User manual

Getting started

There are three ways to begin:

• Try the fictional sample sector to look around with a few ready-made worlds.
• Open a sector file you already have: a World Builder file (.WBS), a Traveller Map sector, or a sector table (.csv).
• Start a new sector: give it a name, then generate star systems into it.

Nothing is saved automatically. When you want to keep your work, use File › Download project, and open that file again later with File › Open project.

Opening a sector

Choose File › Open sector file, or use Open a sector on the page. Every file is reviewed before it replaces the sector you have open: the review lists errors, which stop the import, and warnings, which do not. Each message names its line. If a legacy file shows odd characters, choose Windows-1252 under Text encoding and review it again.

Browsing worlds

Use the World list and Sector map tabs to switch views; both share one selection. Find a world filters by name, hex, or profile. The world panel beside the list shows the chosen world; Hide world panel gives the map the full width, and choices then open a world dialog instead. Plan a jump route lists worlds in range and finds the fewest jumps between two worlds in the sector.

Generating systems and areas

• A single system: under Generate a system, enter an empty hex and, if you like, a seed. The same seed always gives the same system in the same version, and a blank seed is chosen for you and shown. You can also choose an empty spot on the map.
• Around an imported world: enter that world’s hex, or choose Generate a system around this world. Pick one of the listed orbits or satellite positions. The world keeps its profile and stays the main world, and the stars from its record are used when it has any.
• A subsector or the whole sector: under Generate a subsector or sector, choose an area and a density. You can add density adjustments for parts of the area. Hexes that already hold a world are skipped. A long run shows progress and can be cancelled, and nothing is added until it finishes.
• Undoing: Remove generated system, or Remove on a generated area, fills the form back in, so generating again restores what you removed.

The map and its keys

Each hex can show a starport letter; a filled circle for a world with water, an open circle for one without, or dots for a planetoid belt; a small dot for a gas giant; a star for a naval base; and a triangle for a scout base. Map size shows names and profiles on a large map; on smaller ones, a name appears when you rest the pointer on a world or move to it with the keyboard.

Choose a world to select it. Choose an empty spot to generate a system there or to set a density-adjustment corner.

Keyboard

Up, Down

One row within a column

Left, Right

One column, at the same row number

Shift with Left or Right

The other diagonal neighbor, so you can reach all six

Page Up, Page Down

Ten rows, a subsector’s height

Home, End

The first or last column

Enter

Open the hex or world

Escape

Close a menu, a dialog without unsaved changes, or a name tooltip

Every move is one parsec. On an empty hex, a dashed hex cursor shows where you are.

Names and notes

Give any world your own name and notes in its panel or dialog, then choose Save name and notes. A name never changes an imported record: the panel still shows the imported name, and a search still finds it. If you move to another world, generate, or download with an unsaved change, the change is kept and you are told so; if it cannot be kept, the app stays where you are and explains why beside the field. Names and notes belong to a hex, so they return if you remove a system and generate there again.

Handbook details

A generated system can take MegaTraveller World Builder’s Handbook size details: diameter, density, mass, gravity, orbit, rotation, axial tilt, eccentricity, and seismic stress. Choose Add handbook size details in its panel, or Add handbook details on a generated area to detail all of its systems at once. Open a body’s Handbook details in the system list to read them. They draw from their own seed and never change the system.

Saving, opening, and formats

• Project file (.heaven-earth.json.gz): keeps everything. This is the usual way to save.
• Project XML (.heaven-earth.xml): the same project, in XML, for other tools.
• CSV table (.csv): one row per world and per body, for spreadsheets. Generated systems rebuild from their seeds when you open it again. It does not keep the selected world or the view.
• Traveller Map sector (.tab): one row per world, in the format Traveller Map uses, for its Poster Maker. Traveller Map may warn where its rules differ from the ones used here.

You can also open a sector file downloaded from Traveller Map, in its T5 tab, T5 column, or older SEC format. Its sector and subsector names come with it.

Type a file name without an extension; the app adds it. Your browser decides the folder unless it is set to ask. The CSV and XML formats are published in the project’s Interchange formats document.

Printing a subsector booklet

Choose File › Print subsector booklet, or Print subsector booklet on the page. Choose the subsector first; it follows the selected world. The booklet holds the subsector’s hex map and a legend, a world list with a summary, and each world’s profile, system, and notes. Your browser’s print dialog prints it, or saves it as a PDF.

Reading a world’s profile

A world’s profile, its UWP, is a short code such as A867A99-C. Each place in it is one characteristic: starport, size, atmosphere, hydrographics, population, government, and law level, then tech level after the dash. Digits above 9 continue with letters. The printed booklet spells each one out in a few words beside its code. For what each value means in play, see the book of the ruleset you are using.

Using the menus

The File, View, and Help menus at the top of the page gather the app’s main actions. Down opens a menu, Up and Down move within it, Left and Right move between menus, and Escape closes it. Items that need an open sector are unavailable until one is open, and View marks the current choices.

Privacy and versions

Your sectors and project files are never sent anywhere; they stay on your device. The site counts visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which uses no cookies. The page footer and Help › About show the version, build, and date: please include them when you report a problem.