Sun positions fix

[LenaPapagena]

The position of the sun and some of the world's directions are wrong. You can see this very nicely if you travel from ML or BL to FM under good weather. It would be great if this was fixed. It can ruin the imersion.

[Vinceofpyrenees]

OMG, I thought it was fixed a long time ago !

[ManicManiac]

No unfortunately not... it's been noticed and talked about since the earlier days as more regions started to open up.
Here are just a few of the conversations I have been a part of:  

On 11/3/2019 at 3:02 PM, ManicManiac said:

It's silly, I know... but it does bother me a little bit, but it seems the orientation of the maps doesn't jive with the movement of the sun and the alignment of the cardinal directions (in relation to each region and the overall world map).  I can never trust that "sun rise east"  is going to correspond to the map in the way it appears the region should orient (at least in relation to the movement of the sun compared to all the other regions - there doesn't seem to be that consistency at the "world map" level).  As an old land nav-er it just bothers me... it doesn't affect gameplay or the experience at all so ultimately it's not an issue (since it's easy to say it's only locally significant anyhow... and you'd be right)  ...it's just the one little thing that bugs me.  

On 11/3/2019 at 5:58 PM, ManicManiac said:

Well, I'm specifically talking about if you were to make a simple "day arch" (a line representing the path the sun takes a cross the sky at any given latitude) and draw it across the world map... that is roughly how the sun should move across the sky in each respective region; from that base reference point.

I wasn't talking about the orientations of our charcoal maps with respect to the "world map" because that is not really relevant (as maps can be drawn from any number of different perspectives - that's why most maps have a Compass Rose on them)...  I was referring to the astronomical orientation.

And again... I'm not making a complaint per se, as it doesn't impact gameplay or the experience.  It's just something that stood out to a person who has done a lot of Land Nav.    And as it was mentioned, it was indeed a bit disorienting/jarring when I played way back in the earlier days (before I got familiar with the landscape itself).  However, I quickly acknowledged it and accepted that (to date) the sun is only really locally significant to each region individually...  Once one accepts that, then we can still easily use it to assist navigation within each region just fine. 

On 4/4/2020 at 6:07 PM, ManicManiac said:

Well, like I was taking about... you can still use the sun for orientation (but it's only locally significant due to some odd orientations of the regions in relation to each other not being consistent), because of this it doesn't matter that the map is not oriented in the way folks like to assume (i.e. the top of the map is north).

I actually don't mind these inconsistencies as much as anymore because it's implied that our maps are hand crafted.  Them not being perfectly continence also adds a little bit of challenge to keeping track of our actual position in the surrounding environments.  So... while it used to kind of bug me, once I learned to accept it and contextualize against in-game lore (so-to-speak), it stopped bothering me.  I was then able to appreciate the unique challenges that arise from the inconsistencies that I once felt bothered by.

On 4/29/2023 at 1:19 PM, ManicManiac said:

Each region's "solar path"/"Day Arc" is not consistent from region to region (at least not compared to the overworld map of Great Bear Island).  Best I can figure, for the purposes of navigation... the day arc is only locally significant from region to region.  I once tried to suss out which way was north in each region and quickly found that they are rather different and definitely do not line up with how regions are oriented in our "overworld" map.   I imagine that would be quite a chore to correct. 

 
The short version... Yes, it would be great if the day arc (solar path) was consistent across each region relative to the "overworld" map.
But after all this time, I don't really mind that the day arc is only locally significant... we can still use it for navigation while in a region (just as long as you don't try to compare it to any other region... otherwise the orientation gets muddled.  

I'd be all for this change... I just don't see it happening (not after so much time as passed since it was discovered, talked about, and Wish-listed since then).

 

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by ManicManiac