A COMPASS

[Smileyattack]

A compass would be extreamly  useful considering we have no sense in which way we are going all we know is the sun rises in the east and sets in the west but what if the sun is already set and we are in the middle of the Forrest we would be stranded so if we got a compass it would be useful to find any base thank you for reading

[SteveP]

1 hour ago, Smileyattack said:

A compass would be extreamly  useful considering we have no sense in which way we are going all we know is the sun rises in the east and sets in the west but what if the sun is already set and we are in the middle of the Forrest we would be stranded so if we got a compass it would be useful to find any base thank you for reading

Many is the time I was stuck outdoors, disoriented in the woods and wished that I had a way to keep direction and desperately make it back to shelter. Eventually I was able to find my way by following a known edge of the map (cliffs or mountains). Once I even headed out onto the ocean ice when fog came up   and I heard  ice cracking. It can be a little tricky making a 180 degree turn but if you back straight up, then drop something, then back up some more without touching the mouse, drop something else, you will have two items on the ground. Go to the far one and sight on the second one, proceed forward and pick up the two items on the way. Bingo, facing the other direction. You can do a similar trick to turn 90 degrees too. Its just that in the fog, it's almost impossible to judge how far you have turned.

[SteveP]

I've just finished making up a  list from submissions by other folks on the wishlist and consolidated it to a poll. Compass was a very popular request along with tents and shovels.

[Vhalkyrie]

2 hours ago, Smileyattack said:

A compass would be extreamly  useful considering we have no sense in which way we are going all we know is the sun rises in the east and sets in the west but what if the sun is already set and we are in the middle of the Forrest we would be stranded so if we got a compass it would be useful to find any base thank you for reading

The North Star is in the game.  I have some of my navigation tips here:  

Personally, I don't think we will get a compass in the game.  If the "New Ice Age" was caused by a geomagnetic disaster, likely something storywise is going to render compasses unusable.  It's not a bad thing to learn how to navigate using old primitive techniques.

[hauteecolerider]

39 minutes ago, Vhalkyrie said:

Personally, I don't think we will get a compass in the game.  If the "New Ice Age" was caused by a geomagnetic disaster, likely something storywise is going to render compasses unusable.  It's not a bad thing to learn how to navigate using old primitive techniques.

I've often wondered, while playing this game, and this is only idle speculation mind you, just what is this EM event that turned the world topsy-turvy? One of the possibilities that crossed my mind is that this is a completely natural event, one that has happened before and that we have evidence of in the geologic record: the magnetic poles flipped.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-poleReversal.html

Now my research shows that this isn't likely to cause the kind of catastrophe we are seeing in the game, so I wouldn't think this would be likely. However, another possibility that crossed my mind is a massive solar storm, strong enough to knock out all electronic devices. Or more specifically, a geomagnetic storm.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/geomagnetic-storms

This could very likely cause the kind of event that appears in the game. And I wonder if it would also mess up magnetic compasses and make them useless, at least temporarily.

[Vhalkyrie]

I'm thinking the latter scenario is the most likely as well.   The story mode trailers hint that power will flicker on and off during periods.  I'm guessing this will coincide with strong solar activities (revealing the aurora events).

Another possibility is reversal of the magnetic poles, which is one theory about the onset of the last Ice Age.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121016084936.htm

The compass directions would be reversed, so you'd have to wrap your mind around North is South.  The magnetic field could be weaker, which would render us more vulnerable to solar flares.  Less shielding from solar flares could cause EMP-like behavior, knocking out power and radio communication.  Magnetic reversal plus geomagnetic-storms would be a very bad combo.  A weaker magnetic field plus solar flares might make compasses nothing more than paperweights. 

[illanthropist]

4 hours ago, Vhalkyrie said:

The North Star is in the game.

I missed that, the sky looked to me like a repeated texture as the clusters and galaxies seemed the same.

[Vhalkyrie]

3 hours ago, illanthropist said:

I missed that, the sky looked to me like a repeated texture as the clusters and galaxies seemed the same.

Maybe it is, but in my game there's a dot that just happens to be in the North - lol!  Let me know if you can confirm...

And if it isn't the North Star - Hinterland, please implement!  You can't not have the oldest navigation marker known to humans!

[Dirmagnos]

Stars and sun for navigation could be a good idea. Except that most of the time you cant see them, either due to elevation, clouds or fog. Not the most reliable way to navigate. There are, of course, various exploits, like dropped flare always points N to S. But thats exactly what it is, an exploit, a bug in design, no self-respecting survivor would use it.

Significant shifting of geomagnetic poles takes eons, it doesnt happen overnight. And if it would, it would pretty much tore planet apart in the process. Poles naturally wander constantly, bit by bit, so to cause any significant effect, shift should, well, significant and fast.

Problems with solar storms is that they are not constant. They are generally caused by solar flares that are essentially an explosion, or epic proportions, on suns surface. It goes "boom" and then everything is back to normal. But in game, according to the lore, massive auroras will occur all the time.

Another problem with solar flares, is again, the lore. According to rumors, electricity will come back, from time to time, during stronger auroras and light will be back. Problem is that em event strong enough to knock humanity back to the stone age would simply burn out all electronics. There would be nothing left to light up. Because em burst simply introduces a current pulse to electronic devices that far exceeds capacity that they can withstand.

Normally i would explain flickering and similar stuff by static electricity, like st elmo fires or ball lighting. But electricity actually coming back... i just cant find an explanation that would be in tune with known laws of physics.

