Compass Bearing

I have looked at every post involving the compass bearing and the use of the "inside" of the rose...I cant see, to grasp why there is not a compass that is not relative to the ship but true (actual)...In the heat of the battle when I enter a course change on the compass it is always 180 degrees off, as it is not True, absolute but relative...What am I missing .?? North is north, isnt it...??

[Pisces]

I'm not sure I understand you. Do you mean this kind of compass bearing scale?

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1308

Or like a big wheel that is your sub icon on the map, and turns around when you turn. I can't find a proper image or link to a thread to describe.

Or is it the course readout dial on the botom right with which you can set course?

Please give a link to what you have looked at.

[Munchausen]

Originally Posted by Justin Case

In the heat of the battle when I enter a course change on the compass it is always 180 degrees off, as it is not True, absolute but relative..??

The link Pisces supplied shows how the compass works ... and why it appears to be 180 out. If you anchor the compass over your sub and then drag it in the direction you want to go, the correct (true course) will show under the (red) line.

Thank-You for the responses...I had already printed out much of both your responses regarding almost the same subject..I suppose what I mean is why is their not a gyro compass (on the plot chart table or attack table) with the ships true heading, not relative bearing...Since charts are not relative, but show both a compass rose with true and magnetic north stars, along with the deviation, depending on your location. I'm just looking for a compass that's readable I guess..!!

[Pisces]

The gyro compass is part of the taskbar or whatever you want to call it. What sits at the bottom of the screen together with the throttle setting and depth dial. Some mods have used different images to improve reading ability, but it still works te same. Own course points up.

If you meant setting course with the waypoint cursor tool then Munchausen allready explained it. You want to go in a certain direction. But from the cursors point of view at the destination point, the last line points in the opposite direction. Hence the course shows a number that is 180 degrees different from what a north oriented compass would show. It may not look right, but you'll go in the right direction.

The other kind of bearing or course indicator is a large circular grid of usually upto 1.5km or 3km centered on your sub. You can tell which way it is pointing but it is primarily used to help with plotting. I personally do not like it since it is rendered auto-magically with GPS precision. (and also used to be quite a toll on my previous system) And so if you are moving the grid moves away from where you started to draw a bearing line, making the degree marks useless because of a parallax effect.

Originally Posted by Pisces

The gyro compass is part of the taskbar or whatever you want to call it. What sits at the bottom of the screen together with the throttle setting and depth dial. Some mods have used different images to improve reading ability, but it still works te same. Own course points up.

If you meant setting course with the waypoint cursor tool then Munchausen allready explained it. You want to go in a certain direction. But from the cursors point of view at the destination point, the last line points in the opposite direction. Hence the course shows a number that is 180 degrees different from what a north oriented compass would show. It may not look right, but you'll go in the right direction.

The other kind of bearing or course indicator is a large circular grid of usually upto 1.5km or 3km centered on your sub. You can tell which way it is pointing but it is primarily used to help with plotting. I personally do not like it since it is rendered auto-magically with GPS precision. (and also used to be quite a toll on my previous system) And so if you are moving the grid moves away from where you started to draw a bearing line, making the degree marks useless because of a parallax effect.

Thanks for the help...Im getting quite a stack of printed material !!