LBB 3 corrections question

[JAFARR]

I am setting up an Excel sheet to generate main worlds. You will enter the hex number in the subsector that contains a system and the spreadsheet does everything else. My question is this: Somewhere I saw an errata listing that said hydrographics should be 2D6-7+atmosphere not + size as per LBB3. Is this correct? Seems to me that planetary size would be more controling than atmosphere. However, I want this to be correct per canon.

I hate nesting functions, but as I am self taught on Excel, I don't know any other way to make it work right. The best way I have found is to make the formula right for the base premise, copy it, delete the cell contents, paste it into the next function, and start the process over again to get the next limitation. By the time you do it 3 or 4 times for the same cell, it gets hairy.

If the fits better in the software form, would some mod kindly move it?
Thanks

 

[aramis]

If you are using Excell, then you can roll the process into macros (in Visual Basic), and simply call the functions in the cells.

 

[JAFARR]

Thanks, but I don't know how to work with macros. Got any reading suggestions so I can learn how?

 

[aramis]

Check the O'Reilly web site, or do a web search for excel macro programming.

Fundamentally, you put the process you want for a given series of cells into a function, with inputs of other cells it needs.

For example, if the function is

function GenSize()
    a = randint(1,6)+randint(1,6)
return GenSize=a

function GenHyd(int siz)
    a = randint(1,6)+randint(1,6)+siz -7
return GenSize=a

In the cells for size, you'd put
=GenSiz()

And if the first size was in C2, and you want the first hydro in D2, d2 gets:
=GenHyd($C2)

Which, when fill-down'ed, makes the C stay fixed, and the row increment as it goes down...

Note: my VB syntax may be wrong... but the base process is the same.

 

[JAFARR]

Thanks, guess I need to put some serious time in with learning VB, too.

 

[rancke]

I am setting up an Excel sheet to generate main worlds. You will enter the hex number in the subsector that contains a system and the spreadsheet does everything else. My question is this: Somewhere I saw an errata listing that said hydrographics should be 2D6-7+atmosphere not + size as per LBB3. Is this correct? Seems to me that planetary size would be more controling than atmosphere. However, I want this to be correct per canon.

According to The Traveller Book (1982) the hydrographic percentage is "2D-7+atmosphere; if size 0 then hydrographics 0; if atmosphere 0, 1, or A+, then apply DM -4".


Hans

 

[DonM]

The 1977 edition had HYD=2D-7+size, and was corrected to 2D-7+atmosphere in later printings, and in the 1981 edition, the text was corrected, but the checklist was missed (and in The Traveller Book, and in Starter Traveller).

The canonical change is definitely HYD=2D-7+ATM.

 

[Andrew M]

The 'mistake' was repeated in Book 6 as well. Which formula is most consistent with the OTU should become fairly clear if you look at the published atlasses.

 

[JAFARR]

I have the reprint of the LBBs the CD. Book 6 in both versions uses + size.
So does the reprint of Book3. Book 6 is dated 1983. Book 3 is listed as copyright 1977/1981 in both versions,but the CD has + Atmosphere, makinfg the final count to be: size - 3, Atmosphere - 1. Guess I'll be using size and make a note on how to change it if I distrubite it to anyone else.

 

[DonM]

I have the reprint of the LBBs the CD. Book 6 in both versions uses + size.
So does the reprint of Book3. Book 6 is dated 1983. Book 3 is listed as copyright 1977/1981 in both versions,but the CD has + Atmosphere, makinfg the final count to be: size - 3, Atmosphere - 1. Guess I'll be using size and make a note on how to change it if I distrubite it to anyone else.

Just be aware -- Marc says it's Atmosphere, and that the propagation of size in the books is because of their cut/paste process at GDW. He says that for the most part, the data was generated with ATM, because the Apple II program they used at GDW had that in it.

Note that if you drop the UWP data into an excel and set it up to note inconsistencies with either or both size and atmosphere, you find both.

o:

 

[JAFARR]

Just be aware -- Marc says... o:

Well, that's good enough for me too then.

All I need to do is change a cell number.

 

[JAFARR]

From SS4: Lost Rules

Hydrographic Percentage (1977): While later editions calculated Hydrographics as 2D–7 +atmosphere, the 1977 edition used 2D–7+size.
World Generation Checklist (1981): While the World Creation section shows the Hydrographics formula as 2D–7 +atmosphere, the checklist shows the Hydrographics formula as 2D–7+size (as in the 1977 edition); this error is repeated in The Traveller Book and Starter Traveller.