The sense of realistic space is one of the most prominent features of the mod.
A lot of new star and planet types were added in order to provide more variety in map layout.
Planetary system generation has become more realistic, so planets with cold climate will never appear close to a star and vice versa. Hot, Temperate and Cold climate zones are supported.
Mod maps have the following starting system sizes:
Tiny - a system with only one home planet. It is usually used in large maps.
Small and bigger - a system with more than one home planet.
As a multistar oriented project, the mod introduces certain map types:
Location - a star or a small group of connected stars. All players start in one system or are grouped to have few players per star.
Region - a group of stars where players start in their own small systems.
Sector - a small or medium group of stars with relatively big systems in the center. Players start in their own tiny systems.
Cluster - a small, medium or a huge group of stars with quite small planetary systems. Players start in their own tiny systems.
Galaxy - a huge group of stars with structured distribution. Players start in their own tiny systems.
Scenario - arbitrary conditions.
Maps usually have literal indexes in square and round brackets that highlight special features explained below.
All planets of a star are interconnected with each other in such type of maps. Even more, some systems are gathered into huge accumulations, as if it is one multistar system.
Some far away planets from the main star may be loosely connected with other planets.
You can hide phase lines in such maps for better experience.
Player start positions are not random, but ordered. Allows for player teammates to start close to each other.
Phase Amplifiers are the artifacts of an ancient and a long time gone civilization. They are misteriously built up from photoactive crystals and can not be reproduced by current spacefaring civilizations.
They drastically increase phase jump speed of vessels that are within their gravity well.
Phase Amplifiers usually form a network with near instant phase jump speed between the nodes.
Stars in these kind of maps are divided into few clusters that have empty space between them.
Stars in these kind of maps are distrubuted in a narrow oblong shape.
The in-build map designer is able to create only random vanilla type maps. It works and will spawn mod planets.
A Comprehensive Guide to the Sins Map Designer article might be helpful.
Galaxy Forge is a powerful tool that provides graphical UI for map building. It is located in the Stars/GalaxyForge folder.
Items with the Stars_RANDOM prefix are used to create Connected Systems maps. The Strict suffix highlights that relic worlds won't be spawned.
Items with the Stars_CLASSIC_RANDOM prefix are used to create vanilla type maps.
All player made maps must be placed in the Documents/My Games/Ironclad Games/Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion/GalaxyForge folder in order to be used in the game.
Galaxy Forge - Beginners Guide article might be helpful.