Re: [Space] System Generator
 

See ? Physical work is dangerous. Don´t do it. Concentrate on your duties and create new cocktails. I don´t recall details, but I once spent major parts of a summer in my (then) favorite bar (it closed) on making new cocktails based on port. I am sure that there are many other new continents to discover.

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

Bumping to check for progress.

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

IME the only ways to get decent service when it comes to computers is to either do it yourself, have a good friend do it while you sit round giving 'helpful' advice and drink their good coffee, or if you must have a shop do it get a time from them when it will be done and turn up at that time and hang round being a nuisance until it's done - that way they'll at least start working on it when you turn up to collect it.

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

Damn you Agemegos! I'm supposed to be working on thermodynamics and physical chemistry tomorrow, but I think you can guess what I'll be spending my time on... I can hardly wait to check out the spreadsheet. Glad to hear your mac got back in one piece as well!

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

Will we eventually be able to specify star types?

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

I've been playing with this...

So far...WOW. :)

I love that while it randomly generates solar systems, you can control the random number seeds and, if you want, "restore" old solar systems you want to take a second look at.

One request...any way to add an extra decimal place to some parts of the display? It's sort of odd when you see things like M6 star...luminosity: 0 or tiny rock planet...mass: 0. :) Yes, you can go to the World Details table, but it would be nice to see it on the "main" display.

One possible issue...I got a few odd results with worlds that look like they should be tidally locked, but aren't. I got one Earth-like world orbiting an M5 star, with a system that is 8.8 billion years old, but (unless I read the display on the World Details table incorrectly) it is NOT tidally locked. That seems really odd.

Universe: 99, System: 110115

Thank you. This is already very cool. I can't wait to see the "post-alpha" versions.

Mark

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

This actually didn't work, but reducing the font size to 9 did. Go figure.

Mark

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

Tidal locking is looking better...mind you, I have no actual science to back this up; it's more of a "yeah, that makes sense" evaluation. :)

I haven't been seeing too many ultra-cold garden planets, but perhaps I'm just not hitting the right random numbers. (Of course, if I was actually using the program to design solar systems for a campaign, an article, or an e-book, I would just cheat and ignore any solar system I didn't feel made sense...as long as you've got about 75% M-type stars and 15% K-type stars and 10% everything else, I figure it will be "close enough for gaming.")

Mark

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

Not anymore, thanks to you. :)

Seriously, I can run through 100 solar systems with your spreadsheet in a matter of minutes. That's MUCH faster than creating even one system with dice, figuring out what the results mean using the rules in GURPS Space, etc. Even if I was throwing out four out of five solar systems for one reason or another (most of the time, the reason would probably be, "Yes, a plausible solar system, but very DULL...let's see what the next random number seed brings..."), I could map out an area of space as large as a subsector from Traveller (i.e., 30-40 solar systems) in a couple of hours. That would give most people enough room to run a campaign for a very long time.

Even in its Alpha incarnation, your spreadsheet is a thing of joy and beauty. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Mark

Re: [Space] System Generator
 

Are you bragging or complaining? :)

More important, does this mean you can now assign a mass to a star and the program will randomly generate the rest of the solar system?

By the way, going back to some earlier comments you made, one habitable planet for every one hundred solar systems does not seem unreasonable. It is interesting that for each of these worlds, there might be several that are "gardens" in that there is liquid water, some oxygen in the atmosphere, and some kind of life, but which might not be very "habitable" by human standards. This seems quite plausible. It's interesting that so many are tide-locked worlds that orbit M-type stars. A glitch in the "rules" or a reasonable extrapolation of what science is trying to tell us, that life can establish itself almost anywhere where there is liquid water and, once it is established, tends to keep itself going, flourishing even in some pretty odd places?

Thanks.

Mark