Not sure if I'm in the right forum for this, but... Has anyone found a really good Traveller system mapping program? I have some ideas for one, but alas, I'm not a programmer. Maybe when I win the lottery...
Scout
Scout
Mapping Programs
- Thread starter Spinward Scout
- Start date
Hmmmmm. Yes, more shameless plugs...
The Fractal Mapper v6.0 can handle most mapping projects you need for Traveller. Systems, deck plans, planets, taverns. You can overlay hexes or grids, plop in an icon or 3...(is plop a techno term)
www.NBOS.com it the web site. Send in your suggestions, if it can't already do it, it may be planned for the next incarnation...
The Fractal Mapper v6.0 can handle most mapping projects you need for Traveller. Systems, deck plans, planets, taverns. You can overlay hexes or grids, plop in an icon or 3...(is plop a techno term)
www.NBOS.com it the web site. Send in your suggestions, if it can't already do it, it may be planned for the next incarnation...
Smiling DM
SOC-12
FM is good for creating a variety of maps.
But what is there for atlas software (ie. data already in the machine) for the Imperium. Is there anything better than Galactic?
There are three packages I know about for running Traveller atlases:
Galactic 2.4 http://www.elektrasystems.net/~jimv/gal.htm
Jim Vassilakos' classic atlas. But you are looking for something better.
Heaven And Earth or World Builder Deluxe
http://www.downport.com/wbd/HEAVEN_&_EARTH.htm
H&E is version 2.0 of WBD. H&E has mapping capabilities for all things from the galaxy to indiviual worlds, and can generate and display data using any Traveller variant (Including GURPS). If you're doing things with Traveller starmaps, this program is a requirement.
Tom Bont's Astogator
http://webpages.charter.net/tombont/files/Astrogator/astrogator.zip
Very useful windows program for displaying starmaps. Not quite as full featured as Galactic, but adds a few more useful tools not available in Galactic (like a search function). Small and quick.
I use Galactic and Astrogator for most of my Astronavigation needs. If anyone has more programs of this sort, I'd love to see them.
Oh, and if you're into programming your own Traveller library information, you may want to check out this project.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/travtrack/
The developer is offering GPL code to support most of the Traveller library information starting with the atlases.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/travtrack/
The developer is offering GPL code to support most of the Traveller library information starting with the atlases.
Smiling DM
SOC-12
Thanx for the link to Navigator - I like it - gives me more access to the big picture (more than one subsector at a time. Though I must admit I prefer the colors (black background) of Galactic and how it presents all of the information for a given sector - I can see how using both works for you - I think they'll be perfect for me too.
I have looked at H&E, lots more under the hood than what I was looking for (simple atlas and map display) - need to spend some more time with it and tinkering. Sounds like Hunter may have something in the works based on the original code (he mentions this somwhere else on these boards) for T20. I wish him luck.
If you want sector-level maps, you can download mine (PDF format, probably the most printable of any available) from http://www.grandsurvey.com/
Shadow Bear
SOC-12
Factoral Terrain form Profantasy is great for quick world generation. CC2 is great for starship deck plans, cities and building layouts.
Check out their website at www.profantasy.com.
Check out their website at www.profantasy.com.
Smiling DM
SOC-12
Actually I had found your maps, and I think they are indeed the most prinatable to be found. The trade route data is also very helpful - I have printed the maps on 11 X 17 and given them to my players so they can figure out where in general they want to go.
Anyone who hasn't checked out Anthony's site should.
But my question was regarding electronic media that presented info like Galactic (decoded the UPP), but on a slightly larger scale (more than one subsector at a time but not necessarily the entire sector).
I found this site a few weeks ago,
http://www.utzig.com/traveller/iai.shtml
Its almost exactly what I am looking for, except it is online only and the machine I have available for my game (in other words right there so the PC's could use it) does not have a connection to the internet.
I have not checked the Interactive Atlas of the Third Imperium to see how well it matches canon, but the ability to display a star system and all the others within a 6 parsec radius (even in different sectors) is just too cool.
siefertma2
SOC-13
I have a copy of CC2 and I'm not sure it was all that great an investment. First of all the instruction manual is nearly impossible to follow. Secondly there seems to be a real fantasy gaming bias in that all the icons for cities and builings would be appropriate for D&D-style games and not sci-fi.
Later,
Mark A. Siefert
Later,
Mark A. Siefert
I also have CC2. The learning curve is steep but if you work at it the results are very good. All of Tanuki's deck plans were made using CC2. The manual is indeed a pain to use as a reference, but it was not designed as a reference manual it is a series of tutorials. If you do the tutorials as printed you will have the basic skills to do anything you want with CC2. I have had CC2 for about 3 yrs and am just now getting the hang of the program "Manual who needs a manual", Tanuki has had the program for about 3 months he sat down did the tutorials and is past me in knowing the program. Just my 2cr.
