huge-ass map of everything just to figure out one small corner. Perfect for planning your next campaign against the perfidious {insert faction here}, for figuring out where the hideaway of your OC Clan Donut Steel should be located, or simply just to look at -- I think it's quite pretty, all things considered. What you end up doing with it is your own affair, but if you do end up using it please drop me a line; I'm always fascinated to learn how people use the things I create.

Have fun!

xoxo,
The Fun Tyrant
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marauder648

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #1 on: 04 May 2020, 12:56:54 »
Hooooooly cow this is amazing!

*edit*

Just looked through this, you've done a stellar (pun not intended..too much) amount of work here, this is seriously brilliant!
« Last Edit: 04 May 2020, 13:41:26 by marauder648 »
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jimdigris

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #2 on: 04 May 2020, 15:24:47 »
Truly impressive! :thumbsup:

worktroll

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #3 on: 04 May 2020, 17:20:15 »
Sir, this is amazing! As a "little black book" fan of Traveller from day 1, who has a printed out & stuck together 40-year-old map of the Spinward Marches in his mancave, I appreciate this on so many levels!

Of course, now I want to print this out & assemble the BT map ... and play a game of 1 regiment per counter on it!

My thanks.
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #4 on: 04 May 2020, 17:52:32 »
Yeah, that's an amazing piece of work.  Thank you.
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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #5 on: 04 May 2020, 19:11:34 »
That... is excessive. How, do we use? Are those Hexes a specific size, so that some how, that map could be used for travel purposes? Or, as I suspect would be the primary use, to be used as a printed game aid, for roll play purposes? Like on the back of a contract or mission orders?  ^-^
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Daryk

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #6 on: 04 May 2020, 19:55:28 »
Amazing indeed!  :thumbsup:

worktroll

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #7 on: 04 May 2020, 20:03:20 »
Just one question - could you do a version which can be printed booklet-style, with cover etc for "little black book" printing?

Cheers,

W.
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
* The Housebook series is from the 80's and is the foundation of Btech, the 80's heart wrapped in heavy metal that beats to this day - Sigma
* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"

Mal-3

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #8 on: 04 May 2020, 20:46:47 »
Huh. More of a response than I anticipated. Well then!

Hooooooly cow this is amazing!

*edit*

Just looked through this, you've done a stellar (pun not intended..too much) amount of work here, this is seriously brilliant!
Like many artists I can only see the flaws in the finished piece. There's things I could've done differently but didn't for the purposes of expediency, and there's things I wanted to do but BattleTech as a game just didn't have the necessary supporting data. Like, the game doesn't really do much in the way of middle-ground detail between the big strategic map with the interstellar borders and the tactical maps where the Mechs slug it out, you know? I'd have loved to added way more detail to the world lists, like the Universal World Profile in Traveller, but that data doesn't exist for 95% or more of the Inner Sphere, and there's no consistency in terminology for the remaining < 5%. Ah well.

That... is excessive. How, do we use? Are those Hexes a specific size, so that some how, that map could be used for travel purposes? Or, as I suspect would be the primary use, to be used as a printed game aid, for roll play purposes? Like on the back of a contract or mission orders?  ^-^
The hexes are all five light years across (vertex to vertex or center to center) and everything within six hexes of any given point is within jump range. So yeah, you could use this to plot a course if you wanted to. (There's a little fudge vis a vis the hexmap and the "actual" maps in the books or on Sarna, for the record. But AFAICT nothing that's on the one-jump line on Sarna is outside the 7-ring on any system. It's in fudging distance, is what I'm saying.)

As for using it as a RP aid, that's perfectly cromulent.

Just one question - could you do a version which can be printed booklet-style, with cover etc for "little black book" printing?

Cheers,

W.
It should already be, I think. The pages are all 8.5x11, and the margins are a little thin but it ought to be printable on any normal home printer. Not booklet size, but honestly that's about as small as I dare go and have the map text be legible.
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worktroll

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #9 on: 04 May 2020, 23:33:55 »
Just the cover's going to fold across front & back.

Now that I think about it, it'd shouldn't be a big hassle - you'd have to do the front page half sized, then make the other half blank. Then it'll print as the cover on P1, the blank half on P2 ... might need some fiddling.

