I purchased a program called 'Trader', distributed by Game
Designers' Workshop. It was designed and programmed by Marc
Miller, the creator of Traveller.
Trader runs on the Apple II series of computers, running
DOS 3.3. The package includes a starship trade and commerce
simulation game, a Book One style sector generator, an editor
to manipulate the sectors, and datafiles for The Spinward
Marches and the Solomani Rim sectors.
I have yet to find any use for the trade simulation game, but
the purchase was worth-while for the sector datafiles. GDW's
sector generator lacks in usefulness in the fact that it makes
no provisions for taking into account names for the systems
you generate.
The whole thing is written in Applesoft Basic, and the code
is listable, modifiable, and copyable.
GDW also makes available a program called 'Traveller Word
Generator', and one called 'Beastiary'. Word Generator
randomly generates Aslan, Droyne, K'Kree, Vargr, Vilani, and
Zhodani words using the language algorithms published in
various GDW books. Beastiary generates animal encounter
tables. I haven't purchased either of these products, so I
really can't comment on them.
All of these packages are available for the Apple II, and are
available by mail from GDW for $17.50 and a buck for postage.
Their address for information and ordering is:
Game Designers' Workshop
[address removed]
GDW also announced a product called 'System Survey', which the
blurbs describe as a set of astrophysical programs for system
and world generation. It is a Book 6 - Scouts style system
generator.
When I placed my order for this product, I received a notice
back from GDW saying it's release had been 'indefinitely
delayed'. This doesn't sound like anything I would count on
for the near future.
Another source of Apple II compatible software is the Traveller
Program Exchange. This is a non profit organization dedicated
to writing and distributing public domain software for Traveller.
Their contact address for comments, questions, requests, and
donations of software is:
John C. Meyers
[address removed]
[phone removed]
They have an DOS 3.3 disk available, basically for the cost of
the disk. They will mail hardcopy listings of their code for
aproximatly a dollar or their current disk for three dollars.
If you mail them a blank disk with return postage, they will
fill it with their current collection of software.
As of the time when I received a copy of their collection,
(January 1987) it contained the following stuff:
o Sectordot - Plots a standard sector file to a
high resolution screen.
o Date - A date conversion program. It can
handle Imperial, Zhodani, Azlan, Solomani,
Vilani, and K'Kree dating systems.
o Demog - A demographics program which analyzes a
standard sector datafile and organizes the
data based on various UPP stats and alligences.
o Recruit - A program which implements Book 4
recruiting.
o Gvurrdon - The datafile for the Gvurrdon sector,
just coreward of the Spinward marches. This
was donated by GDW.
The collection also contains a set of basic functions for
dice rolling and Pseudo-Hex to decimal conversions, and a
nice menu program that provides on-line documentation for
all the software.
Keep in mind that all of my information is about six months
out of date, and things may have changed. I would suggest
you contact these organizations about current availability
and costs before you order something.
- -------
ihnp4\
\ Mike Rossow
[email removed] ---------------
/ [email removed]
[email removed]/