My Kingdom For A Compass

[Sherri]

Having started the game with Wintermute & its glorious map feature, I find it very disorientating to get my bearings in Survival mode. Often when the sun is not visible, just figuring out which direction I'm facing is a vital problem.

I've been thinking a compass would be an awesome addition.

Hopefully the recent hint at some navigation updates means a compass is coming. 🤞😊

[Sherri]

It could even be craftable with a needle from a sewing kit & a magnet- maybe salvaged from all the useless car radios (technically from the speakers).

It seems like an item that would be common in a place like this. Heck, I own 3 lol.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Sherri

[stratvox]

2 hours ago, Sherri said:

It could even be craftable with a needle from a sewing kit & a magnet- maybe salvaged from all the useless car radios (technically from the speakers).

It seems like an item that would be common in a place like this. Heck, I own 3 lol.

Part of the game setting is that a "mysterious geomagnetic event" has destroyed all the electronics in the world. This is plausible; google "carrington event" to see a historical example from the late 19th century. I think that putting a coronal mass ejection from the sun that hits the earth together with the commencement of a magnetic pole flip would be completely devastating in the way that the game shows, as well as also meaning that compasses wouldn't work afterwards; the best science we have on magnetic pole flips is that they last for a significant period of time (possibly as long as a thousand years before the earth's magnetic field returns to normal-but-inverted) and during that entire period compasses would be useless because the field would be chaotic in the way that it is for the sun; see for example 

 

[Sherri]

Hmmm. Darn.

[Bean]

A magnetic pole flip wouldn’t be more likely to occur during a CME like the game hints at.  I think there’s room for a compass.  Worse thing ever to be stuck in a blizzard and in the middle of the woods.  Always at low stamina and freezing to death.  Can’t see five feet in front of you to locate landmarks. Fun!

[hozz1235]

The latest Dev Journal suggests some "enhancements" to mapping

[ManicManiac]

  
I think the good news is that those new features will be optional for players... because personally I don't think "GPS-like" map markers or a compass are needed at all in this game, and I prefer the challenge that comes inherent from having to learn to orient one's self without those kinds of things.

On 9/13/2019 at 11:48 PM, ManicManiac said:

outside of the reason laid out by the lore... not being able to have a compass is also wonderful in this game because it causes the player to get creative and use other methods for learning about and navigating through the wonders of Great Bear Island.  Having to pay attention to our surroundings and what we're doing is of primary importance in this game.

All in all, I'd say a compass is really just not need.

On 11/24/2019 at 6:49 AM, ManicManiac said:

as I've mentioned before, I always respect whatever decisions that Hinterland makes regarding their game.  So to that end, if Hinterland saw fit to add a compass, I would respect that... and choose not to use it.

On 11/21/2019 at 10:15 PM, ManicManiac said:

I see no need whatsoever for a compass in this game, and I think it would take away far more from the game than it would add.

 

So... if those enhancements are things like player position markers and/or a compass feature, I'm glad I'd have the choice to never turn those features on.

[mayimbe]

The good thing about this game is that in difficult times you can get disoriented and have to camp, with a compass because it would not matter blizzards or fogs because you would know at all times where each refuge is, I think that there would be no point in putting a compass, it is more I would like that when there is fog or blizzard we did not know the time of day, since you do not see the sun.