Traveller mapping for iPad - dev blog video 2

[simonh]

I've uploaded another video showing the progress I'm making, essentially rewriting Starbase for the iPad, on the iPad.

http://youtu.be/gW_tlL6y5ug

Simon Hibbs

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

I've uploaded another video showing the progress I'm making, essentially rewriting Starbase for the iPad, on the iPad.

http://youtu.be/gW_tlL6y5ug

Simon Hibbs

Interesting.I did an excell spreadsheet which generated UWP and system date and assigned each to a hex and then I manually wrote the information using my paint program. Your app automatically draws the map. I was thinking, maybe a future version of this could draw a 3d map, something which would make use of the I-Pad's unique ability to keep track of things in 3d space, something you can't record very well on a sheet of paper. To give an example. A typical subsector with 50% system presence per hex would have 80 hexes with an average of 40 systems. If we were to make a 3d subsector that is for instance 10 hexes deep, it would have on average 400 systems, if it generated all those names randomly, well you could generate 3d maps and store them on your I-pad instead of a sheet of paper, or more precisely your I-pad becomes a 3-d sheet of paper that you can edit by moving from layer to layer cell by cell. That would be another project for a later day.

Now as for the 2-d mapper, one useful thing would be to click on a hex and have a window where the GM can write gaming notes relating to the system in question and store those note for retrieval when next the hex is clicked. I think that would be useful and easy to implement.
Now a few extra stats could be generated, such as length of day, numbers, size and distance of moons. Also if you can generate random names for worlds, you could also generate random names for places on the world and orbiting the world, for instance the name of the capital city, the name of the starport.

If you really wanted to make it useful, from the UWP stats, you can generate a list of items available for sale and their costs based on the world's tech level, population, and law level, certain items which were illegal would have inflated prices and so on. So if you clicked on a hex you'd get that. If a player bought an illegal item, then there would be a certain chance that the law would notice and attempt to apprehend the character, same would be true of sale of illegal items. An encounter table detailing the change of a pirate or law enforcement encounter could be included for the 100 diameter limit around each world. Each world would have its own unique encounter list generated randomly informed by the UWP stats, the main thing being piracy and smuggling.

 

[simonh]

3D mapping is a bit out of scope for me I think, apart from anything else the performance problems I'm having at the moment are bad enough, although once the map is loaded it's running fine.

I've left a fair bit of space free at the bottom of the world stats panel for additional info, and a notes field for additional info is definitely in my plans. The way that worked in Starbase, there was a separate notes field for each world attribute, but this time I think it will be one note for each world.

Traveller does have a trading system that will generate cargoes, passengers, etc so that's certainly a possibility.

Next on my to-do list are trade code display, persisting the data to SEC file format and SEC file export. Then it will actually be useful.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

3D mapping is a bit out of scope for me I think, apart from anything else the performance problems I'm having at the moment are bad enough, although once the map is loaded it's running fine.

I've left a fair bit of space free at the bottom of the world stats panel for additional info, and a notes field for additional info is definitely in my plans. The way that worked in Starbase, there was a separate notes field for each world attribute, but this time I think it will be one note for each world.

Traveller does have a trading system that will generate cargoes, passengers, etc so that's certainly a possibility.

Next on my to-do list are trade code display, persisting the data to SEC file format and SEC file export. Then it will actually be useful.

Simon Hibbs

I'm curious, what method do you use for generating world sizes? The one used by the game uses two physical 6-sided dice and you subtract 2 from the result to get a range of from 0 to 10(A) What if you simply used a random number generator, effectively rolling an 11-sided die and subtracting 1 from the result? (1d11-1) the range is the same, but the distribution curve would be flat instead of pyramid-shaped. You would stand an equal chance of getting a size 0 world as you would of a size 5 or a size 10 (A) would for that matter. I'm developing a world card's deck and in that deck, since I have equal numbers of each size world the chances of drawing a card of a particular world size is about the same as any other size. This produces more large and small worlds and fewer medium-sized worlds, you also get more asteroids and more places for belters to prospect and mine. The other stats would then be generated using 2d6-7+size for Atmosphere and hydrographics. Population would be determined by a 1d11-1 role and likewise Government and Law Level would be determined by rolling 2d6-7 and adding the previous statistic, the Starport and tech level would be as the game.

1d11-1 produces a flat population curve that gives you more uninhabited planets with a population of 0 and crowded planets with a population digit of 10(A) if you want that.

