Building a complete system

[dalthor]

OK, trying to grok section G of the T5 BBB for placing worlds during generation. I cannot locate my World Builder's Handbook, which may not help with world placement, and what I see doesn't really make sense.

Never really worried too much about anything other than the MW in the past, and tho I had access to H&E and World Builder, I never really used them.

For my sake, figure I only have access to the BBB - my other stuff is packed away, lost/stolen during my last military move, or burned in a (convenient for my ex) fire a few years back.

I already have my sector and subsector info, which means I've generated main worlds. I also generated my stellar data, starting with primary/companion, then close/companion, near/companion and far/companion.

I know how many worlds exist. I am trying to place the worlds themselves.

Page 437, table P states "Place main world" then GG, then belts, and finally other worlds.

OK, but where should I start placing? The primary star? The "best" pick for star based on type?

The "rotate placement per star" seems...illogical. It would evenly distribute worlds among the starts, with the primary getting the most.

To some extent, companion stars may "ruin" some orbits - a planet could orbit the primary, and conceivably orbit into the companion.

I don't wanna get too technical about intersecting orbits and all that, but some assistance would be appreciated.

Has anybody posted (or done) a walkthru of this? Can you please give me some pointers?

 

[Nonespecial]

Seems as though nobody responded so in case you're still interested, here goes with how I do it:
1) Although I actually generate my stars and their orbits first, the "rules" generally start with generating the mainworld first along with determining the number of gas giants and belts as per section 4 on page 432. You also determine if the mainworld is a satellite by rolling on table 2 on page 432. WIth flux, if the main world is a Close satellite, then it will get the trade code Lk (Locked) and then you rol on the "Close" column in table 2 on page 432. If it is a far satellite then it will not be tidally locked and you roll on the "Far" column for its orbit around its planet.
You also determine the HZ Variance that the mainworld will be in.
2) Find out what you have - roll multiple times on table 1 of page 436 to find out if your primary has a companion, whether you have a close star (and a companion for it), a near star (and a companion for it), and/or a far star (and a companion for it).
3) Now you know what star(s) you have in your system use table 2 to determine what types of stars they all are, remembering to keep the Flux output from your Primary star's roll to apply to all the others. Determine the spectral decimal for them as well.
4) Use tables 2 and 3 to determine the size of each of the stars, remembering to retain the Flux value from your primary to apply to the sizes of the others.
5) Finally, determine the orbits of any close, near, or far stars in table 3 of page 436.
6) Now you have your basic system of stars and their orbits but no planets yet.
7) Now you can either generate your mainworld (or use one you already built previously) and then you place it into the HZ (or the HZ variant orbit as necessary). If you determined that it is a satellite then place a gas giant in the HZ of the primary star. If no gas giants are present in the system then a BigWorld goes into the HZ and the mainworld will orbit the BigWorld and not a gas giant. The Main World (and the planet or gas giant it orbits around if it is a satellite) goes into the HZ or HZ variant orbit. To determine which orbit of the primary star the HZ is in you have to look at that star's type.
Although I had difficulty determining this from the rules, I believe that if you have a near, far, or close star in the same orbit as where the main world should go into then the main world orbits around the non-primary star, again - going into the HZ (or variant HZ) of that non-primary star.
If the main world is an asteroid belt (Size=0) then roll on the "BASIC PLACEMENT CHART" on page 437 to see where the mainworld goes, rolling under the "Belt" column. Obviously if the mainworld is a belt then it cannot be a satellite of a gas giant or BigWorld but it could still be in orbit around a non-primary star.
8) Now that you've placed your main world (and at least one BigWorld or a gas giant if the MW is a satellite) then you determine how many other worlds you have (if you haven't done so already) by rolling 2D. If the MW is orbiting a BigWorld then I reduce that die roll by 1 myself to account for the existence of the BigWorld but again, the rules don't seem clear on that point.
9) You then place the remaining worlds into the system starting with Gas Giants, then Planetoid Belts, then other worlds as per section P on page 437. The way this is done depends on if you have any non-primary stars. THe first of each "type" of world you place (Gas Giant, Belt, or other) always goes around the primary first. The second gas giant, belt, or other world go around the Close star next (if it exists), then the Near star (if it exists) and then the Far star (if it exists). The last other world (non gas giant or belt) always uses the World2 placement column on page 437. The world placing rules are on page 429.

Hope this helps...