The whole project is awesome, thank you very much for all the effort you put into this stellar Sector Nav map!

I still have not found the other secret hidden jump point I was talking about in other forum posts.
Anyway, if I ever find some news, you'll be the first to know. 🫶
 
Major updates since last announcement:
  • Added regular encounter data - full catalogue visible in the information panel plus a rendered simulation for each system entry, for both 2D and 3D views.
  • Added original jump sphere sprites as well as Gemini Gold's interpretation.
  • More accurate 3D models for Mining/Pirate bases and the Steltek Derelict, plus corrected Perry's colouring.
 
Every time I replay Privateer and Righteous Fire I notice an unusually high number of cargo missions to New Detroit and Magdalene. The former makes perfect sense as in-universe it is the most important commercial hub and out-of-universe the game tries to hint the player to go there (or at least this is my interpretation). So why Magdalene? So that the player can take a look at the nearby Pentonville? There is no need for that as Tayla will meet the player at New Detroit. Is there an in-game base ranking system for how important a base is? Or does the game compute how lucrative trade routes are based on the number of jumps (and probably the base type or how big the system hosting the base is?) and Magdalene is simply favored by this scoring system?
 
Magdaline. ;)

New updates:
  • Replaced all non-planetary 3D models (space stations) with Origin's original 3DS models from https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/WC3D_Collection_Index#Wing_Commander_Privateer. Draco-compressed to keep file sizes sane for a web application, but they look rather nice when zoomed in.
  • To keep quality consistent, reverted to the original planetary textures from Gemini Gold (previous ones were heavily down-sampled).
  • Orbiting ships in 3D view may travel in either direction, not all travelling in the same direction any more, for variety.
I expect this may be the last update for a while, unless I come up with more silly ideas, someone offers suggestions, or I find any bugs.
 
I just played in Righteous Fire an ordinaey base defend mission in Perry from the Mercenaries Guild. Four Gothri and a Kamekh, the first time to see Kamekh in such a mission.
 
Yet more updates:
  • Bases can be zoomed in for inspection while in 3D view, via double-click.
  • Another Settings redesign: representations for ships, bases, and jump points can be selected independently now.
    • NEW: ship choices now include Origin's 3D models, as well as the original 2D sprites. Obviously, many 3D models could be demanding on low-power GPUs, but I've had it running quite well on fairly low-end hardware from early 2010s including mobiles.
  • Oriented the Steltek derelict according to its sprite depiction rather than its model's internal orientation.
  • Fixed truncated view in mobile browsers.
 
User-visible updates:
  • Clicking on systems on the sector map now provides a summary dialogue instead of linking straight through to the system. Double-clicking retains the previous behaviour.
  • Added basic system and base searching.
  • Added commodity prices per base, as requested.
  • New option to toggle grid lines.
  • The Origin model for the Pirate Talon had purple trim on the undercarriage and rear - I changed this to match the blue used in the final production sprite (it's a slightly brighter blue than the trim on the Retro and Militia Talons).
  • Only the system links in the side bar are scrolled now - all buttons are fixed in place.
  • UI translation support: I had a go at adding French - apologies to native speakers, please forward any concerns regarding translation.
    • I also have a German translation ready to go, pending review from a native speaker.
    • Happy to support other languages provided native speakers are willing to proof-read and review for me.
Willing to consider other feature requests, provided they have grounding in the original game.
 
tl;dr Story mission encounters added!

