Hi everyone,
I used my holiday trip to tinker a bit with Zulnaks new map.
Ignore the first spreadsheet, I just used that one to map my changes onto Zulnaks larger new 'small galaxy' Map. The other 2 spreadsheets contain a map according to Canon (i.e. Trek Series and Movies) and the same map with additional information based on the extended Canon (i.e. Novels and so on).
I tried to extrapolate the approximate position of species/star systems mentioned in TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT. Only parts of the TOS Canon were included because they either contradict/confuse information given in latter series or are at odds with the feel of the more modern series (I'll just say nubile space babes, Nazi wannabes and Chicago mobsters in space ).
In order to read the map I'll just give a short legend:
The claimed space of the minor and major empires is colored according to maps like the ST star charts (or assumed in the case of Tamarians, Sheliak, Fen Domar etc.).
Systems within that space which are a) known to contain inhabited worlds or b) explicitly said or shown to contain inhabitable worlds are colored in a darker shade of the respective empires color.
Those systems in neutral space fulfilling conditions a) or b) are colored in a dark orange.
Systems not shown on a 'Canon' map are labelled with an '*' after the name to indicate that their current map position is only an extrapolation from other canon sources.
The home systems of minor races are colored black.
You'll note that some systems have a red frame - this indicates either a) the homesystem of a minor race that could be included in the game or an official mod later on (these have a black background) or b) the homesystem of a minor race about which not enough canon information exists to warrant inclusion in the game as a minor race (these have the same background as other inhabitated systems).
Zulnak included notes for the home systems of some minor races listing their planned special structure at the time. I didn't delete those notes but did not add these notes for the rest of the minor races.
I added notes indicating the home system of all those races currently not included as minor races. Those systems with species that have IMHO potential as a minor race have been given notes containing my suggestions for their special structure/the bonus given by it.
Other systems with notes are e.g. those whose position deviate from the one given in ST star charts to avoid large stretches of empty space between the system and the rest of the map.
If no one has a strong objection I would suggest using the 'extended Canon' map simply because it gives so much more systems to fill out dominion space and the adjacent parts of the gamma quadrant, the further reaches of the klingon and romulan empires, breen space and other parts that would be somewhat empty compared to federation space.
If you have any questions about the map or suggestions to improve it, feel free to post them

If you feel like it, you could compare the file I attached listing the minors in the game with this file of yours, and check if the minors' locations are correct. I may have changed a couple already.

Hi Iceman,
I went through your file and changed the quadrant and star system name where appropriate.

Ok, thanks. Some of those have already been fixed (Vulcans, Andorians, etc).
Some I already had them as pending for confirmation - I had to put the minors on the backburner for a while to take a serious look at the database.
I'm guessing most of the different star names have to do with different sources. Vjeko and Zeleni did some research on the subject some time ago. Also, I'll check for homeworld name vs homesystem (star) name - the Boslics for example, I think it's the homeworld that's called Cort, not the star, but I'm not sure how solid this is.

I'll look at it in detail and get back to you.

Hi Iceman,
the name issue is certainly a minor one - I just did a quick check using memory-alpha, the star charts and if neccessary memory-beta. The placement in the quadrants should be correct for most if not all species, although there's certainly some leeway for those minor races not shown on any (semi-)official map - I extrapolated their positions from the star date of the episode they appeared in vs the star date of visits to known locales as well as other information available about these races. As mentioned before, I placed the cytherians in the gamma quadrant to add an additional minor race to that somewhat empty quadrant. Same reason applies for the placement of the Varro, if they were to be included as a minor race, since the generation ship seen in VOY has travelled for centuries and could originate from any of the 4 quadrants;)

Hi Rake,

you use your rare holidays to play with my maps. I feel a littl' honoured and proud about that. Also take a glimpse/quick look beyond our modifications & improvements. Overall I like 'em. Some regions appear more alive. I was a little sad about the delated Starbases, Outpost, Dyson Sphere, Relays, etc.; but anyway. Perhaps one of these maps will make a good scenario game mode. Something like a modified save-game in the original botf. Let my thoughts fly and I see big potential & popularity for a (canon-) game mode like this. A 5 men multiplayer game with those starting conditions and yummy -- let's have some quick-action without mutch trouble. Time-line seems to be around 2360 - 2370. For example: In that case the large borg territory -among the gamma-quadrant- would make a good natural blockade for human-players who exploit Wormholes -or even the Caretaker- to membership all those minors in that quadrant. Could make a funny second place of action for all players. It could also be a nice challange mode for 2 players/friends who play well together as allied.

Mmmh, and I notice that my files are already not available to download. Damnit, next time I use another Upload-service.

@Kenneth, no need to thanks. You repay with all your nice ingame pictures.

@Iceman, good to see you are still one of the most valuable critics.

You're welcome Zulnak I decided to remove the star bases and other constructs because they would only become relevant in a playable scenario such as you described but are not relevant for games using the canon map to start 'from the beginning'. And checking their placement on the modified map is something that can be done later on for such a scenario together with fleet placements and so on. But I'd certainly to play that scenario - so feel free to add your bases and ships

Hey Zulnak. Yeah, that's me, the critic
Good job both of you. I'm sure the game will eventually support scenarios and a canon map, so your work will be much appreciated!

