Rules for determining world surface?

[david.wendelken]

I have the UWP for a planet and a blank planetary map.

I could have sworn there were rules for filling in the blank planetary map, at least as far as land/sea/ocean and land terrain types.

Have I mis-remembered? Any fan-based solutions if there aren't any built-in rules for this?

 

[BytePro]

Sounds like WBH? (World Builder's Handbook).

(UWP, of course, gives percentage of liquid/ice surface and a major triangle's worth of area is 5% of a world map.)

 

[77topaz]

I know there's a generator on the Internet somewhere which even takes in account the atmosphere...

 

[rancke]

If all you have is the hydrographic score, you start by determining the percentage. A score of 0 means 0-4%, a score of 1 means 5-14%, etc. up to a score of 10 which means 95-100%.

Once you have the percentage, each percent means five hexes, provided your blank map is a Traveller map. You can start by having a program randomly determine land or water for each hex separately, then go over the resulting map deleting a land hex here and adding a corresponding land hex somewhere else until you get a map with reasonably-looking continents and seas out of it.


Hans

 

[Dragoner]

Heaven and Earth will fill out a map, do the atmosphere, everything, if you just fill in the UWP.

 

[Icosahedron]

I have the UWP for a planet and a blank planetary map.

I could have sworn there were rules for filling in the blank planetary map, at least as far as land/sea/ocean and land terrain types.

Have I mis-remembered? Any fan-based solutions if there aren't any built-in rules for this?

Likewise, I'm sure I've seen something for this - maybe a Jtas article? However, the fact that I don't use it coupled with some ancient stirrings of memory, suggest that it wasn't too effective.

ISTR the output was generated with dice rolls and was too random, producing either supercontinents or archipelagos, with nothing much in between - or something like that.

 

[david.wendelken]

Heaven and Earth will fill out a map, do the atmosphere, everything, if you just fill in the UWP.

I found a free copy online. It's very nice!

 

[Dragoner]

I found a free copy online. It's very nice!

It is cool, esp the atmosphere, axial tilt, etc.; but I still usually go through and adjust some things.

 

[nDervish]

Likewise, I'm sure I've seen something for this - maybe a Jtas article? However, the fact that I don't use it coupled with some ancient stirrings of memory, suggest that it wasn't too effective.

ISTR the output was generated with dice rolls and was too random, producing either supercontinents or archipelagos, with nothing much in between - or something like that.

You may well be thinking of the mapping chapter from WBH. I haven't actually used it in anger yet, but it does include rolling for how many large oceans, small oceans, lakes, etc. a world has (with defined size ranges for each), so that could potentially produce the kind of results you describe.

 

[MCEvans]

Have you looked at DGP Grand Survey it has some stuff. I don't know how it compares to WHB.

 

[Orr]

Have I mis-remembered?

I don't think you've misremembered. I do think you've got two somewhat separate things mixed together though.

There's a formula for determining planetary hex size from different world sizes in an early "JTAS" issue and there is an entire section on mapping complete with tables to roll on in DGP's "World Builders Handbook". You might be remembering them together.

Because the official, semi-mercator projection style, "Traveller" map is used for worlds of varying sizes, the size of the hexes varies with world size. You can figure your map's hex size by converting planetary diameter to a circumference and then dividing that by the number of hexes along the map's "equator".

The WBH mapping section considers lots of details like continent/ocean sizes, tectonic plates, volcanoes, islands and island chains, seas and lakes, locations of deserts and mountains, etc. It's a nice way to quickly rough out a world which you then can "hand fit".