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Major updates since last post:
  • Added story mission-specific ship encounters.
    • This includes sprites and models for the story-specific ships of the Steltek scout, drone, and the RF-exclusive Salthi.
    • Most encounters are straightforward. But for simplicity, I only include the first wave for encounters that are multiple-wave - this is a map, not a game simulation, we only need one wave to represent each ship type present.
    • I also assume a character ship is destroyed on first encounter, eg Riordian is killed at Oakham so he doesn't re-appear at the jump point out of Pentonville.
    • A few encounters are dependent on how the player chooses to fly:
      • Salman Kroiz and Miggs are dependent on which jump point the player uses. If the journey plotter is used and relevant, that information is used, otherwise a random nav point is picked. I can't think of a better solution for this case.
      • The messenger pirate in RF Terrell B is shown at both possible locations - obviously the idea is to make sure the player always has an opportunity to hear the direction to go to Drake regardless of which end of the system chain they approach.
  • Ship encounters were missing from many hidden points - fixed an oversight in the data extraction script and populated this missing data.
  • The original retro-style font selection was never changed since my proof-of-concept experiment. I think I've long since passed the original 'nostalgia' intent and was looking for something more functional while retaining the technical read-out aesthetic. After reviewing some various alternatives, I settled on Kode. There were some nice, functional fonts used in the real world, but I went with this one to retain some unfamiliarity for this fictional universe. Of course, using the original game font is not practical.
    • Wait, what do you mean Gemini is fictional...?!
  • All nav points can now be zoomed in, not just bases. Made double-click actions more consistent and give a single-click alternative if there wasn't already one.
    • Default double-click action in 2D view and 3D-aligned-as-2D view remains travelling through a jump point.
    • In 3D view, jump point travel is now moved to a dedicated button in the Info Panel. The default double-click action in this context is zooming in/out and zooming to other nav points if already zoomed in.
Minor visible updates:
  • In addition to the font change, the text labels for nav points in 3D view are now generated at high resolution, to minimise pixellation when zoomed in.
  • Journey Panel, Info Panel, and Legend Panel in system view can all be moved now, position saved across sessions, clamped to viewable display. This is to avoid things being obscured by a fixed panel position.
    • Additionally, Legend Panel can be collapsed away - it was the only one of the three that was previously always visible.
    • Default position can be restored with a double-click.
  • Button labels now consistently show current state, rather than a mix of current state and actions. Hopefully reduces confusion.
  • Dialogues and button styles refactored for a more consistent appearance.
  • Some corrections applied to issues exposed specifically on Chromium-based browsers.
  • Escape key short-cut will now only back out one dialogue, view change, whatever, at a time. Previously, everything that was listening for an Escape key would be triggered altogether.
  • Various translation updates.
    • A couple more languages may be forthcoming - I don't feel comfortable using machine translation without a native speaker review, so a reminder that if you want your language added, please let me know.
Behind the scenes:
  • Derived the top speed of ships from the game data instead of lore (I don't think there are any published statistics for the Steltek ships). It doesn't make a noticeable difference, but it's nice to be faithful to the original game mechanics.
    • Certain mission-specific ships get a speed boost too, such as Governor Menesch, before he jumps out.
  • It turns out the 3D models contain unused normal maps. Removing them saved a surprising amount of space, some model files shrunk considerably.
As always, I'm open to suggestions for new ideas within the constraints of what the original game presented, and feedback on bugs, etc, are appreciated too.
 
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  • Privateer and Righteous Fire are now presented separately in the map. Aside from the obvious change of the Steltek derelict at Delta Prime and the introduction of Gaea/Eden, there's also the redesign of Blockade Point Alpha and some ship encounter changes in eight systems (mostly in the Farris Quadrant to hint at the Retros' presence). Originally I had intended everything to just take the RF updates, but the introduction of the story missions yesterday complicated this.
  • Added transitions in most places to ease visual jarring. This includes changing views, screens, and settings. Changing languages is deliberately not included.
  • Everything is now derived from game datarather than external sources. The last discrepancies were:
    • Commodities - their real price ranges (rather than my empirical figures from years ago) and now their probability of being available for sale is also included.
    • Beaconsfield in Auriga had an incomplete set of facilities compared with the actual game data.
    • Story missions also clear random encounters from some points - this was missing previously. Also made other corrections to story mission data extraction.
  • Minor fixes, including Settings, Info Panel, and base rotation reset when changing to 3D Aligned View.
 
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This looks great, I'm sorry I haven't been following it until now! We'll get a front page post up soon.
 
Hmm, not sure what you mean by that. The background sprites? They're already correct for each system, AFAIK. In particular, Gaea's 'beautiful grey moon' is correctly in-line with the hidden nav points that reveal Jones and his escorts.

If you're thinking of something else, let me know.

Fun fact: the 'blue sun' sprite only appears once in the entire sector, in CM-N1054. It's not a system I visited frequently so I imagine it's one that many won't even see.

There's also a 'red sun' that never gets used...
 
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Separate topic: I never bothered to put it back up after moving web hosts earlier in the year. I did note in the lead-up to the former host's expiry that I would be shutting it down - I didn't think many people still used it anyway, and a lot of the info is more faithfully reproduced in WCPedia.

Also, I'm quite out of date (mentally) on what's useful material in terms of enhancements and such. I haven't done a full replay of WC since the pandemic.

Nonetheless, you're the second who's asked me about it, if there's enough demand I could restore it. I just feel it's mostly a relic of the 2000s - and most people seem to be content with ephemeral posts and walled gardens on the Internet these days...
 
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