It's North South now?

[Louis Calvert]

I'm reading all the old Frontier First Encounters Gazetteer entries, mostly to search for clues about things that might still exist, like INRA bases.

A lot of them talk about explorations to the North, specifically Mic Turner heading off "North of the Edge" to search for the Thargoid forward staging system.

I assumed originally that "north" meant towards the core, but does it actually mean towards the Rim? OR, is that one of the things that's been changed between FFE and ED?

It's not just one reference, there's dozens and dozens in different publications, it seems that "north" is consistent and that's where Mic was searching.

What are your thoughts explorers?

P.S. I believe the mission you could play to recover Mic's ship was set around Pleione, which for us, is Rimwards of the bubble, but... I'm not sure if that's the same as where the journals talk about with his explorations (he could have gone North, then gone South, for example, I'm not sure if that happened or they mean that Pleione is North.)

 

[Sapyx]

In FE2 and FFE, "North" meant "in the same direction as Earth's north pole is pointing". On that old starmap, Polaris was due "north" of Sol (sector 70,0 if I remember correctly) and was the location of the "Thargoid staging area" Mic Turner was looking for. Other northern-hemisphere stars (like Eta Cassiopeia) were all in that general direction too. While southern-hemisphere stars (like Achenar) were all "south" of Sol.

But in the more realistic ED starmap, the Earth's north pole doesn't point anywhere galactically relevant. Polaris is now SouthWest-and-Up. You'll also notice that Polaris is permit-locked, and always has been.

 

[Deluvian]

Remember, in no G, the enemy gate is down.. [Andrew "Ender" Wiggin ]

 

[Louis Calvert]

In FE2 and FFE, "North" meant "in the same direction as Earth's north pole is pointing". On that old starmap, Polaris was due "north" of Sol (sector 70,0 if I remember correctly) and was the location of the "Thargoid staging area" Mic Turner was looking for. Other northern-hemisphere stars (like Eta Cassiopeia) were all in that general direction too. While southern-hemisphere stars (like Achenar) were all "south" of Sol.

But in the more realistic ED starmap, the Earth's north pole doesn't point anywhere galactically relevant. Polaris is now SouthWest-and-Up. You'll also notice that Polaris is permit-locked, and always has been.

Thanks, that's interesting.