How a Yliakumic compass could work

[kaerli2]

Basically, the idea is to make a needle of a material that aligns itself to the Crystal, then mount it gyroscopically, allowing it to rotate in the X and Y directions (pitch and yaw in other words).  This would give you both a reference direction (i.e "in") and an idea of your elevation wrt the Crystal (which could also be done by a sextant, but this has the advantage of being one device instead of two).

[LigH]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_coordinate_system

You may find a radius and an inclination - but you will need a reference point for the azimuth (e.g. the central exit of the Stone Labyrinths, or whatever), similar to the Polar Star on Earth, defining "north".

[kaerli2]

Yeah, we'd need a zero reference angle...are the various Bronze Doors fortresses on each level all aligned vertically with their counterparts?

[steuben]

most likely not. so it wouldn't be anything to count on. but, you aren't aiming artiliary so you down need to know relative heights the same way. the vertical angle, for the moment we'll call phi. we'll call when then the compass is level, the zero for phi.  the scale we can set as 0-90.  though in theory you can run the full 360 degrees. the horzizontal angle we'll call theta, and the zero of theta, we'll call here on the ring. the scale we'll run from 0 to 359.

the compass can be through of as something this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walkers_compass_arp.jpg only in 2 axis rather than 1.

now on a map however, again we can define the zero of phi as the needle even with the compass and for reference the 90 of phi is directly under the crystal. theta simply becomes the meridian problem. but not a particularily difficult one, we can define the zero of theta on a map as the hydlaa meridian. as a comparison on a map the theta and phi are similar to longitute and latitude.

[kaerli2]

most likely not. so it wouldn't be anything to count on. but, you aren't aiming artiliary so you down need to know relative heights the same way. the vertical angle, for the moment we'll call phi. we'll call when then the compass is level, the zero for phi.  the scale we can set as 0-90.  though in theory you can run the full 360 degrees. the horzizontal angle we'll call theta, and the zero of theta, we'll call here on the ring. the scale we'll run from 0 to 359.

the compass can be through of as something this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walkers_compass_arp.jpg only in 2 axis rather than 1.

now on a map however, again we can define the zero of phi as the needle even with the compass and for reference the 90 of phi is directly under the crystal. theta simply becomes the meridian problem. but not a particularily difficult one, we can define the zero of theta on a map as the hydlaa meridian. as a comparison on a map the theta and phi are similar to longitute and latitude.

Makes sense to me and yeah, the big capital city would make sense as a meridian.

[Starg]

Making a compass won't be difficult--in the old days, the flare when you started elecrotouch always went in the same direction; I used it as a compass.  I used to think of that direction as north, and it turns out it was exactly the direction looking from the Hydlaa Fountain towards the center of the Laanx Temple.  By the way, the exact center of the Laanx Temple is the 0,0 point for the game maps.  This is located just before you step into the pit where Sharven is.

[steuben]

the coordinates for each map are independant. so 0,0 for the map hydlaa plaza, doesn't necessarily mean it it 0,0 for the whole world.

[Earowo]

im thinking ahead here, but if the compass had a elevation thing that comes with it.

what if you fall off the map? with how buggy things seem to be at first, i think falling off a map, or teleporting, may screw up the compass

[Starg]

Steuben, I didn't realize that!     I guess I only checked thoroughly in the Hydlaa Plaza, Dungeon, and Sewers maps, all of which are consistent (as far as I know).  The old "compass" also appeared to be consistent, in that when I entered the BD Road it was pointing in the expected direction.

[steuben]

i spent about a year playing with a grid overlaying the whole of the game space. when i started ploting things out that's when i noticed that the 0,0 of the maps aren't the same in all maps/sectors.

as for falling off the map, it won't muck the compass up too much. the elevation, or phi in my example design, just takes longer and longer to increase. mostly becuause of some weirdness of exponential functions in the calculations. eventually the system will notice that you've fallen off the map and things right themselves.

[Hrothbert]

The only problem with having the crystal as centre or as the 'north' is that you cannot tell on which side of the stalactite you are on, Just your relative height from the bottom or distance from centre, a similar effect to being at the north pole everything is south. Now if Say the blue magic could be used to 'magnetize' the Eagle fortress or one of the other stone labyrinth fortresses then you would have a reference point that would be valid, The reason North works so well for most of the World is that it is a Point outside of the map that is used as reference, Like perspective in art. 

That all being said I think that the elevation part would be a very good addition to the compass so that it would 'Yliakumised' as one ex-settings dev once told me.

[Lanarel]

A real compass will not tell you where you are, just what direction you are looking. Having the compass point to the crystal will therefor work just as well as a real compass. It will tell you if you are walking towards the inner (winch) or outer (labyrinth) edge of the level, and you will see if you are walking clockwise or not. In the middle of bdroad, where I often got lost, it will help you found your way to the fortress (or at least find the road back). Elevation does not add much, assuming you know on which level you are .