Best way to learn navigation?

[Tonci87 163]

Let's throw in a pinch of geekness by using real world objects! :D

For navigating in a mission where the map, gps and compass have all been removed: (Beware: in an "escape and evade" scenario this means inserting the watch in an awkward place to prevent it from being taken from you! Not that you have to simulate that part as well of course ... :j: )

For this technique to work you will need an analog wrist watch. Point the hour hand in the direction of the sun. Synchronize your real life watch with the ingame time when the mission starts (check the ingame watch).

Find the "12" on your wrist watch. Half of the distance between the "12" and the hour hand is south. For example, if the hour hand is at "6", south will be half way between the "6" and the "12", that means that due south is in the direction of the "9".

Once you have used your watch to find south, you can easily find the other directions. To find north, add six hours. To find east, subtract three hours. To find west, add three hours.

In the Southern hemisphere, this technique is the same, but south and north are reversed.

Could you please explain this agian? I didn´t really get it from this explanation

[Second 0]

Easier to do it like this:

-Sun at 00.00 is at north.

-Sun at 06.00 is at east.

-Sun at 12.00 is at south

-Sun at 18.00 is at west.

Easy-to-remember-rule: Sun rises from east at 06.00. From there each 6 hour means that sun has moved 90 degrees on compass. At night try to look for bright side of sky, sun/north is in there (or then there's large town).

Using shadow's direction as help is good idea as you don't constantly need to check the direction of sun. Easier to keep in direction during move if sun is behind you back.

It's good idea to check this thing in ArmA2, and maybe even on all maps. There could be differences between maps. As in souther side of earth this should work clockwise with north and south. For example here when EU-directives orders man to switch his time to summer time (+1 hour) sun goes slightly off and technically Sun is at north during 01.00. But usually it doesn't much matter.

Can't tell about other methods of finding north which would work in ArmA2 besides stars and sun. There probably are not.

One thing to take into consideration as well would be so called "step-pair measurement" which means IRL that you measure how long your foot step usually is in terrain and then you count those steps when you travel (my step-pair is about 70 centimeter in common terrain last time i checked). This way you get pretty good understandment how much have you travelled. Lets say you think you have to move 500 meters to north where you have to set up recon-spot from your current location so you head north and count your steps until you reach 500 meters. Or you have to navigate inside huge forest without clear terrain marks.

In ArmA you can do this much more simply as character moves at constant speed. So let's say that character moves 100 meters in 30 seconds so you move 2 and half minutes to north and there you are. I don't know what is walking speed of character so some one should measure that.

But this is advanced method which is pretty hard when moving alone as you have to navigate, count steps and observe surroundings. Usually conting step pairs demands almost full focus of one guy. But it's good thing to know if such need arises and you need precise navigation without clear terrain marks or luxury of GPS.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Well, since I like to call myself "astronomy expert" this navigation should be peace of cake.

Star navigation on the northern hemisphere is relatively easy. On the southern hemisphere it's a bit more of a challenge, since there isn't a southern polar star. You have to find the southern cross by means of the two pointer stars, and identify you've got the "correct southern cross" (two nearby false ones). Extend one line from the cross axis, and one perpendicular to the two pointers. Where these extensions intersect, is your southern point in the sky. Not as trivial as in the northern hemisphere, but fully possible to learn.

Easier to do it like this:

Easy-to-remember-rule: Sun rises from east at 06.00. From there each 6 hour means that sun has moved 90 degrees on compass. At night try to look for bright side of sky, sun/north is in there (or then there's large town).

Using shadow's direction as help is good idea as you don't constantly need to check the direction of sun. Easier to keep in direction during move if sun is behind you back.

On the equator, yes. As you move north or south the sunset and sunrise times will vary greatly with latitude and time of year. North of the arctic circle during the summer, the sun never sets below the horizon and will appear due north (as weird as it may sound) and by 6AM/PM the sun will be at a very high altitude. Try Thirsk island to see it in effect, which is located very far to the north (Finland).

The thing to keep in the back of the head is that the sun obviously does a full 360 during 24 hours, which gives 15° per hour. So if your watch reads 2PM, the sun will be at 30° west of north.

But all this is the easy stuff, even in Arma2. You do it a few times and it sticks. What is trickier and require more practice is being able to pinpoint your location on the map, and do it swiftly while under pressure. Memorize significant features around you before opening the map. Keep a mental picture of the map as you move around in the game. For pinpointing, learn what the map actually says; is it a bush or a tree? I've practiced a bit on this, and despite having some navigation skills from GA flying (pilotage and dead reckoning), I still find it challenging. Especially when pressure is applied. I'm guessing it takes considerable amount of practice to master.

[Second 0]

Sun's height on sky isn't the point.

I'm very familiar with nightless night of middle summer and lightless days of middle winter, being Finn and having little bit of Lapland dweller inside me (doing army time there plus few vacations) and all that.

Reason why i like to use east as a start is that most people probably knows that sun rises from east at morning, i personally found Land of Rising Sun helpful at start. And continuing from there it doesn't much demand mathematic abilities to figure out the rest. By my experience it's easiest one to use on move, no need to check watch but for time and no need to halt for mathematical calculations as plus and minus calculations are only needed.

