Newcomer / Intro Arcs over stars in Galaxy map.

[Stealthie]

From what I've read, this is pretty-much THE perennial newbie question but, frankly, I don't believe any of the answers I've read so far.

In the galaxy map, if you move the cursor to the core and then click on a star, ALL the stars appear to have an obvious orange arc above them.

The thing I've noticed, which nobody seems to mention, is that if you then move the cursor further away from the core (in any direction) the arcs get smaller and get closer to the dot representing the star.

If you move the cursor around half way back toward the bubble (or a similar distance from the core in any direction), the arcs ARE still there but they're tiny and so close to the star/dot that they're barely visible.

Most of the explanations for these arcs seem to involve them being representations of something or other to do with jump-capability although when I read people saying things like "They're an indicator to tell you whether a star would be within jump range if you were at that star" I can't help thinking that's just nonsense.

If that WERE the case then I should be able to move the cursor to a star, say, 200Ly from my current position and it should display those arcs just like the stars in the core have.
Equally, if I'm roughly half way between the bubble and the core, stars in the bubble should display those arcs just as clearl as stars in the core if they're something to do with jump-range.

Judging from the way that the size of the arcs, and their distance from the star/dot, changes depending on what area of the galaxy map you're looking at, I'd guess that they're supposed to indicate the proximity and intensity of something or other which is increasing as you get closer to the core.


So, anybody know FOR SURE what these arcs respresent?

And, if you're gonna tell me they're something to do with jump range, please cite the source of your information.

 

[D.G.Cerberus]

From what I've read, this is pretty-much THE perennial newbie question but, frankly, I don't believe any of the answers I've read so far.

In the galaxy map, if you move the cursor to the core and then click on a star, ALL the stars appear to have an obvious orange arc above them.

The thing I've noticed, which nobody seems to mention, is that if you then move the cursor further away from the core (in any direction) the arcs get smaller and get closer to the dot representing the star.

If you move the cursor around half way back toward the bubble (or a similar distance from the core in any direction), the arcs ARE still there but they're tiny and so close to the star/dot that they're barely visible.

Most of the explanations for these arcs seem to involve them being representations of something or other to do with jump-capability although when I read people saying things like "They're an indicator to tell you whether a star would be within jump range if you were at that star" I can't help thinking that's just nonsense.

If that WERE the case then I should be able to move the cursor to a star, say, 200Ly from my current position and it should display those arcs just like the stars in the core have.
Equally, if I'm roughly half way between the bubble and the core, stars in the bubble should display those arcs just as clearl as stars in the core if they're something to do with jump-range.

Judging from the way that the size of the arcs, and their distance from the star/dot, changes depending on what area of the galaxy map you're looking at, I'd guess that they're supposed to indicate the proximity and intensity of something or other which is increasing as you get closer to the core.


So, anybody know FOR SURE what these arcs respresent?

And, if you're gonna tell me they're something to do with jump range, please cite the source of your information.

I'm probably wrong but I had a feeling that stars which are selected in the filter get arcs over them whereas stars you haven't selected don't.....

I'm definitely wrong having just tried to replicate! Ignore me!

 

[Maymo]

They're called navigation markers you can toggle them on/off in your galaxy maps options.

I'm not even sure if they have a use anymore, I've read that the galmap changed at some point and they're now just a relic/artifact of the old system. Better waiting for an Explorer to explain I guess...

 

[Chris Simon]

They are just a graphical aid to help you to select the right star in dense regions (you have an area instead of just dot)
And the main function is to help you gauge the relative position, size and distance of the star from the "map camera". Without the arc, you won't be able to tell whether it is a really big star far away or a really small star right in front of you, without rotating the camera to different angles to get the perspective.

They were much more useful in the beginning when we didn't have route planner and had to work with the map before every jump.

 

[Stealthie]

TBH, I've been having another look at it and I think I was trying to find some significance that isn't there.

The thing that struck me was that the arcs are REALLY obvious over stars in the core.
Further out, the arcs seem to be much closer to the stars, to the point where it sometimes seems like there's no arc at all.

I was trying to figure out why there was that difference in the way they were displayed.

Thing is, upon further investigation, when you zoom into the core, the "ball" of stars you can see in detail is probably only about 50Ly across.
If you zoom in on a less densely population area of stars, the "ball" of stars you see is actually much bigger.
Presumably, this is because the game doesn't just display all the stars within an arbitrary area but, instead, displays a "ball" which contains up to a maximum nuber of stars.
Hence, the "ball" is smaller when you're zooming in on the core because there are more stars.

Sooo...
I wouldn't call it a bug but there seems to be an "idiosyncracy" in the way the map displays the stars in that when it's displaying a small, densely-populated, ball of stars it displays them smaller than it does in a larger, less-populated, ball of stars.
If you're looking at a dense ball of stars they'll be small dots and the arcs are clearly visible above each dot.
If you're looking at a less dense ball of stars they'll be bigger dots and so the arcs will be much closer to them or, in extreme cases, obscured by the dots completely.

