Understanding coordinates

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    Hi All,

    I haven't seen a good explanation of how the coordinates work, and since I've now lost the space station I started, I guess I'd like a clearer understanding before starting my search! ;)

    I initially thought the 'world' was 16x16x16 sectors - effectively a giant 3d cube of sectors. This made sense and I built my station in 4,4,4 and went exploring several times and came back to it.

    What I don't quite know is how the star/void sectors work, but seen that they are listed as a separate set of 3 coords - does this mean that there is a larger x by y by z block - each containing the 16x16x16 sectors (either with a star or void) ? Have I drifted into another star/void 'block'? (sorry for crappy description hope that makes sense) .

    If so... how would I search/nav to a sector within a sector (and anyway to find my station other than the /search function - not easy finding admin online.)

    Thanks in advance.
     
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    Last point - if my assumption is correct then the world size is immense - would that explain why I haven't seen a single pirate since I've started? Should I be venturing much further out to perhaps uncharted areas with better loot and mobs etc?

    Thanks .
     
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    im not sure about the void/star systems, but if you know your station is in sector 4.4.4 then you can open your nav menu (N) and set a way point to sector 4.4.4.

    its always very important to write down the sector you make a station in or a planet you like.
     
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    The Coordinates stay the same, only the numbers are getting bigger. Sector 0 0 0 is much your center of the whole map, and it goes on endlessly in all directions.

    A system might be indeed 16 x 16 x 16 big (not sure but it might), so the moment you pass that you enter a new system, yet the coordinates remain going up or down (minius and plus) relative to the 0 0 0 central point. System do have their own coordinates but it is pretty much useless by my knowing.

    If you want to find pirates you have to be lucky to find them. Just explore more sectors till you find them. Loot remains the same at sector 4 4 4 as it is in sector 100 100 100.
     
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    Thanks for the quick responses, and good explanation Aecetym, that makse sense.

    Wonder what happened to my station then... :/ (there should be a 'nav home' button in your faction menu - that would be useful i think) :)
     
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    Thanks for the quick responses, and good explanation Aecetym, that makse sense.

    Wonder what happened to my station then... :/ (there should be a 'nav home' button in your faction menu - that would be useful i think) :)
    If you made your base your faction home base you can check it's location in the faction menu

    As for keeping track where your base you can always find the location/sector from your homebase in the faction menu by going to submenu 'faction' . It will tell you the sector your homebase is in.
    The original post can be found in this thread (http://starmadedock.net/threads/how-do-i-safeguard-multiple-ships-faction-base.2244/)
     
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    there will be FTL soon so you could use it to find a pirate station
     
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    That would be largely dependent on how they in the future implement FTL and the universe galaxy configuration. Gates, hyper-drive, jump-drive, relays, etc.... You could wind up zipping by without noticing anything.

    On void systems, I believe they are at this moment nothing more than shorthand for your general universe location. I have only seen it use the numbers -1 or 0 or 1; which correlate to the positive and negative numbers of the star sectors.

    Void systems may eventually become the numerical address for galaxies in the universe or it may describe positions within a galaxy and some other address system being used to describe the universe position.

    Currently the best way to get around is to use overdrive with a large enough power line so you can have cloaker, jammer, and overdrive running constantly while flying through sectors
     
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    Criss

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    From my experience there is a void sector in between the 16 cubic sectors that make up a star system. For now that's how it works but I believe schema said something about changing how the sectors are structured for a more interesting universe.
     

    NeonSturm

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    AFAIK each 16^3 sector cube's borders should be void sectors.

    Suns are @8 @24 @40 ...
    If your sector coordinates contain only 8+16*x number, you are inside a sun.
     
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    A star system is a 13x13x13 cube of star system sectors (with the star being in the center sector). Void sectors make up the other three sectors of the 16x16x16, with 2 void sectors on one side of the star system and 1 on the other. When star systems overlap, there ends up always being 3 void sectors between each star system.

    The star system coordinate system works in the same way that the sector coordinate system does, except on a scale 16 times as large.