Some nitpickings, merely to open up some discussions:

- the Cytherians in GQ, they're the only Supreme minor, and since we have so few minors there, they'll probably always show in games (which have minors activated). Not sure how that'll impact the game.

- Memory Alpha has the Algolians be either in the AQ or BQ; I think we put them in the BQ because there are less minors there. As for the Horta, Kreetassans and Moropa, MA places them in the AQ, not BQ; should we keep the MA locations, or put them in the BQ for the same reason?

- The Andorians' homeworld is Andor, a moon orbiting Andoria, a Gas Giant (in the VIII position); that's why we set it as the IX orbit, as a Tiny Artic. Some sources (MemBeta?) say the star is Procyon, but I think it's highly arguable.

Hi Iceman, I guess we'll just have to see what impact the Cytherians in the GQ have on game play.
The star charts show Algol in the AQ (somewhat to the left of Talos in Federation space below Cardassian territory).
The Andor/Andoria question is probably one left to personal preferences - but since the star charts were used for the canon map we could certainly use Procyon/Alpha Canis Minoris as the system name as they are used as other designations for the Andorian systems on the star charts.
Since there is almost nothing known about the Moropa except their emnity with the Bolians I placed them in the proximity of Bolarus (same as Denobula and Beta Antares - which is listed as a possible name for the antaran home system and much more likely than the Antares system thats not even close to being in the same area as Denobula Triaxa) and close to the Romulan border to give a player the opportunity to encounter a minor race that isn't much more fed-friendly than inclined to join the Romulan empire but you could certainly place them on the 'other side' of Bolian space viewed from Romulus.
As for the Horta, I simply went with Zulnaks placement since there's no information on MA or MB regarding the exact position of the Janus system and as I said I consider TOS as rather unreliable when it comes to placing star systems. So you could surely shift the Position of Janus to the AQ part of Federation space.
As for the Kreetassans it's rather difficult to place them since no ENT episode has a star date mentioned to place the ship's position. Kreetassa appears in 'A Night in Sickbay' which is followed by an episode with Ferengi but appears only two episodes after the ship was in Romulan space - the Kreetassan ship encountered in 'Vox Sola' cannot be located precisely but the Enterprise operated in the episodes surrounding 'Vox Sola' in a part of space cornered roughly by the McAllister Nebula, the Arachnid Nebula, the Briar Patch and Betreka Nebula (Kantare colony, Tandar, Toroth and Mazar) - since that area of space is straddling the AQ/BQ border you could as above argue for placing the Kreetassans in either quadrant. As both the area delineated above and the space between Bajor and Earth is already quite crowded I decided to place Kreetassa in the comparatively empty space between the Briar Patch and the part of Klingon space bordering Romulan territory.

Hey Rake
I changed a good part of what you suggested, mostly those from AQ -> BQ. I'm kind of reluctant to change from BQ -> AQ, at least until I get a clearer picture of how many minors per quadrant we have.
I've also reverted a few star names to their system names to avoid confusion, and to be more user friendly.
Just letting you know I'm still here, and going at it. Though we've just had Mike release a new internal build, and I'm checking it out.
Thanks!

Hi Iceman,
thanks for the update

Memory Alpha places both the Bolians and the Moropa in the Alpha Quadrant... now, which "canon" do we follow?

I'd like to keep the Boslics in the Gamma Quadrant, being the less populated one. Couldn't really find anything concrete though.

Hmm? I can't find any statement placing Bolarus in the AQ in the articles http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Bolian http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Bolarus_system or http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Bolarus - and the star charts place Bolarus firmly in the BQ 'above' Benzar.
As for the Boslics it's ultimately your decision but as I mentioned before both the fact that they show up in a ENT episode centuries before the Bajoran wormhole was open for business and Memory Beta placing them in the BQ on the fringes of Romulan space argue against placing them in the GQ.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Bolian_sector



I'll change the Boslics.

Perfect;-)
As for the Bolians: Here MA and the Star Charts appear to contradict each other - in the charts the Bolarus (Tango) sector - and Bolarus itself - is located in the BQ between the Devron sector in romulan space and the border to the AQ.
As the canon map is using the Star Charts as reference whenever possible and you mentioned that there are currently more AQ than BQ minors I would suggest going with the Star Charts placement to make the Bolians an additional BQ race.
Another question: Since we are generally using the 'native' name of an inhabited star system if that name is known instead of the human latin/arabic nomenclature shouldn't we name the Vulcan sun Nevasa instead of 40-Eridani-A? And similarly the romulan system as Eisn (with ch'Rihan and ch'Havran instead of Romulus/Remus)?

I've actually been switching names of systems to the system/sector names (instead of star names - which were actually only a few occurences), so that it is more user friendly (and consistent, since we don't know the native names of every star). Also, the game actually uses sector names instead of star names for things like sitrep messages and such, so it's best this way. The only place where actual star names would be correct would be in the system panel when hovering over the star with the mouse, which is not really interesting or useful.