Another System Generator: As Above So Below

[bartlebyfosco]

I have been working on (yet another) System Generator. I know there are a bunch of us doing it and we are all crazy.

The goal for me was to be able to build systems bottom-up or top-down with options for multiple systems. I also wanted to be able to import in sectors of mainworlds and build out the extended system.

I wanted something like travellermap but where you could point to a hex and create a new world; or just create an entire sector.

It is v0.4 and growing. At the moment you can build Extended Mongoose Systems but they are only top-down (mainworld first then system generation). I am working on building the full bottom-up where it builds the system and then chooses a mainworld.

If you would like to take it for a test run it runs on the web here (not phone friendly I am afraid). Be warned it is still in development so (a) there probably bugs and (b) it keeps changing:

As Above So Below

The full code is here:

GitHub - bartlebythecoder/traveller_magnus: Proof of Concept for a new Traveller Map Generation Application

Proof of Concept for a new Traveller Map Generation Application - bartlebythecoder/traveller_magnus

github.com

I made a short video with the latest updates here:

Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions in this thread.

 

[bartlebyfosco]

v0.5 is complete and available.

You can now build a MgT2e WBH system using the bottom up approach (expanded method) as well as the top-down (aka continuation method).

Testing continues.

Try it out here: https://bartlebythecoder.github.io/traveller_magnus/hex_map.html

 

[bartlebyfosco]

New version includes Travel times (with a stellar masking option) and customizing the colours of your map.

Try the program out here:

As Above So Below

 

[bartlebyfosco]

Hi All,

I am now up to v0.7 and the recent release has included a lot of upgrades on customizing the view. You can load in your own custom subsectors or sectors, or even use Chartered Space as a starting point and then make changes as your campaign evolves.

I made this video showing how one might customize the Solomani Rim:

The program is free to use here:

As Above So Below

 

[hopsnbaer]

Love it

 

[Terry Mixon]

Hi All,

I am now up to v0.7 and the recent release has included a lot of upgrades on customizing the view. You can load in your own custom subsectors or sectors, or even use Chartered Space as a starting point and then make changes as your campaign evolves.

I made this video showing how one might customize the Solomani Rim:

The program is free to use here:

As Above So Below

Looks awesome. One request for some point, for those wanting to see what systems that have gas giants for refueling or planetoid belts, that would be a great addition to the filter rules.

 

[hopsnbaer]

Will it show polity borders?

 

[bartlebyfosco]

Looks awesome. One request for some point, for those wanting to see what systems that have gas giants for refueling or planetoid belts, that would be a great addition to the filter rules.

Request always welcome and thank you for the kind words.

Filter rules allowing for customizing the icons and colors of icons for gas giants/bases etc. is something I want to do. Please let me know what sort of options/ideas you have that would make it work for you and I will incorporate them.

At the moment (and this is not customizable yet) there is a dot for a gas giant present, and a dot with a ring for a system with a gas giant and the mainworld is a satellite (Trade Code 'Sa').

 

[bartlebyfosco]

Will it show polity borders?

Allegiances are there now and each allegiance can be set with a different filter rule (I used hex background color in the second half of the video). Is that what you meant? Or do you mean lines along the hexsides between two different allegiances?

 

[hopsnbaer]

Allegiances are there now and each allegiance can be set with a different filter rule (I used hex background color in the second half of the video). Is that what you meant? Or do you mean lines along the hexsides between two different allegiances?

Yes, changing the Hex background. I should have finished the video. Thanks!

 

[Terry Mixon]

Request always welcome and thank you for the kind words.

Filter rules allowing for customizing the icons and colors of icons for gas giants/bases etc. is something I want to do. Please let me know what sort of options/ideas you have that would make it work for you and I will incorporate them.

At the moment (and this is not customizable yet) there is a dot for a gas giant present, and a dot with a ring for a system with a gas giant and the mainworld is a satellite (Trade Code 'Sa').

I was looking more at the filter options to show only worlds with gas giants like the other filters, but customization is always good. I don't know what to think about that as I am still experimenting.

 

[bartlebyfosco]

I was looking more at the filter options to show only worlds with gas giants like the other filters, but customization is always good. I don't know what to think about that as I am still experimenting.

Oh I see. Filter on and off the gas giant presence. Yes, I can add that. Let me know of anything else you think might be helpful, but I will put that on the list.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Oh I see. Filter on and off the gas giant presence. Yes, I can add that. Let me know of anything else you think might be helpful, but I will put that on the list.

Thanks. I'm doing jump routes for a huge liner, and it has to refuel itself.

One other thing that might be niche but that would help me, is a way to be more precise in filtering the population. Right now, there are the base numbers from the UUP, but having it filter more finely would be a blessing to me.

For example, I set the mental target for the ship at a world population of 500 million or above. The UWP has hundreds of millions or billions. That means a lot of manual work for me.

