On Thu, 21 Jan 2021 19:13 Alex Goodwin, <xxxxxx@multitel.com.au> wrote:

On 22/1/21 1:53 am, Timothy Collinson - timothy.collinson at port.ac.uk
(via tml list) wrote:
> <snip>
>
> My other thought, I forgot to list, would be to try something much
> more like a Dumarest universe.  Fewer worlds, much more separated,
> less trade, less Imperium.  More low berth travel and on the breadline
> PCs.
>
> tc
>
Would definitely be a very different feel.  Since estimates of the Milky
Way's size got notably embiggened in the past few years (2015, up to ~31
kpc radius, with a dark matter disk of ~290 kpc radius.  2019, up to 40
kpc radius), you could set such somewhat rimward of the Orion Arm.
Inter-arm Rifts should be pretty well spread out, nyet?

I wouldn't worry about where you set such a thing, since the players won't be travelling far enough to really notice major features. In any case, my understanding is that the gaps between the arms of spiral galaxies aren't empty, it's just the arms are just the areas of new star formation, so the big, bright stars there outshine the smaller dimmer stars in between them.

Cheers,
Jim