Had the same issues with my Army Reports 3025.
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
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* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"

makulator

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #10 on: 05 May 2020, 09:12:48 »
I am really impressed....you put a lot of work into this pretty book.
Thank you
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Mal-3

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #11 on: 05 May 2020, 13:46:32 »
Just the cover's going to fold across front & back.

Now that I think about it, it'd shouldn't be a big hassle - you'd have to do the front page half sized, then make the other half blank. Then it'll print as the cover on P1, the blank half on P2 ... might need some fiddling.

Had the same issues with my Army Reports 3025.
Ah, okay, I think I get what you're aiming at now. Yeah, I tend to go for maximum KISS and maximum utility when it comes to doing print design for online distribution, and covers/binding tend to suffer a little for that.

Oh and hey, if anybody wants to see the whole megillah in one go here's a poster-sized version of the entire map in glorious color. Mind you, when I say "poster sized" I'm not screwing around; this thing is fitted to an entire A0 sheet. (About 3ft x 4ft for those who don't know it.) So anybody with Aspirations of printing be warned.
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worktroll

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #12 on: 05 May 2020, 18:40:10 »
Bah! I'd have to print it at 800%, to get it big enough to a) read the names, and b) fit counters in the hexes!
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
* The Housebook series is from the 80's and is the foundation of Btech, the 80's heart wrapped in heavy metal that beats to this day - Sigma
* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"

Daryk

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #13 on: 05 May 2020, 19:37:14 »
Again, VERY cool, thanks!  :thumbsup:

Red Pins

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #14 on: 06 May 2020, 01:29:00 »
>Squee!<  New fan product! 

Thank you!  This one looks good - I'll have to look at it in more detail, but this looks like it will be perfect for any AToW RPG group - clear, concise, and easy to understand.  The only quibble is, do they have the deep periphery states, ISP planets of interest, Hidden Worlds of the Wobbies, and a couple other small ones?

Dang, I'd like to do this for my AU project.



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Sartris

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #15 on: 06 May 2020, 03:02:31 »
whoa

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Mal-3

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #16 on: 06 May 2020, 14:06:14 »
>Squee!<  New fan product! 

Thank you!  This one looks good - I'll have to look at it in more detail, but this looks like it will be perfect for any AToW RPG group - clear, concise, and easy to understand.  The only quibble is, do they have the deep periphery states, ISP planets of interest, Hidden Worlds of the Wobbies, and a couple other small ones?

Dang, I'd like to do this for my AU project.
The Atlas itself has the deep periphery states with actual defined borders -- Clanners, Hansa, Nueva Castille, New Delphi and the Axumites. All the system data is derived from the most recent iteration available on Sarna, so the hidden worlds are in the Atlas but not necessarily under the same names. As for ISP points of interest, anything that was essentially a point with a name and nothing else around it is not in the Atlas, because the ISP3 map introduces a ton of space with absolutely ****** all in it, and that would've made the book a Kafkaesque nightmare to make and use.

That said, I do have a working map of the entire space aligned to the same 5ly hex grid as the Inner Sphere available here. This has everything in it and is better suited for hands-on meddling (changing borders etc.) than the fancier maps. For the record, it works best in Illustrator.
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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #17 on: 06 May 2020, 15:29:45 »
Wow, amazing piece of fan work! Interesting on the establishment of Sectors. Almost 12 years ago I posted this somewhere which could have some bearing on your work.

Quote
Astrography of the InnerSphere

One of the dream BattleTech projects I would like to work on is an astrographic map of the InnerSphere. This would chart the stellar regions of the BT universe from settled or exploration zones established in the early days (Terran Alliance) to clusters, nebula, and other interesting places that dot our sky today. This thread is dedicated to research and discussion to that end. I’ll take established canon information (please list your sources if ya do) or conjecture based on other established info. Credit to Roosterboy who first outlined this whole idea and got me going. Here are some major astrographic regions that I already looked up. Thanks for your interest in advance.

