One simple question. HOW TO READ THE NAUTICAL CHART

[Ashikaga]

Hey all.... This annoys the living daylights out of me.

The square divided Nautical chart in game (TWoS) is rather cumbersome to read since I never know which minute line I need to look at when plotting a contact or from which side to which side I need to look.....

And no that is not clearly stated in any tutorial in the forum, I have scoured the forum for this.

Lat 56° 35' North and Long 7° 25' West for instance. Where do I start reading the North minutes. Bottom to top ? Bottom to right ? And the West minutes, Left to right ? Top to bottom ? It really annoys me, especially when I want to plot two intersecting lines to find an enemy contact.






Would someone be so kind to clearly state from which direction I should start reading these minutes ? That would be great.



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[vdr1981]

Hm, I had the opinion that some things should be pretty much self explanatory even without tutorials.

I'm sure you'll understand what is going on when you take a look at this example...

[bstanko6]

VDR is right. But to put a bit more gentle the minutes go in the direction of the degree. As in his picture, East goes right, north up, and so forth. You can stretch the chart to fit the map as needed. I had trouble until I learned to stretch the charts!

[Ashikaga]

Where latitude is concerned I think I get it but where longtitude is concerned not. I do know that I have to look from the latitude meridian up and from the longtitude meridian west if I have a N and W bearing. and the other way around if I have a South and E bearing. I just think I need to do more of this.

It might have been better though had the minutes not been in the squares but on their exact lines.

Like this :

(not sure how I can rework it though so it looks like this)


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[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by Ashikaga

It might have been better though had the minutes not been in the squares but on their exact lines.

I agree... Although, there isn't too much space to manipulate there but I'll see what I can do...

[Ashikaga]

That would be great Vecko! Glad that instead of the usual dumb questions I ask this idea is not that bad Looking forward to a better readable nautical chart.

[finchOU]

"Lat 56° 35' North and Long 7° 25' West for instance"

N56 35 is between N56 and N57. W7 25 is between W7 and W8. So Zoom in the chart till you see Both N56, N57 and W7, W8. Draw a 120 Km Straight Line from N56 to N57 (between W7 and W8)....then place a mark at 70 KM (to convert MINS to KM you have to multiply by 2 since there are 120km between 60 min lines of Latitude). Since the world is Flat in SH5 distance between Longitude is also 120K..... so just draw a straight 120KM line from W7 to W8 through the Mark. Now place a Mark at 50km FROM W7. That new mark is your plot of N56 35 W7 25.

I guess what I'm saying is you don't need the tool for the job...just use the Nav Map. The tool is not really precise enough anyway...but will get you close assuming you do the Marker/Chart key trick with the overlay tool.

The key for your issue is that you need to know that It's between N56 and N57. And between W7 and W8.



The problem is it's not a real charting map. To help you (unrealistically) out the Nav Map so that it's not cluttered when you zoom in and out, adjusts what you are seeing at each level of zoom. It's convenient...and works great! I would love to have to chart each area map...vice just having a whole world map to zoom in and out of. Of course I'd also love SH5 with a round world instead of flat.

[Ashikaga]

Super advice ! Thank you!

And to add to your remarks, how cool would it also be if we dad inclination and deviation on the compass readouts!

[finchOU]

and tides and currents......