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#1
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Actually, this whole business of "six coordinates can handle everything" needs a little scrutiny by itself. I propose the following:
1. The galaxy is 100,000 lightyears across. 2. The galaxy rotates around it's center in such a fashion that it can be taken as read that it's standing still, with some line (say the one going through Earth) taken as a "Prime Meridian." 3. Use some form of polar (or rather, cylindrical) coordinate system makes more sense, as I believe that planets get denser as you head inward and sparser as you go outward. 4. Hence three coordinates: angle, distance, and elevation above or below the galactic plane. 5. For gate address 123456, 1 assigns the angle to a range 1/38th of the circle, 2 assigns the angle to a range 1/38th of the previous, or 1444 slices of pie, so to speak. 3 assigns a broad radial band of 5000 lightyears, 4 assigns a narrower radial band of 300 lightyears (all of this is rounding, of course). 5 and 6 assigns the height above or below the galactic plane (I can't assign numbers because I don't recall the galactic height offhand). 6. Within each of these ranges there is precisely 1 Stargate. Or rather, one "active" Gate. This is similar to some of the Star Trek games, where a "sector" is defined by the major planetary system within it. Actually, by this system I think you'd need another coordinate for the radius to make it work. But at least it makes more sense than the old "box connected to Earth" routine.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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#2
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I'm pretty sure that's wrong, you know, but don't quote me on it.
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Mason: Luckily we at the Agency use use a high-tech piece of software that will let us spot him instantly via high-res satellite images. Sergeant: You can? That's amazing! Mason: Yes. We call it 'Google Earth'. - Five Minute 24 S1 (it lives, honest!) "Everybody loves pie!" - Spongebob Squarepants |
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#3
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PointyHairedJedi: I'm pretty sure that's wrong, you know.
Had to be done. ![]() This also had to be done: "Darnit, PHJ! I'm an engineer, not an astronomer!"
__________________
mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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#4
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Actually, it seems that it's right after all. Even though rotation speed would theoretically vary with distance from the galactic center, observations of other spiral galaxies show that it doesn't. Except for the very center of the galaxy, the rotation speed is pretty much a constant. So it sounds like a line through a star could serve as a prime meridian.
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#5
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Hey, cool. And as for stars closer to the galactic core, you could take one of the angular coordinates (since the slices of pie get so much narrower) and use it to compensate for radial speed.
__________________
mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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#6
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Quote:
![]() If you want to justify six coordinates, the values could be (x, y, z, t, energy required, check digit) or some such.
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#7
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I can't remember where I read this the other day, but someone was bringing up the whole "there are more than 39 Stargates, so this whole system is hooey" argument. Apparently, they don't realize that the point of origin is not one of the 38 standard glyphs, it's a symbol all it's own that's located in the same position on each Stargate. It's just like if my Enter key was painted red, Zeke's was painted blue, Sa'ar's was painted green, and so on. All else being equal, it's a quick way to point out "hey, I'm the Enter Key!"
I pity people (fictional though they may be) that have to use Pegasus Gates. Have you paid close attention to one of those glyphs? It's not five or so points in a simple pattern, it's dozens in a vague blob that you have to memorize!
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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