Okay so question. Since this is one of the Essential Guides, are we going to adopt planet locations in it as being officially canon as pertaining to TRF? I've browsed through my copy, and most planet locations seem to correlate to the Galaxy Map we currently have right now, save for hundreds, nah, thousands more of additional planets listed by sector, rim, system, etc.

No. And you should know better.

IMHO - Where the story has already been written, there will be no retcon. Where events have already unfolded there will be no alterations. Where the above is not true, I personally don't care.

And I think you'll find that is the common opinion; we're not going to adjust for "canon" where is fucks up our shit, mo' fo'.

So for the record, let me go ahead and say that Paradiso, the Ugor Homeworld, is near the Gordian Reach, deep within Reaver Space, where it was reasoned to be before the publishing of the Atlas, and not in the Airam Sector, where it is now "officially" located.

That's the only one of my planets that I know of which would be affected by the Atlas, but I don't actually have it, so I'm just working off of Wookieepedia articles and references.

I think we are all on the same page here. Unclaimed worlds unwritten into TRF would be what that Atlas would be good for imho. There would be differences, of course, with some planets in situation's similar to Smart's. For example, also the Commonwealth world of Aragau (spelling?), I think it's that world anyway, is in the Core and not elsewhere where maps nowadays put it. When Vinda wrote the takeover (8 years ago?), he was working off a map that put it Coreward and so there it now stays (and why it was a candidate for LON) in the beginning [since it was a "Core organization" at first].


Now, however, also know that if the Atlas puts a million worlds in Reaver Space, then that only augments the Reaver danger as there are the ships/resources of other worlds for the Reaver Scourge to infect and harvest from rather than TRF's 10-20 dinky worlds located in that space. So, in that respect, the Atlas may also have some impact/effect on TRF.

We could write the Atlas in to Cataclysm.

The Reavers develop a super-weapon which rearranges the galactic position of celestial bodies. Sounds feasible, right?

And they can fly through space and headbutt meteors at us!

This book is interesting in many aspects though. It doesn't just divide planets up into different areas of the galaxy, but also by sectors, by their historical alignments (Hutt space, Pentastar Aligment, Corporate Sector, Warlord Harrsk's Empire, etc).

For example, the "Client States and Misc Regions" has the planets of the Galaxy divided into the, from top to bottom, New Territories, The Negs, Northern Dependencies, Trans-Hydian (Borderlands), The Slice, Arrowhead (Inner Core), Southern Core, Trailing Sectors, and Western Reaches.

Well, you best start scanning everything, eh?

I expect my pdf copy by the end of the week.

As someone else who bought the Atlas just about as soon as I realized it had been released, I do have to agree with you that it is a very cool and informative book. It will not doubt be helping me in future endeavors.

But I do have to agree that as far as the past few years of TRF goes, the older galaxy maps must reign supreme. The locations of the planets changed around all too much from map to map, and some people based entire strategies in takeovers on the proximity of certain planets that might have been switched around.

I am of the opinion that, as always at TRF, we let the rule of common sense dictate. Obviously there will be no circumstance where someone can challenge the location of another faction's planet locations using an updated map as long as the person can provide an older map showing the location was where they say it was, or provide a compelling enough reason for why they want to ignore map sources (I know in the early days there weren't enough detailed maps around, and a lot of people just guessed at planet locations).

As far as new planet takeovers go, I think all sources should be utilized. If you can find a planet in the Essential Atlas that isn't on the older maps, or its location is better explained, then that should definitely be used. If you want to write a planet as being somewhere the Atlas says it isn't, I think that should be totally cool as well. Especially considering most of the maps within the Atlas aren't on the interwebs yet. Maybe Brand or I should scan some of them and upload them to TRF? If anyone is interested, that is.

If you want, I'm working on a post-Cataclysm map in Photoshop right now - if you get me the information on what planets you want added/moved, it's a simple matter to do it.

On that note, if at least one person from each faction could scan the planet list and make sure there's nothing missing or out of place, I'd appreciate it. That will ensure accuracy in the updated map. Also, for planets that are not on the map, if you can get me a general location (use the most recently updated map's gridlines and planet names), I can add those as well.

Thanks!