So, yeah.
I don't think the proximity of the arcs to the dots actually has any significance, other than highlighting the slightly idiosyncratic way the map displays differently dense balls of stars.
Mystery solved.[up]

 

[Para Handy]

The arcs that suit over some stars in the galaxy map have never been fully explained to me (they are not the navigation markers). I wish someone with a line to the devs could get us a definitive answer as to what they are supposed to be for or signify.

 

[Valije]

The orange arc over the star shows if that system is reachable from the selected system with your current amount of fuel, mass and boost in a single jump. You can simulate the amount of mass (adding virtual cargo) or FSD boost in the map routing tab.

An example:

You are in system A, and you selected B in the map. There is a system C in the map that is 50 ly from B. If your current range is 45 ly, C will not have that mark. If you synthesize some jumponium your range will be bigger and the mark will appear over the C system. It is not affected in any way by your current system, only the selected one.

It is VERY useful in sparse areas when you try to minimize the amount of juponium or if you want to see if you can get to a system.

 

[Para Handy]

The orange arc over the star shows if that system is reachable from the selected system with your current amount of fuel, mass and boost in a single jump. You can simulate the amount of mass (adding virtual cargo) or FSD boost in the map routing tab.

An example:

You are in system A, and you selected B in the map. There is a system C in the map that is 50 ly from B. If your current range is 45 ly, C will not have that mark. If you synthesize some jumponium your range will be bigger and the mark will appear over the C system. It is not affected in any way by your current system, only the selected one.

It is VERY useful in sparse areas when you try to minimize the amount of juponium or if you want to see if you can get to a system.

edit ................

OK I just did a bit of rethinking of your wording and my posted image in response (which I have edited out) and I think the penny has dropped.

It isn't that your "B" is "selected", it is just that your system "B" has the info-box open, then the arcs appear over systems within a certain range (presumably your stated conditions) of that system (B).

e.g.

Right, problem solved ... on to next problem ... How to remove that annoying CQC ranking in my UI window....

 

[bookmite]

I've noticed them , but never really taken any real notice, I just assumed they were part of the filtering system , it's now going to bug us all big time

 

[Maymo]

The arcs that suit over some stars in the galaxy map have never been fully explained to me (they are not the navigation markers). I wish someone with a line to the devs could get us a definitive answer as to what they are supposed to be for or signify.

Well you can definitely toggle them on/off by selecting 'show navigation markers' in the galmap. Therefore, FD clearly meant for them to be called navigation markers...

What if you own a ship with god awful jump range?? Like 2ly.... Are all those markers still on the map? Maybe they are there to show you it's theoretically possible/impossible to get your vessel to that specific system (due to route plotting not letting you plan more than 1000ly).

Edit....

Yep, yep....

Just dropped a 2e FSD into my Python....bye bye orange crescent thingies....I can now go absolutely nowhere. They do seem to indicate theoretical range of your ship including scooping...

My guess is that when you're in the bubble these things are smaller because they have much less relevance, but when you're closer to SagA, well they're just about the only thing that is relevant right?

 

[Stealthie]

My guess is that when you're in the bubble these things are smaller because they have much less relevance, but when you're closer to SagA, well they're just about the only thing that is relevant right?

That's the bit that was bugging me; the difference between the way they appear if you look at the core and the way they look in the bubble.

I'm pretty sure that's just a result of the map showing you things in a different scale though.

It seems like the size of the "ball" of stars the map displays is inversely proportional to their density.
The more stars, the smaller the area of the ball. The fewer stars, the larger the area of the ball.

As a result of this, the map seems to apply different amounts of zoom which alters the way the nav' markers are displayed.

TBH, based on the way that the map zooms, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people don't actually notice the nav' markers when they're looking at the bubble in the galaxy map.
Most of the time a star will just look like a red/yellow dot with an orange edge on the top of it.

It's only when you're looking at the core, where the levl of zoom seems to be higher, that the nav' marker arcs are clearly visible above the red/yellow dots.


A few pic's for comparison....

First we'll take a look at the Core:-

Spoiler

If we zoom in until the "ball" of stars fills the screen we see this:-

Spoiler

Note how the dots represtenting the stars are small but the nav' marker arcs are really obvious above them.

And then we click on a planet and zoom right in on it:-

Spoiler

Again, small dots representing stars and big, obvious, arcs over them.

Now we'll look at the outer rim:-

Spoiler

We zoom in until the "ball" of stars fills the screen:-

Spoiler

This time the "ball" is a much larger area and the stars are drawn smaller cos they're further apart and the nav' markers aren't visible at all at this level of zoom.

Again we click on a planet and zoom right into it.

Spoiler

This time, for some reason, the nav' markers are drawn much closer to the dot representing the star so it looks like there's just an "orange edge" to the dot.


All in all, I'm pretty sure they DO work as intended, to show possible jump-range but the map draws things in an inconsistent way, depending on circumstances, so sometimes the nav' markers are really obvious and sometimes they're barely noticeable.

 

[Para Handy]

Well you can definitely toggle them on/off by selecting 'show navigation markers' in the galmap. Therefore, FD clearly meant for them to be called navigation markers...

...................

So it does! ... Well I'll go to the foot of the stairs! I thought the nav markers were just the "inverted pyramid" things on the map (they disappear when deselected).

Apologies for my erroneous belief.