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[IonAguirre]

I guys:

I tested the OW yesterday for my very first time. I found maps quite accurate and shore view quiet nicely modeled as well. But .....

As there is no help for a possition fix .... it would be nice having, as a minimum, numeric indications of the ships heading in degrees, and another for the rudder angle.

Without those simple tools, its quite hard to travel along the Open World. The actual compass with marks every 30º, together with no rudder indicator, makes travelling quite a complex thing.

Im not for a big compass but for a numeric three digits one only, located above the actual one. It would be enough for navigation.

Another thing developers could take into account if a kind of ECDIS or Plotter is an idea flying around your heads, could be using an NMEA standard stream for navigation data output. That way, any chart plotter (Some of them are free), could read the ships data and plot it on a scanned or digital chart.

 

 

Thanks and regards

Edited June 21, 2015 by IonAguirre

[maturin]

Absolutely. The lack of heading is an artificial hindrance that seriously complicates navigation and ship testing.

 

Compasses back in the day were rather too sluggish to steer by, but were perfectly accurate nonetheless.

[Pot Rock]

A very good idea having a ruddder angle indicator and heading. Would it be possible to use the mouse wheel as a ship's wheel?

[Macjimm]

Im not for a big compass but for a numeric three digits one only, located above the actual one. It would be enough for navigation.

Another thing developers could take into account if a kind of ECDIS or Plotter is an idea flying around your heads, could be using an NMEA standard stream for navigation data output. That way, any chart plotter (Some of them are free), could read the ships data and plot it on a scanned or digital chart.

I would like to have a compass also. That is toggled with a keybind. For use with and without with the rest of the interface hidden. But it would be helpful if it required a sighting, so that the user could determine a bearing to an object as well as the ships heading.

I would prefer if it was NOT digital, to enhance the authenticity of the era.

With respect to our thoughtful Senior IonAguiire, I'm not sure that an ECDIS or Plotter would be fitting on a vessel of the time.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Macjimm

[IonAguirre]

Hi MacJimm:

I agree, an analogic XVIII century compass is better for a "final release", but at the actual development state, and from the software development point of view, a difgital one is simpler and could solve the problem by now.

[Siegfried]

I am sailing now to explore the map with a custom map. This map is not totally accurate because I made it by hand.

 

In my experience of exploring long journeys we have the needed tools for good navigation now. I sail medium distances without lost in sea. I must try long distances yet but I guess I will have no problems with that.

 

Maybe we cannot set the exact degree of heading but we have not currents or wind deviation in OW. Some degree of inaccuracy is immersive I think.

 

And as the world is scaled down, the problem in accuracy is limited really.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Siegfried