 

[simonh]

I use simulated 6 sided dice (value in the range 1-6), and follow the rules as written.

Bear in mind the system in the rulebook is for generating the main world in a system, not any arbitrary world. Arguably the main world is more likely to have a mid-range size and therefore more likely to have a bearable atmosphere, because that's the sort of world people are more likely to settle on and develop.

If you're generating arbitrary worlds in a system then yes, you'd probably want a flatter distribution.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

I use simulated 6 sided dice (value in the range 1-6), and follow the rules as written.

Bear in mind the system in the rulebook is for generating the main world in a system, not any arbitrary world. Arguably the main world is more likely to have a mid-range size and therefore more likely to have a bearable atmosphere, because that's the sort of world people are more likely to settle on and develop.

If you're generating arbitrary worlds in a system then yes, you'd probably want a flatter distribution.

Simon Hibbs

Actually I was saying just using 1d11-1 for size and population, everything else would be just as the book says Size is the primary attribute for the three physical characteristics, atmosphere and hydrographics are both modified by size, and population is the primary social characteristic as government is modified by population and law level is modified by government. 2d6-2 produces a lot of size 5 worlds, the Earth is a size 8 world, our Solar System contains two examples of size 8 worlds: Venus and Earth. I don't think it would hurt if you were to include a user option for generating world sizes and populations using the 1d11-1 method I just outlined, if people don't like it, they could go back to using 2d6-2s to determine world sizes and populations, I don't think it would take much coding to do that, I've did some programming before as well. In an excel speadsheet cell I would use the command =RANDBETWEEN(0,10) to produces a random number with a flat distribution ranging from 0 to 10, effectively rolling an 11-sided dice once and subtracting 1 from the result. To do 2d6-2 I would type this: =RANDBETWEEN(0,5)+RANDBETWEEN(0,5) for the game purists.

 

[simonh]

I'd certainly like to have some customisability for world generation. In Starbase you can drop in your own script, or tweak one of the ones provided. I'm not sure what the best way to do that on the iPad is though. The easiest and most extensible way would be to provide half a dozen canned generator scripts and let the user select one. I do hope to include some powerful editing controlls, so you can apply modifiers, minima, maxima or flat values for attributes to a world, or even a group of worlds at a time.

I susupect the thinking behind the Traveller mainworld size distribution is that worlds smaller than earth are more likely to have Earth-like atmospheres. That's because our planet has an anomalously thin atmosphere for it's size, due to the tidal action of the moon syphoning a lot of it off. Most worlds similarly sized to ours are likely to have crushingly dense atmospheres, like Venus or worse. I'm not sure if that assumption is consistent with the latest theories of planet formation though.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

I'd certainly like to have some customisability for world generation. In Starbase you can drop in your own script, or tweak one of the ones provided. I'm not sure what the best way to do that on the iPad is though. The easiest and most extensible way would be to provide half a dozen canned generator scripts and let the user select one. I do hope to include some powerful editing controlls, so you can apply modifiers, minima, maxima or flat values for attributes to a world, or even a group of worlds at a time.

I susupect the thinking behind the Traveller mainworld size distribution is that worlds smaller than earth are more likely to have Earth-like atmospheres. That's because our planet has an anomalously thin atmosphere for it's size, due to the tidal action of the moon syphoning a lot of it off. Most worlds similarly sized to ours are likely to have crushingly dense atmospheres, like Venus or worse. I'm not sure if that assumption is consistent with the latest theories of planet formation though.

Simon Hibbs

I think it is because Traveller is a pen and paper game, and they only wanted to use the most common sort of die, the 6 sided die, and to get the range they wanted they used 2 dice, and the distribution curve just came with it. If a computer "rolls the dice" you don't need to deal with physical dice. The reason for Venus' atmosphere is that Venus used to have an ocean, it lost its hydrogen and kept its oxygen, and that oxygen combined with the carbon in the crust to make carbon-dioxide. Most of water's weight is in the oxygen atom, and at the bottom of Venus' atmosphere, is the equivalent pressure of 1 kilometer beneath the ocean. In essence the 92 bar atmosphere is what's left of Venus' ocean. By the way, I've heard theories that life is more likely on planets larger than Earth. The difference between the two methods. with 2d6-2 the chance of a size A planet is 1 in 36, for 1d11-2 it is 1 in 11. You get more planetoids with 1d11-1 as well.

 

[simonh]

Fair points.

Simon Hibbs