InnerSphere
Core Worlds – Lying at the very center of the Human Sphere these planets were among the earliest colonized by mankind and include the very Cradle of Humanity, Terra. These worlds are easily the most developed and highly populated within the Sphere. They serve as the economic, cultural, and political centers of humanity.
Lyrae Sector – Perhaps the richest area of space thanks to its abundance of natural resources. Donegal, Tharkad, Arcturus
Crucis Reach – (HDSB) New Avalon lies at the heart of this region and was surveyed in the first decade of the 23rd Century. Thanks to this garden planet and perhaps other very habitable worlds that compose this region it didn’t take long for this area to be colonized. Three successive waves of colonists settled the region from 2213 to 2221. Musekgon was in the border area of this region.
Draconis Rift – (HKSB) Only the Rift limited the outward growth of Shiro Kurita’s young empire, this was a partially explored region of space which was thought to have very few habitable world. This region proved to be a tenacious obstacle. Pesht was a launching point for Combine forays into the Rift.
Capellan Zone – (HLSB) The Capellan Confederation officially began in July 2367 with the union of five diverse states of this region. This habitable zone rimward of Terra includes the worlds of Ares, Chisholm (Elgin), St. Ives, Tikonov, Liao, Sarna, Sian, and most importantly Capella which probably lies at the center of this region.

Periphery
The Rift – (PSB) Many times in this book regarding the RWR, Rim and Rift are interchanged
March Worlds – (PSB)
Marik Expanses – (PSB)
Capellan Marches – (PSB)
Hyades Rim – (PSB)
Outer Sphere – (PSB)
Draconian Drift – (PSB)

Commenting or emphasizing if I may on Worktroll's idea printing such a map would really open up House Campaigning (as we used to call it) where either regimental or battalion markers could be moved about.

Thank you sir, I really love this fantastic contribution to the community!!

Red Pins

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #18 on: 06 May 2020, 18:26:45 »
Heck, yeah!

*Hey Takiro - this kind of thing would really seem to mesh with your Salient Horizen project.  Well either this one or one of those colored  maps (It's been so long, I don't remember the name of the volunteer who made my project map.)
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Takiro

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #19 on: 07 May 2020, 05:10:41 »
*Hey Takiro - this kind of thing would really seem to mesh with your Salient Horizen project.  Well either this one or one of those colored  maps (It's been so long, I don't remember the name of the volunteer who made my project map.)

Absolutely, gonna take look later to see if I can use some for my 3rd Marik Civil War. Maps are so helpful!

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #20 on: 10 May 2020, 10:22:02 »
Wonderful work! I added the book to the fandom wiki!
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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #21 on: 10 May 2020, 10:36:30 »
Red Pins, was it Davout73 by chance?

Red Pins

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #22 on: 10 May 2020, 11:09:07 »
I can't remember, but it started with a 'D', I think.  Picture was a 40K ultra marine helmet or something?  Whoever it was was amazing.
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Daryk

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #23 on: 10 May 2020, 11:13:24 »
He might have used that one a long time ago... more recently, it's been Paris Hilton reading Sun Tzu...

Red Pins

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #24 on: 10 May 2020, 13:11:16 »
Um, Darkisi?
...Visit the Legacy Cluster...
The New Clans:Volume One
Clan Devil Wasp * Clan Carnoraptor * Clan Frost Ape * Clan Surf Dragon * Clan Tundra Leopard
Work-in-progress; The Blake Threat File
Now with MORE GROGNARD!  ...I think I'm done.  I've played long enough to earn a pension, fer cryin' out loud!  IlClan and out in <REDACTED>!
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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #25 on: 10 May 2020, 13:47:23 »
I know DarkISI's a writer... didn't know he did maps too.  Davout did a map for me, it's why I thought of him...

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #26 on: 10 May 2020, 23:28:30 »
" Offer void in Utah. "

HA!

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #27 on: 13 May 2020, 05:56:57 »
Was amused at the Plan 9 reference on the intro page.

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #28 on: 12 July 2020, 16:21:16 »
That's good work, there super chief.

Maybe I missed it, but any plans for a 3050 version or later?

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Re: The Atlas of the Inner Sphere (3025 Edition)
« Reply #29 on: 12 July 2020, 16:55:58 »
Amazing work. Thank you so much