That in addition to sudden extreme activity of the Sun. Possibility would be Sun surface expansion, eg its not flares, but Sun itself that became far more active(as entering next phase of its life). But again, this process takes time, a lot of time and some1 would notice.

[Dirmagnos]

1 hour ago, Vhalkyrie said:

And if it isn't the North Star - Hinterland, please implement!  You can't not have the oldest navigation marker known to humans!

A bit over 300 years ago a cataclysmic event destroyed Polaris and now shockwave of that event finally reached our solar system, causing the Event. So, no Polar Star and were screwed in general by it. 8)

[Vhalkyrie]

21 minutes ago, Dirmagnos said:

Significant shifting of geomagnetic poles takes eons, it doesnt happen overnight. And if it would, it would pretty much tore planet apart in the process. Poles naturally wander constantly, bit by bit, so to cause any significant effect, shift should, well, significant and fast.

It does take a very long time.  One of the last ones occurred approximately 780,000 years ago.  It does not tear the planet apart, but it weakens the magnetic field which allows more solar radiation to permeate the atmosphere. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

The most 'recent' one was 41,000 years ago, in which the reversal was quick, and lasted 440 years.  From the link posted in my prior comment:

Quote

Some 41,000 years ago, a complete and rapid reversal of the geomagnetic field occured. Magnetic studies of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences on sediment cores from the Black Sea show that during this period, during the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed to the south instead of north.

 

[Vhalkyrie]

34 minutes ago, Dirmagnos said:

A bit over 300 years ago a cataclysmic event destroyed Polaris and now shockwave of that event finally reached our solar system, causing the Event. So, no Polar Star and were screwed in general by it. 8)

You would still have the surrounding stars in the remaining constellation. And no - it wouldn't have exploded taking out all the surrounding solar systems/galaxies!  If that's what the 'event' is, I'd rather have zombies.  

I don't think this is likely to be TLD's "event", but Betelgeuse is set to explode 'soon'.  It is too far away (430 light years) to cause us trouble, though.  Polaris is 433 light years.

http://earthsky.org/space/supernove-distance

[Dirmagnos]

Ive read plenty regarding those topics, and 440 years is a lot in my book. That event was accompanied by significant changes in both geography and weather. Also no1 knows what exactly happened or why. So if it would occur at accelerated rate, as overnight, it results would be cataclysmic. There would be a lot more geological activity, not just bit colder weather and bizarre animal behavior.

[Vhalkyrie]

5 minutes ago, Dirmagnos said:

Ive read plenty regarding those topics, and 440 years is a lot in my book. That event was accompanied by significant changes in both geography and weather. Also no1 knows what exactly happened or why. So if it would occur at accelerated rate, as overnight, it results would be cataclysmic. There would be a lot more geological activity, not just bit colder weather and bizarre animal behavior.

Absolutely.  I don't think it would be an extinction event for humans (we survived the last Ice Age reversal too), but it would be cataclysmic.  It would be a population reset as millions would die.

[Vhalkyrie]

6 hours ago, illanthropist said:

I missed that, the sky looked to me like a repeated texture as the clusters and galaxies seemed the same.

I was able to find it again in my game.  This one is from the Abandoned Lookout on CH.

[illanthropist]

3 hours ago, Vhalkyrie said:

I was able to find it again in my game.  This one is from the Abandoned Lookout on CH.

 

Pretty sure that cluster is repeated in different points of the sky.

[vancopower]

18 hours ago, Smileyattack said:

A compass would be extreamly  useful considering we have no sense in which way we are going all we know is the sun rises in the east and sets in the west but what if the sun is already set and we are in the middle of the Forrest we would be stranded so if we got a compass it would be useful to find any base thank you for reading

Yes compass would be nice to have  but would it function in TLD because the geomagnetic disaster destroys  all electrical equipment  I believe that it would affect the compass too. 

[Vhalkyrie]

2 hours ago, illanthropist said:

Pretty sure that cluster is repeated in different points of the sky.

I found one that was similar, but I didn't think it was the same.  I'll check again.

[SEAplane]

Given the 'event' I would skip the compass too.  I'm sure they could write their way out of its function one way or the other.

 

I don't believe they have fixed/patched the dropped stick issue, and it makes a fine compass until they do.

[Vhalkyrie]

1 minute ago, SEAplane said:

I don't believe they have fixed/patched the dropped stick issue, and it makes a fine compass until they do.

I didn't know about this!!  Awesome!  

[illanthropist]

3 hours ago, Vhalkyrie said:

I found one that was similar, but I didn't think it was the same.  I'll check again.

I had a check but a wolf cut my outside playtime short and the weather was crap following night.

[illanthropist]

4 minutes ago, SEAplane said:

I don't believe they have fixed/patched the dropped stick issue, and it makes a fine compass until they do.

Why do they always point North when dropped?

[Vhalkyrie]

Just now, illanthropist said:

I had a check but a wolf cut my outside playtime short and the weather was crap following night.

I'll be really bummed if I'm mistaken.  I'm totally fine without a compass, but no North Star is horrible.  

[SEAplane]

[ spoiler ]

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Well 'North' might be subjective, but yes they are forked 'Y' shaped.   The one ends point in the same direction.  Give it a try.  Same on a full pile or a single stick.  

Not my idea, it's been there out there, and I think it's tied to default placement logic not having a random orientation.  

********************

[Drazon]

Oh, compass would so ruin the juissance in getting lost.

But please, fellow players, do place your "X points north" -bugreports behind spoiler tags (if there are such) or make them like unreadable size which would force the interested reader (after he has spotted spoiler-alert) to copy-paste it to read it.