The Spinward Main

How I determined which Spinward Marches UWPs are the best to use.

This of course is very individualistic. I wanted UWPs (Universal World Profile) that reflected the 1105 timeline but also corrected the misprinted UWPs from LBB Sup 3 (Little Black Book Supplement 3 - Spinward Marches). I was turned to the Regency Source Book (T:NE) for my starting source. Why a New Era resource? I was informed and I checked for myself, that the UWPs listed in the RSB for the 1117 timeline were for the most part the exact same UWPs that have been printed in LBB Sup3. The difference being that these UWPs eliminated the worst and blatant misprints over the different versions of the game and corrected the Stellar Data which is important for almost all of the Traveller Software.

A very good listing of what exactly is cannon for the 1105 OTU Sector data is posted below, following the downloads - thanks to Aramis and Daryen.

I took the SM1117.SEC file (below) which is all the RSB 1117 UWPs as my starting point and compared the data where it diverged with the LBB Sup 3 (see more info below). In most cases I chose to change or keep the UWP so that it matched the LBB Sup3 UWPs. After careful consideration and looking up the individual UWP notation differences, I rarely found a reason not to keep the LBB Sup 3 UWP. In one or two instances I combined the LBB Sup 3 UWP and the SMC (Spinward Marches Camapign book) UWP Trade Codes to better match what the Sup 3 UWP was saying. This happened only a couple times. The end result I feel is the best and most accurate UWP data to date for the Spinward Marches.

In all cases I avoided using the SMC and the Genie data for the UWP comparison, except for as mentioned earlier when I was comparing Trade Codes. I also have access to a spreadsheet that contains all the sectors from the OTU (Original Traveller Universe) that the creator of Traveller, Marc Miller, put together. I used it as a reference but found that at least for the Spinward Marches, it must have been created during the making of the SMC book or after it at some point with the SMC as the source for the Spinward Marches data. I am not for certain when it was created but I think it must of have post SMC since the Stellar Data matches the RSB while the UWP matches the SMC and the Trade codes tend to match the LBB Sup 3 and the SMC more than it does the RSB.

Again let me emphasize that I did as little fiddling with the UWPs and Trade Codes as possible. There was only two times I remember changing a Trade Code and both times were to bring them in line with LBB Sup 3 and SMC. There were only 2 or 3 times I changed the UWP and again it was only to bring it back in line with LBB Sup 3. Since trade codes were expanded I decided to keep all trade codes in the 1117 data that were the same as LBB Sup 3 and to keep all trade codes in the 1117 data that matched the SMC. I suppose if we only played “basic” Traveller using LBBs 1-3 or just used The Travller Book then the best option would have been to change all trade codes back to the LBB Sup 3 standard. But since we and most people I know play using LBB 7 (Merchant Prince rule book) I saw no reason at this time to retrofit the trade codes any further. At some point I may get motivated enough to retrofit all the Spinward Marches data to strictly LBB Sup 3 or if someone gets inspired enough to do it, I will gladly host the files here.

Update: When I changed the Trade Codes in a couple of UWP entries, I changed them using one source vs. another. In both cases the actual UWP codes were the same - so I figured there would be no need to recheck the Trade Code by hand since I was assuming the reason the Sup 3 version said one thing and the SMC and 1117 said another was simply due to that Sup 3 used LBB 3 Trade Rules with the basic Trade Code and SMC and 1117 used the expanded trade codes - hence just adding the expanded trade codes that were missing shouldn’t be an issue.

It has been brought to my attention that this assumption may be wrong. So I am going back and recalculating the expanded trade codes for the entries I changed to be sure that I have the proper trade codes in place. If there are corrections needed I will be implementing them as soon as possible.

The only thing in the files below that is not finished to my satisfaction is the Allegiance Codes. The SM 1117.SEC file’s allegiance codes are obviously from the 1117 era. This is not acceptable if you are playing in the 1105 or 1112 era. So they need to be changed to meet your requirement. The Spinward Marches.HES file’s allegiance codes are only partially fixed. For the most part they still reflect the 1117 codes. The 1105 SM.TXT file’s allegiance codes I have done the most work on. At this time they match the allegiance codes found in the SMC book. It is my intention to finish editing the file so that they match the 1105 setting. At that time I will upload the correct 1105 file and change the name of the current one to reflect that it is SMC compatible.

Spinward Marches Sector Files - (Right Click & Save As…)

SM 1117.SEC - Raw Sector File - This is the raw 1117 Sec data that I started with. The UWPs were taken from the Regency Source Book (T:NE). There are some differences between the RSB UWPs and the original LBB Supplement 3 UWPs. Where the UWPs diverge, there is an asterisk (*) before the UWP. Where there are duplicate names there is parentheses ( ) with a number (1) denoting the repeats starting at (1) and continuing, i.e. (2), (3). This file should only be edited in a pure txt editor. If you edit it in Wordpad or Word or any program that inserts formating code, you will not be able to import it as a SEC file.

Spinward Marches.HES - Heaven & Earth v 1.0.0 Sector File - I generated this file from my Universe program using the export feature. The data is mostly from the 1105 SM.TXT file but I have since did more editing and have yet to create a new export for H&E. The standard UWP information including trade codes and stellar data is complete. The only part of the data that isn’t fixed is all the Allegiance codes.

1105 SM.TXT - Universe Sector File - This is my (mostly) fixed Universe Spinward Marches Sector Data. All the information is correct as far as I can determine except for the Allegiance Codes. It is my intention to set all Allegiance Codes to match LBB Sup 3. As of this posting I think the Allegiance Codes match the SMC UWPs. At worst there is only one maybe two errors - easy enough to check if you are happy with the SMC Allegiance Codes. –> To import this file into Universe you must register the Standard.iel . You must choose a file extension when you do this. I personally used TXT but it easily could be SEC or UNI or whatever you wish it to be. Whatever you choose as your file extension, remember to Change The .TXT of this file to match the extension you registered to Standard.iel. If you don’t you will not be able to see the file to select it, to import. So don’t forget this step!

These are the canonical, published sectors for the CT era:

- Spinward Marches (S3, IA/IF [A0], SMC)
- Spinward Marches (Rhylanor [A2], “Spinward Main” [A3], Chronor & Jewell [A6], Vilis [A7], District 128 [A10], Regina [A12, TTB], Aramis [TTA], Darrian Worlds [AM8])
- Reft (New Islands & Old Islands [A5])
- Solomani Rim (S10)
- Solomani Rim (”Solomani Border” [A13], Harlequin [JTAS12])
- Gvurrdon (AM3)
- Trojan Reach (Egyrn & Pax Rulin [A4])
- Corridor (SA7)

Note that EVERY occurance of the Spinward Marches, or any of its subsectors, ALL agree with S3, EXCEPT for SMC and AM8. SMC was a retcon that made many changes in contradiction to all that came before. Only AM8 was published after that and contained those retcons.

Also note that AM3 (Vargr) is the only Alien Module that contains an entire sector. (AM8 has most of the Darrian subsector. The others have at most a couple of homeworlds.)

This only covers CT sources. This does not address any other era. It also willfully ignores AotI, as it is a crap source.

Of the SEC files I have found on the web, all files for the Spinward Marches are based on the SMC. All files for the Solomani Rim are based on S10. Both have errors. (The most well-known is the screwed up PPG info for Entrope in the Spinward Marches files.)