I understand that it might not be useful for everyone, but as TravellerMap has the data, I figured it never hurts to ask.

 

[bartlebyfosco]

Thanks. I'm doing jump routes for a huge liner, and it has to refuel itself.

One other thing that might be niche but that would help me, is a way to be more precise in filtering the population. Right now, there are the base numbers from the UUP, but having it filter more finely would be a blessing to me.

For example, I set the mental target for the ship at a world population of 500 million or above. The UWP has hundreds of millions or billions. That means a lot of manual work for me.

I understand that it might not be useful for everyone, but as TravellerMap has the data, I figured it never hurts to ask.

Oh yeah don't worry about being niche. I figure there will only be a handful of us using it anyway so we might as well make it work for everyone.

It might be very simple, for starters, to include the PBG (each separately). Then you could knock off the Gas Giant easily by filtering for that being > 0. Then for 500 million you could set the Pop UWP to 8 (or whatever) and the P value to 5. Would that work for you for now?

I can, of course, add a full population field as well (and will) but the PBG is pretty easy to incorporate very quickly. Thoughts?

 

[Terry Mixon]

Oh yeah don't worry about being niche. I figure there will only be a handful of us using it anyway so we might as well make it work for everyone.

It might be very simple, for starters, to include the PBG (each separately). Then you could knock off the Gas Giant easily by filtering for that being > 0. Then for 500 million you could set the Pop UWP to 8 (or whatever) and the P value to 5. Would that work for you for now?

I can, of course, add a full population field as well (and will) but the PBG is pretty easy to incorporate very quickly. Thoughts?

I appreciate you working on this for me. It'll be a big help.

As long as it is smart enough to know that Pop 9 and P value 2 still work when I have it set to look at >8 and >4, that should be fine.

 

[bartlebyfosco]

Thank you to everyone for their kind words and support. I added an update this afternoon based on feedback I got here and at COTI.

1. The filter now includes Gas Giant numbers. You can use the value >0 for presence of any gas giants
2. You can paint the hex backgrounds of hexes without having filters. Just in case you want a border or to highlight certain hexes. Just select the hexes and right-click and you will see the option.
3. The filter now has a total population field. You can filter on the total pop (which uses the P from PBG if present, together with the population value). You can shorthand this using k, m, b for thousands, millions or billions. So @Terry Mixon you should be able to place >490m in this filter and get the populations you described above.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and good ideas. Please feel free to add any other ideas or features you would find useful here and I will see what I can do.

Reminder: this is still in development and will likely have bugs and is still changing. So please be patient if it does not act in an expected way (and let me know!).


Here is the link:
https://bartlebythecoder.github.io/traveller_magnus/hex_map.html

 

[Terry Mixon]

Thank you to everyone for their kind words and support. I added an update this afternoon based on feedback I got here and at COTI.

1. The filter now includes Gas Giant numbers. You can use the value >0 for presence of any gas giants
2. You can paint the hex backgrounds of hexes without having filters. Just in case you want a border or to highlight certain hexes. Just select the hexes and right-click and you will see the option.
3. The filter now has a total population field. You can filter on the total pop (which uses the P from PBG if present, together with the population value). You can shorthand this using k, m, b for thousands, millions or billions. So @Terry Mixon you should be able to place >490m in this filter and get the populations you described above.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and good ideas. Please feel free to add any other ideas or features you would find useful here and I will see what I can do.

Reminder: this is still in development and will likely have bugs and is still changing. So please be patient if it does not act in an expected way (and let me know!).


Here is the link:
https://bartlebythecoder.github.io/traveller_magnus/hex_map.html

Looks to be working great. Thanks!

One other thing to filter on would be travel zones. Being able to select Green for the non-zoned worlds, Amber for the Amber Zones, and Red for the Red Zones would be useful as well.

 

[bartlebyfosco]

Excellent to hear it is working. And the travel zone filter is easy to implement. I would have thought having the colors right on the map would have made a filter unnecessary. Would you use the filter for the liner routes you are building?

 

[Terry Mixon]

Excellent to hear it is working. And the travel zone filter is easy to implement. I would have thought having the colors right on the map would have made a filter unnecessary. Would you use the filter for the liner routes you are building?

I would. By filtering it, I would only see the valid ports of call. I don't have to interpret what zones they are. Blank means nothing valid there. A visible system means a valid port of call.

I can't overstate how freaking useful it is to have only systems that meet the criteria of the filter visible. It's a game changer.

 

[bartlebyfosco]

Fantastic to hear. And I agree. I wanted the filter for my own custom trade routes I plan to build.

Travel Zone filters are easy and I will look at them next. The only thing stopping me from making a filter for everything was thinking up the UI for a super long list. But I knew I would end up there.

Anything else helpful for anyone? # belts? Cx or Ex values?