wind direction & ship speed?

[baldielocks]

Can see these are factors in navigation n but I don't have the tools I need to make it work to my full advantage.

[Cory Trese]

We are working on a tutorial to demonstrate the sailing interface.

[Cory Trese]

The key thing is to not sail into the wind.

Sail across the wind, or with it.

If the wind is blowing *to the south* then you should point your ship *to the south* -- this is called a North wind.

The wind compass in the lower right of the screen shows which way the wind is blowing.

[Cyrus]

So if the wind says N, I should be sailing south or east or west but NOT North?
That was what I assumed, but it still seemed weird that matching the wind and ship directions (by name) is bad.

An arrow showing the wind direction would be great, easier to match it to the ship's course.

[fallen]

Jul 13, 2013 8:15:20 GMT -5 Cyrus said:

So if the wind says N, I should be sailing south or east or west but NOT North?
That was what I assumed, but it still seemed weird that matching the wind and ship directions (by name) is bad.

An arrow showing the wind direction would be great, easier to match it to the ship's course.

The arrow in the bottom right of your HUD (kinda looks like an anchor) is showing the wind direction at all times.

[Cyrus]

LOL, I was wondering what that did. I thought it was for stopping the ship (because of the anchor graphic) but it didn't seem to do anything.

[Cyrus]

I think I found the source of my confusion: On the bottom left there's a textual wind indicator that indicates the exact opposite of the arrow. In West and East Acadas, the wind always seems to be northwest as the arrow points FROM the northwest to the southeast. This should be indicated as (NW) at the bottom left, but it says (SE) instead.

[Cory Trese]

Jul 15, 2013 0:37:53 GMT -5 Cyrus said:

I think I found the source of my confusion: On the bottom left there's a textual wind indicator that indicates the exact opposite of the arrow. In West and East Acadas, the wind always seems to be northwest as the arrow points FROM the northwest to the southeast. This should be indicated as (NW) at the bottom left, but it says (SE) instead.

Not sure I agree with that, however, feedback noted and my mind certainly can be changed if we hear it from several folks.

[Cyrus]

I can work with it, now I've figured it out. Certainly there are more important matters to attend to :-)

[Cory Trese]

Jul 15, 2013 3:59:07 GMT -5 Cyrus said:

I can work with it, now I've figured it out. Certainly there are more important matters to attend to :-)

We will be working to improve the entire game. As with Star Traders, I am certain we will find a balance in all systems eventually

[grävling]

Winds are always named for the direction they blow _from_ not the direction they blow _to_. If you have reversed this, you will confuse the heck out of everybody who spends significant time at sea.

Weather Vanes are designed to point into the wind, so, for example they point N for a North Wind (which is a wind that blows from the N).

[athios]

I think the proper way of describing and showing wind direction is probably non-intuitive to a person who never goes to sea.
To me, just as a regular gamer, the most intuitive display would

ship going in same direction as arrow = good

Perhaps you guys could do a small animated icon display showing the wind actually blowing? And then rotate it to reflect which direction.

[JohnnyMnemonic]

Jul 13, 2013 3:29:55 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

If the wind is blowing *to the south* then you should point your ship *to the south* -- this is called a North wind.

The wind blows to the south in this game?

I've only ever noticed it blowing to the southeast. Would be nice if the winds changed with the seasons or something.

[Cory Trese]

many different areas have different prevailing winds.

Future updates will include changes due to weather, seasons and natural variation.

thanks for the post