Determining Location in Open World

[Belphe]

Ahoy fellow Captains!

While navigating through the Caribbean I loved the fact that one needs to establish his/her current location on the map to proceed to their destination. However, I found the always-available, super-precise data in the upper right corner of the map a bit "unhistorical"..

And what if while sailing through the Open World we had to press a key only to receive a circle on the map depicting our estimated location within which our Officer managed to place us according to the sun, stars and previously acquired "ageing" data? The size of the circle would be dependant on a Navigation Skill of that Officer, getting smaller as his level progresses.

The wind at the moment is not in the "best shape". It changes direction very predictably and causes zero side drift. Currently, crossing the vast sea between the south American coast and Cuba is a matter of simply getting the right latitude and sailing North. If we "aimed" correctly we will arrive on Cuba in the exact point. However, since the winds in the Caribbean are usually blowing from the West, in reality we would drift to the East quite a lot, even constantly maintaining a course of 0 degrees.

In my opinion, the idea I described above would add a nice touch to the realism of long distance sailing and would allow us to correct any potential drift/error in our navigation while keeping the "fun".

Please, let me know what you think.

~Belphe

[ObiQuiet]

Many of us agree with you.

[Captain Kibble]

Yes! I would love to see either a navigation perk, or even better, multiple types of officers (navigator, surgeon, etc.) as has been suggested in other threads.

[Anolytic]

The opinion that navigation is too easy and far too precise currently has been voiced many times, and I agree with you. What's really interesting is your opinion on the wind. Making the wind more of a difficulty factor and less of a predictable force turning constantly like a clock would be very interesting.

Though I'm not sure that drifting off course would be wise to add to the game. Sometimes you just have to afk-sail because the distances are so enormous. If you drifted off course all the time it would be more annoying than immersive. Similarly making the wind blow mostly from the west would be an annoyance and an unnecessary disadvantage to players of factions that have to sail mostly to the west to find action. However making the wind less predictable and less stable both in speed of change and wind strength would be a good idea while still blowing on average as much to one direction as any other.

[ObiQuiet]

FWIW, here is the wind model I suggested before:

 

 

 

1. Give each compass point a probability to match the prevailing wind over the whole OW. (assumption: wind that varies by location is much harded to implement than globally-consistent wind).

2. Randomly pick the wind's new direction based on the probability compass. Randomly pick veering or backing based on a distribution between the two.

3. Mark that new location on the in-game compass for everyone to see.

4. Gradually, over a long period like we have now, the wind will move to it's new point. Long enough that we can still plan voyages with some confidence.

5. Repeat.

Fine-tuning:
Choose a variable rate for the wind shift -- not too varied, just enough to make it seem faster and slower from time to time.
Choose a variable wind strength within a narrow enough band.

Just enough to make it a force that matters and that you have to be constantly conscious of in the game -- that would increase immersion. 

[CaptVonGunn]

It is better then the BS F11 system most people were using before. Is it a little to good? Yeah likely.. but Historically most Good warship Capitians or one of their Officers or Sailing Master would know where they were within say 1 of the 1/2 min squares.  I always wanted a circle that was random around the ships that basically showed about where you were