Speed and distance

[Genma Saotome]

In the game's Trader Tool there is a number showing the distance to each port using k as the unit of measure.  In the OW game display, over by the compass there is speed using kn as the unit of measure.

I suppose kn means knots but what does k mean?  km would be kilometers, nm would be nautical miles... what the heck is k (no, it is not kelvin)??  Nautical miles would be ideal as 1kn / hour means 1nm/hour.

Thanks in advance.

[Prater]

TLDR:  400 game units is about 1km.  Knots value given is how many 400 game units you travel per minute, or how many km you travel per minute.  
 

On 6/27/2017 at 11:44 AM, Prater said:

The Pinkerton map was a base.  What is in game isn't exactly that though, look at any of the player created maps that were based on coordinates.  There are similarities but major differences, specifically Central America, Yucatan, Lesser Antilles, and Cuba.  If you look at the Pinkerton North America map, there are even more differences.  The Pinkerton West Indies map is centered on Hispaniola, Naval Action is centered on Jamaica.  The game world has gone through at least 2 major phases with significant changes.  We entered the current phase in July 2015 if I remember right, when many landmasses were changed.  As I already explained, Game Lab's grid is based off the coordinate system in Unity, the game engine Naval Action is built on.

Jamaica:  Naval Action:  248km wide.  Google:  232km wide.  Pinkerton:  about 210km wide.

Hispaniola:  Naval Action:  710km wide.  Google:  647km wide.  Pinkerton: about 660km wide.

1 degree of latitude:  Naval Action:  126.1km. Actual:  111.2km.  Pinkerton:  111.8km.  To get this latitude I took the distance from Islas de Mangles, Cuba to slightly west of Mariel, Cuba because this is easily measured.  On Pinkerton's map, this is 1 degree of latitude.  On google the landmasses don't line up with Pinkerton and Naval Action, so while this is a degree of latitude, you can't really compare because the Islas de Mangles are different.  So, instead I just use the actual distance of a degree of latitude.

North point Island of Tortuga to mainland South America (1 degree of Latitude on Pinkerton's map):  Naval Action 109km.  Google maps:  98.8km.  Pinkerton:  111.8km.  Google maps has the line of latitude inland of Venezuela, Pinkerton has it on the coast, so that is why there is a discrepancy there. 

Distance between 17th and 18th parallels:  Naval Action:  About 122km.  Actual:  111.2km.  Pinkerton:  111.8km.

Notice the discrepancy in distance in the distance of one degree of latitude in Naval Action.  One is 126km, another is about 122km, and another is 109km.

 

I'd like to remind everyone, my map has a scale, and it is fairly accurate to what we have in Naval Action.    

Again, as I have said many times.  400 game units = 1km.  We get game coordinates by hitting f11.  So we have this unit of measurement available to us.  Then we have another unit of measurement and this is in the speed of your ship, given as knots.  Each knot translates to 400 game units per minute, or 1 km per minute.  You should see the problem, what is given as knots in the open world refers to km per minute instead of nautical miles.  For a scale to really make sense, these two things need to be reconciled.  Otherwise you have knots, i.e. how many nautical miles you are travelling, referring to how many kilometers you are travelling and 1km equaling 1 nautical mile.  

 

 

Edited July 12, 2017 by Prater

[Genma Saotome]

So is the answer the Trader tool is showing game km?

The speed display is km/minute... is that real minutes or game minutes?

 

Basically what I'm trying to fdigure out is this: If I'm sailing at 20kn (average) and the distance I need to cover is 100k, how long will it take, in  game time and in real time.

[Macjimm]

25 minutes ago, Genma Saotome said:

So is the answer the Trader tool is showing game km?

The speed display is km/minute... is that real minutes or game minutes?

 

Basically what I'm trying to fdigure out is this: If I'm sailing at 20kn (average) and the distance I need to cover is 100k, how long will it take, in  game time and in real time.

We have some very good tools that will enable you to easily determine how long a journey will take in real time.

http://burningsail.com/

The burning sail map is one of the simplest

Edited July 12, 2017 by Macjimm

[Genma Saotome]

Burningsail is useful but I'd still like to know what is k -- the units of measure the game uses when it displays distance?  Game units are meaningless because the game display does not tell you how many game units separate your ship from some port, they tell you k, whatever k happens to be.

What is k?

Edited July 12, 2017 by Genma Saotome

[Prater]

Sorry, I didn't explain well, let me try again.

 

K is the abbreviation for thousand.  The number refers to Game Units.  (f11 coordinates)

 

Example:  I am at Mortimer Town.  It says Baracoa is 49k away.  This means it is 49,000 Game Units away.

 

The knots value given in open world is actually kpm, or Kilometers Per Minute.  400 Game units is 1 kilometer.  So 400 * knots = how many Game Units your ship travels in 1 minute.

 

To get a rough idea of how long a trip will take:

Mortimer to Baracoa:  49000 game units
Divide 49000 / 400 = 122.5 km.  If my Lynx is averaging about 30 knots through the trip, divide the distance (122.5) by 30.  It will take me about 4 minutes to get to Baracoa.  If my Lynx averages 20 knots it will take me about 6 minutes to get there.  The difficulty in determining time to arrival is your ship travels different speeds at different points and the wind is constantly changing.  The wind rotates 360 degrees every 48 minutes, or 15 degrees every 2 minutes.  On long distance trips you use the average speed of your ship at every point of sail.  On short range trips, you can use the average speed you estimate you will be going over that short range trip.  

 

Edit:  Knots doesn't equal exactly 400 game units per minute.  I always round the number for simplicity and to make calculation easier in my head.  It is actually 390.  If you want more accurate numbers, use 390.  The constantly changing numbers for knots when you are moving in the open world also makes it difficult to measure how the given speed is relating to how far you are traveling, and this in turn makes it difficult to calculate whether it is 390-400 game units, but I've done many, many, many, many, many, many, many tests and 390 is what I usually get.  On my map and the map Game Labs uses in game, 1 pixel is 400 game units, that is another reason why I round to 400 instead of using 390.  So if you want precision, use 390.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Prater