Heavy Gear Date Conversion Guide: Terra Nova

Calendars have long been a fun "thought problem" for me, especially when applied in my favorite sci-fi settings. I've long wanted a useful tool to convert dates in Heavy Gear to and from the Gregorian calendar we use today, and I've finally been able to write one that I can share with other Heavy Gear fans.

Converting the Terranovan Calendar
The various editions of Life on Terra Nova (as well as this excerpt from DP9) describe how time is kept on Terra Nova, so the particulars will not be repeated here. Three dates presented in the book, however, give us a basis to create this conversion guide:

Gregorian Calendar Terranovan Calendar
April 3, 4752 AD 1 Winter TN 1
January 1, 6132 AD 10 Winter TN 1933
January 1, 1995 AD 41 Autumn TN -3862

With these dates and the other rules of Terranovan timekeeping, I've created a JavaScript-based function which converts from the Gregorian to the Terranovan calendar. The results aren't perfect, but I've come pretty close. (Take a look at the source code if you'd like to see how the function works; if Terranovan dates do not appear below the dates in the table, you'll need to allow active content to run on your browser.)

Today's Date Check Date 1 Check Date 2

There are bound to be some discrepancies given how the two conversion methods work, so my suggestion is to use both tools for a given date and average the two results. For instance, inputting the Gregorian date "January 1, 3001" returns the Terranovan date of 38 Summer TN -2453, while inputting "38 Summer TN -2453" into the second tool returns the Gregorian date of December 31, 3000. In such a case, pick the one you like the best; either date should be just fine for game purposes.


(The Gregorian-to-Terranovan conversion tool should accept most date formats; if you get a return value with an "NaN" error, reenter the date in another format. For instance, January 1, 2001 can be entered as "1/1/2001," "January 1, 2001" or "1 Jan 2001.")

Convert from the Gregorian to the Terranovan Calendar:

Convert from the Terranovan to the Gregorian Calendar:
TN
(day) (season) (cycle)


Coming Soon: Date Conversion Guides for Caprice and Atlantis

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