Star Maps

[ThirdEmperor]

Navigation in this game is nearly impossible, if you start in a well known town and know the basic direction of the town you're looking for you have a 1 in 10 chance of actually getting where you're trying to go. To solve this problem I propose the implementation of a skill called "astrology", combined with a telescope the astrology skill would allow you to "scan the heavens" giving you a view of the stars current locations and even create a star chart showing their positions when you made the chart. Thing is, the position of the stars changes depending on which area grid you're in, so by comparing a star chart created at your destination to the stars positions where you are you can determine which direction to go to get to your destination. Imagine! Actually being able to get somewhere that doesn't have a crossroads! Or even knowing where you are!

[Onionfighter]

There is a skill called cartography that is rather useful for this.
With Pacho's cliient, you used to be able to get coordinates, but they were then randomized by Loftar.

[ThirdEmperor]

Yes I know that maps exist, but they're only usable in short range and only if you've already been where you're going. These star maps are essentialy coordinates, you get the ones for where you are, you buy a star chart for where you're going, you compare them and find out how to get there. It would essentialy be a more usefull type of map and would allow trading villages to be viable because they could hand out star maps of their position so people could get there, instead of forcing people to join a town and use the crossroads if they want to get anywhere.

[Onionfighter]

Well, the reason I mentioned the coordinate system, is because such a system existed, but was removed by Loftar. Whether they would want to put a different system in place is up to them.

Historically, latitude has been relatively simple to figure out, but longitude has not been. I guess a question is: is the hearth shaped like a sphere, or something else? (Some have suggested a doughnut) The map seems to suggest a two dimensional world.

[Jackard]

[ThirdEmperor]

Hmmm, perhaps the devs want us to wander around aimlessly, but I don't think many players like it, I mean, the lack of a world map is what makes this game fascinating, but some kind of navigation is needed so we can actually trade .

[Haba]

Maybe you could use a sextant to determine your location in the world.

[kralmir]

go in a party with whoever you want to find or with someone who is there at a place you want to go

now every time you click theyr icon you move in theyr location, use that as your compas, its the best we got atm

[Peter]

I think using the stars as a guide would fit the theme and provide a very useful gameplay element.
It would be unwise for this action to require an expensive, hard-to-attain item, as that would defeat the purpose of having a trade tool; if you could get the lodestone or golden sextant, then you already have someone to trade with.

Of course, high-q materials made with very good materials could provide a bonus, but there needs to be a functional if inelegant "bootstrap" item that would simply let you find your co-ordinates and/or relative direction to a point.

It's not out of the question to say that founding a town or something creates a bright new star that anyone might see, though we really don't know the cosmology of the Hearth.

The great advantage of this system is that it allows for large-scale navigation without giving away the whole world map. You're still exploring, you just now know which way to go, and perhaps how far is left. I recall my multi-multigrid adventure, that was a lot of fun dispite my 2000 LP and fleeing from everything.

[ThirdEmperor]

go in a party with whoever you want to find or with someone who is there at a place you want to go

now every time you click theyr icon you move in theyr location, use that as your compas, its the best we got atm

Exactly, it's the best we got, but it sucks so I am proposing something easier and more adaptable. As for the matter of equipment, you should be able to use navigation without a telescope, but without one you can only use the skill at night, and you get star maps representing super-grids instead of area grids, making it less accurate. Telescopes should still be easy to make tho, maybe 2 blocks of wood, 1 raw glass? How about it devs? Being permanently lost is gettin old.