[Space] GURPS Handbook of the Planets

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Brett

The interface is a bit clunky, requiring the user to type accurately input that would be better selected from menus.

I haven't done very much with your sheet beyond a quick look-see, but this is actually a really easy fix, with a little bit of time invested (I do lots of menu's in my GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet).

In Excel 2000: Data (menu) -> Validation
In Excel 2007/10: Data (tab) -> Validation
In OpenOffice: Data (menu) -> Validity

In all of them, in the Validation window, you can select List for the type of Validation. In the list entry box you can create a comma separated list in Excel; in OpenOffice you put each entry for the list on it's own line. In either you can also set the list to be a Cell Range instead, so you can create dynamically changing lists by changing the target cell values (or, in the case of Excel, so you can create list entries which include a comma - the list is comma deliminated in Excel, so values with comma's are not allowed in the simple list, but are within a Cell Range).

Other Validation options can be useful to restrict cell values to decimals, integers, as well as numbers above, below, or between given values, and a few other options. Validation is really useful for this kind of sheet.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

I haven't done very much with your sheet beyond a quick look-see, but this is actually a really easy fix, with a little bit of time invested (I do lots of menu's in my GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet).

In Excel 2000: Data (menu) -> Validation
In Excel 2007/10: Data (tab) -> Validation
In OpenOffice: Data (menu) -> Validity

In all of them, in the Validation window, you can select List for the type of Validation. In the list entry box you can create a comma separated list in Excel; in OpenOffice you put each entry for the list on it's own line. In either you can also set the list to be a Cell Range instead, so you can create dynamically changing lists by changing the target cell values (or, in the case of Excel, so you can create list entries which include a comma - the list is comma deliminated in Excel, so values with comma's are not allowed in the simple list, but are within a Cell Range).

Other Validation options can be useful to restrict cell values to decimals, integers, as well as numbers above, below, or between given values, and a few other options. Validation is really useful for this kind of sheet.

I ought to look into it.

Things would have been rather easier if I had boned up on that bit of Excel first. Would have saved me a lot of trouble on input filtering and error messages. Which were not exactly easy the way I did them (though by no means as tricky as some of the other things I did in that monster of a workbook).

[Mercator]

Originally Posted by Brett

Do you have a good set of data for the nearby stars in a convenient form?

Brett, have you checked out Tycho-2? I think it supersedes all the catalogs I've seen in this thread. It has a much larger scope than you need, but many entries are better-reduced data from Hipparcos, so you might find it useful. I think it's the best catalog so far until we get GAIA in 8-9 years.

M.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Mercator

Brett, have you checked out Tycho-2? I think it supersedes all the catalogs I've seen in this thread. It has a much larger scope than you need, but many entries are better-reduced data from Hipparcos, so you might find it useful. I think it's the best catalog so far until we get GAIA in 8-9 years.

It doesn't seem to have parallax, which is a pest.

[Celti]

Originally Posted by Brett

What I do with this beast is to add a sheet into which I put a data table that feeds ten thousand consecutive numbers into the "system number" or "universe number", and then treats selected cells (spectral class, maximum habitability, gravity of the world with highest habitability, number of worlds with habitability 4+) as output. On my Mac this will update in about twenty minutes (or a list of only a thousand systems in two minutes). Then I can pick anything interesting out of the list and re-generate it. Or attach colour-coded system numbers to points on maps or names in lists. If necessary, I can fine-tune the search by using the control panel.

I don't suppose anyone could give me a few hints on how to do something like this in OpenOffice? Paging through systems manually is tedious

[Agemegos]

Is anyone still using my spreadsheet?

Has anyone made a proper computer instance of the GURPS 4e star system generation sequence yet?

[Flyndaran]

I still, and will always, love it to bits.

Sadly, I have little computer ability to tweek or create programs.

[Agemegos]

Has anyone put a copy up for download on a GURPS website that people are going to be able to find?

[zorg]

Originally Posted by Brett

Is anyone still using my spreadsheet?

Has anyone made a proper computer instance of the GURPS 4e star system generation sequence yet?

I'm using it from time to time. Haven't uploaded or improved on it, though.

[Pomphis]

Originally Posted by Brett

Is anyone still using my spreadsheet?

Yes. Quite happily, and with ongoing gratitude.

Originally Posted by Brett

Has anyone made a proper computer instance of the GURPS 4e star system generation sequence yet?

Not me.