i never get very excited about space maps - for me it's 'seen one you've seen them all' - but i grant that this is one of the better efforts in the Drafting Room right now. This map actually gives the sense that it could be playable as-is, but I have some questions (which may have already been dealt with in this thread - if so my apologies).
First, is the black hole really necessary? Forgive my ignorance of all things astronomical, but it seems to me that if you were to map out all of the stars in the Zodiac and then put them together on a plane (which they aren't) the thing in the center would be the earth. We are the observers of these celestial images, which wouldn't look the same from any other point in the universe. You've taken the observer out of the equation and replaced it with something that just seems gimmicky.
Next, you've got a problem in Gemini... #6 borders #12 via the attack route, which crosses another attack route. Does #5 border #6? Does #10 border #12? Visually they do.
Finally, this map has taken the artistry out of the zodiac. The constellations are things of the imagination - scorpio isn't just a collection of stars, it is deadly a Scorpion ready to strike. And the mythological sagittarius is a magnificent man-beast creature with bow and arrow at the ready. I'd love to see something of the zodiac actually make it into a Zodiac Map.
- Click image to enlarge.