Originally posted by John D.:
So, realizing I'm an old school Traveller player but my gaming group wasn't - I opted to run T20 for my friends. But unlike my old group, I discovered the world codes are pretty much giberish to my new group (and for the record, the old group was 20 yrs ago). 
So is there a database or spreadsheet out there that 'translates' the planetary codes for ease of use? I've been working on an Access database for one possible solution but it's slow going. 
Hmm, well, if just looking at the tables is insufficient . . .
And if you have MS Access, I can't see why it would be slow going.
Create 8 MS Access Tables. Name the tables after the same tables in the books. Starport, Size, Atmosphere, Hydrographics, etc.
StarportTrans
Col 1: Starport: Text 1: Primary Key
Col 2: Desc: Text 50
SizeTrans
Col 1: Size: Text 1: Primary Key
Col 2: Desc: Text 50 char
AtmosphereTrans
Col 1: Atmosphere: Text 1: Primary Key
Col 2: Desc: Text 50 char
Etc.
Type in all the values from the translation tables in the books into the MS Access tables (there are other fancy ways this can be done, like pasting a text copy into MS Word, and using MS Word's ability to turn the text into an MS Word table, which then can be directly pasted into an MS Access table (although MS Word tables and MS Access tables are completely different creatures).
Next, create a new table:
NumTrans
Col 1: HexCode: Text 1: Primary Key
Col 2: NumCode: Byte
Type in the 0-Z Hex Values (skipping I and O) in the HexCode, and then type in 0-whatever in the NumCode
Add the 0-"however high in hex letters" for each of the other table's first columns.
Desc is the written description of the the UWP Code in question. Adding this will be tedious if not using the copy and paste method suggested above.
Write your SQL
You join your main tables to NumTrans whenever you need to reference the Hex values (stored as one character strings) numerically (and if you ever wish to do mathematical calculations on you world figures, you will, a lot).
The Basic Query
(UWP_Table is a generic and not well-named table that really refers to whatever table you are keeping your traditional UWP line information in.)
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">SELECT U1.PlanetName
,S1.Desc
,S2.Desc
,A1.Desc
,H1.Desc
,P1.Desc
,G1.Desc
,L1.Desc
,T1.Desc
FROM ((((((((UWP_Table AS U1
INNER JOIN
StarportTrans AS S1
ON U1.Starport = S1.Starport)
INNER JOIN
SizeTrans AS S2
ON U1.Size = S2.Size)
INNER JOIN
AtmosphereTrans AS A1
ON U1.Atmosphere = A1.Atmosphere)
INNER JOIN
HydrographicsTrans AS H1
ON U1.Hydrographics = H1.Hydrographics)
INNER JOIN
PopulationTrans AS P1
ON U1.Population = P1.Population)
INNER JOIN
GovernmentTrans AS G1
ON U1.Government = G1.Government)
INNER JOIN
LawLevelTrans AS L1
ON U1.LawLevel = L1.LawLevel)
INNER JOIN
TechLevelTrans AS T1
ON U1.TechLevel = T1.TechLevel)
WHERE PlanetName = [Enter World's Name]</pre>[/QUOTE]Note: The above has not, obviously, been tested, although it does save in Access. I'm not guaranteeing that the above is syntactically correct. The idea is correct, though.
