Legacy Astrographic Data

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The Legacy Astrographic Data is the chaotic set of sector and subsector data sets that arose during the period of 1977 to 2008.

  • Classic Traveller didn't arise as a planned science fiction setting. It developed into one.

Traveller star maps have gone through three overlapping and very generalized time periods of development:

  1. Legacy Astrographic Data AKA [Initial Sectors (1977 to 1984)]
  2. Sunbane AKA [Generated Data (1985 to 1999)]
  3. T5 Second Survey AKA [Internet Era (1997 to Present)]

Description (Specifications)

The data for these sectors was originally generated by Joe Fugate and marked as copyright by both Digest Group Publications and Game Designers' Workshop. The Sunbane data appears to be an inexact recreation of the Atlas of the Imperium data.

In addition, analysis of the data has shown several problems.

  1. The number generator and generation algorithm were bad, producing a "needle stuck in a groove" effect.
  2. For example, in Delphi, 42 of the 346 (12%) worlds have UWP codes of "x10043x-x".
  3. Massilia had thirteen worlds with TL-16.

History & Background (Dossier)

Traveller astrography is very difficult to document because it has had many overlapping periods about which even the direct eye witnesses and participants sometimes have profound disagreements. The legacy data is the interaction of the official publications, the work of the various Traveller licensees, and the fan works. Because these works fed into each other in various random ways, tracking the exact history of some of the data can be a difficult task. This author can only confess to having reviewed forty years of published materials, spoken with multiple former employees, authors, illustrators, and other participants and tried to piece the best history possible out of the mess. Long live, Traveller! [1]

Initial Sectors (1977 to 1984)

This generation of astrographic data was included in Book 3 (1977), and could be used to generate map data (See TAS form 6, in the same book). The generation rules were expanded with the publication of Book 6 (1983). There are several variations of system generation through each version of Traveller.

  1. In 1979 and 1981, the first full sector of data, including full maps, was published in The Spinward Marches (Supplement 3) (1979). And followed by The Solomani Rim (1981)
    1. There was no Charted Space when Classic Traveller first began.
    2. The Imperium board game (1977) is a precursor to the Imperium and it has a map. While it has a map, the data wasn't integrated into Classic Traveller until a later time.
    3. Book 3 contains a blank star chart (TAS Form 6). Book 3 also has a full hex map.
    4. Adventure 1: Kinnur has a full hex map of Regina Subsector.
    5. The Spinward Marches (1979) has a full sector with maps.
  2. In 1980, Library Data (A-M) (1980) has the first full map of charted space (pages 23-24), but with no world locations.
    1. The following sectors were designed by hand:
      1. Old Expanses Sector
      2. Reaver's Deep Sector
      3. Reft Sector
      4. Solomani Rim Sector
      5. Spinward Marches Sector
      6. Trojan Reach Sector
  3. In 1981, Judges Guild published (1981) four sectors: Ley Sector, Crucis Margin, Maranantha-Alkahest Sector, and Glimmerdrift Reaches which included 22"x34" maps and full data.
    1. Many early legacy publishers created a variety of settings, maps, and materials, some of which has never been officially placed within the OTU.
  4. In 1984, each of the Alien modules (Zhodani, K'kree, Vargr, Aslan, Solomani, Hiver) contained a more detailed map including sector names, but still without data. Vargr (Alien Module) (1984) published map and full data for the Gvurrdon sector.
  5. In 1984, Marc Miller (GDW) produced Atlas of the Imperium (AOTI) incorporating previous data plus computer generated data.
    1. The Atlas of the Imperium (1984) published maps for 35 sectors of the Imperium. These contains system locations, and a few system details. The data behind the AotI has never been published and is presumed lost.
  6. The only source of data was physically published works. In addition to the many works of Game Designers' Workshop, and the several licensees, there were several fanzines also publishing astrographic data. Access to data required knowledge of the publishers and purchase of the physical media.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
  1. ↑ Information provided to the library by Maksim-Smelchak
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