Sectors Without Number: Custom Hex Layers
Welcome to another update!
The focal point is the addition of Custom Layers, but there are other hidden goodies that we will go over. All of this is live and available over on sectorswithoutnumber.com.
Also, before we begin, I have some exciting news. We just hit 3,000 users! 🎉 🎉 You all have created 3,800 sectors that take up a grand total of only 0.83 GB of space.
Custom Layers
A layer can be whatever you’d like to keep track of in your sector. Faction influence, political control, alien presence, important NPC locations, threat level, and population density are a few examples of things you could track with layers.
To create a layer is simple. In the floating toolbar in the upper right of the sector map, there is the layer option that previously only contained “Hex System Text” and “Navigation Routes” layer toggles. At the bottom of the list is a new option that will allow you to create a new layer.
To make a layer you must give it a name of at most 40 characters long, along with an optional description. You may enact the ‘hidden’ option now if you’d like to keep your players from seeing the layer in their views. All of this is editable afterword by selecting “Edit” in the sidebar header when viewing your layer. You are now ready to move on to the next step; region creation.
Region creation takes place in the layer sidebar, where you have the option to add a new region. This will add a row to the region list, allowing you to input a name of 40 characters long, at most. Selecting the check mark creates your region and assigns it a completely random color. If you’d like to change the color, you have the option to select a new one from the predefined list or give an exact hex code or RBG values.
The three dots to the right provide additional options like hiding/showing the regions to your players, as well as editing the name and deleting the region altogether.
The next step is painting your sector with your regions. The drawing icon to the left of the color swatch allows you to enter paint mode for the given region. Here, you can select hexes to paint with that region.
A given hex can have any number of regions associated with it. If that is the case, the hex will be striped with the colors of all regions.
Once your layers have been created and your regions have been painted, you’ll be able to hover over your systems and black holes on the map to see the layer name and any associated regions in the tooltip. Your players will be able to see only what layers and regions you specify (so you can keep that horrifying alien species secret until it’s too late).
Player/GM View Toggle
Speaking of hiding things from players, there is now an option at the top of the floating toolbar to toggle your game master view into player view.
Keep Overview Context
If you find yourself switching in between the overview list view and the sector view quite often, then you’ll know the pain of having to select the last entity list you were looking again. Now, when switching back and forth, the last list you viewed will come up when you navigate to the overview. Hooray for increased productivity!
The Future Is Now
Normally I like to round out these updates with a glimpse into the future of Sectors Without Number. There are a couple things that I can say for sure will be happening over the next couple months (new home page **cough, cough**) , but the main features are now completely decided by the kind folks that have subscribed via Patreon. If you want to have a hand in deciding the direction the website will take, come join us at the Interstellar Adventurer level. Otherwise, any level gets you access to the discord community where we can chat about Stars Without Number and whatever else is on your mind.
As always, if you run into any problems or have any suggestions for new features, feel free to message me on reddit at /u/mpigsley or directly at mpigsley@gmail.com.