But each to his own. Be it either of "my" systems, 15 degrees per hour system, or clock system which JdB mentioned. Whichever one finds suitable method to understand and more importantly to remember in stressful circumstances... Getting lost from my experience is really stressful experience and it really can deplete mental resources even from rather experienced navigator if getting lost happens in already stressful circumstances. Nothing as humiliating than moving south when it should be west. Only reading map up-side down is worse :D (cladly can't happen in ArmA)

Edited March 8, 2011 by Second

[djczing 10]

A little astronomy rule of thumb:

Making a fist and holding it at arms length, the width of your fist will measure @ 10 degrees of sky.

Dont think thatll be too useful in arma, but...

[BittleRyan 10]

Yeah... To tell time in real life outside I look to the north and I can tell what time it is based on my shadow, I should try that out in arma.

[Lima9999 10]

Yea did you end up better navigate around?

NAVIGATION TIPS:

1) Compass: Use this to identify your position.

2) Location: Know your terrain.

3) GPS.: It will display your current location.

But if you want hardcore navigation with none of this stuff. You must identify like was mentioned, stars, know your N S E W location. Know your terrain. It's gets pretty easy once you figure it out.

I took some land nav courses through some online multiplayer arma groups. It was fun.

[pooroldspike 128]

..know your N S E W location. Know your terrain. It's gets pretty easy once you figure it out..

Yes in fact it's too easy, all we need is a compass and map, then simply make our way to where we want to go by following landmarks and roads etc..:)

To make it more of a challenge in AA2 we have to do things like throw away the compass, or do it by night etc, but even then we can use the sun and stars.

I've tried setting overcast bad weather to blank them out and make things harder but they still show through.

[dale0404 5]

Yes in fact it's too easy, all we need is a compass and map, then simply make our way to where we want to go by following landmarks and roads etc..:)

To make it more of a challenge in AA2 we have to do things like throw away the compass, or do it by night etc, but even then we can use the sun and stars.

I've tried setting overcast bad weather to blank them out and make things harder but they still show through.

Get rid of the map and compass then.

[pooroldspike 128]

Get rid of the map and compass then.

Yes that'd certainly add a challenge, but we also need to get rid of the sun and stars in AA2 to make it a real challenge.

But I don't know how to do that, so my attempts to create an AA2 nav exercise keep going dead in the water..

[dale0404 5]

Yes that'd certainly add a challenge, but we also need to get rid of the sun and stars in AA2 to make it a real challenge.

But I don't know how to do that, so my attempts to create an AA2 nav exercise keep going dead in the water..

Maybe your thinking about this the wrong way. You'll always have the stars and sun if your doing this for real.

I gather you want clouds etc to not show the stars / sun?

I have just been in the editor to test if you can see the sun / stars when you set the weather furthest to the left (thunderstorm basically), you cant.

Edited March 10, 2011 by dale0404

[walker 0]

Hi all

Some additional anthropomorphic navigation estimates.

These work in real life but some may be doable with gesture animations in ArmA as well.

Using an outstretched hand:

Your little finger equals about 1 Degree.

Your thumb is about 2 degrees.

Three fingers, index to third finger 6 degrees, is called the finger sextant. Check this against the blink of an eye below.

The knuckles of your clenched fist is about 7 degrees.

The span of hand at full stretch from little finger to thumb is about 15 degrees.

Blink of an eye

With one eye closed and your hand outstretched

Hold up a finger (be careful there are no policemen in the direction of gesture)

Blink from one eye to the other the parallax difference between the two is about six degrees.

You can also use these methods to estimate time to sunset since an hour of daylight is about 15 degrees.

An outstretched hand angled horizontal

The span is about 1 hour.

Clenched fist about 1/2 an hour.

Thumb about 8 to 10 minutes.

What can the Naked Eye resolve?

Angular resolution of a human eye is about 0.02°–0.03°, which is about 30–60 cm at a 1 km distance. What does that mean?

It depends on what your wanting to look at! So let us consider what we want to look at in ArmA. Go outside somewhere where you can see a long way on a sunny day.

1) How far can you see a person?

For me it is just over 1.5 kilometre, degree of camouflage and movement and light all alter this but it corresponds to that angular resolution formulae we see above. Ether way they are just a spec.

2) How far can you see a group of say 10 people moving together?

For me it is just under 2.5 kilometres

3) How far can you see a standard saloon car?

About 3 km

4) How far can you see a truck?

Perhaps 4 km

5) How far can you discern individual houses.

Perhaps 5 km

This seems to be about what is modeled in ArmA

Beyond the naked Eye

Standard Military issue Optical Binoculars magnify by about 6 to 8 times 6X30, 7X50, 8X25 etc. You do get 10X50 but few troops use them as their field of view is too small and they are hard to hold steady, they are also harder to make and so expensive and heavy, the image is not as bright an issue at dusk and dawn when military activity often takes place. Anything that big or bigger is better on a tripod and really come under the classification of observation or Naval binoculars.

The ones modeled in standard ArmA binoculars are in the 6 to 8 times range.

Electronic binoculars with digital zoom and stabilization are whole different kettle of fish.

So you can resolve a person as a speck with the standard military binoculars at about 4 km. More importantly at one or two kilometers you will be able to tell which way they are facing and that they are carrying something and maybe even what they are carrying etc.

Kind Regards walker

Edited March 10, 2011 by walker

[pooroldspike 128]

..I have just been in the editor to test if you can see the sun / stars when you set the weather furthest to the left (thunderstorm basically), you cant.

Thanks, I could have sworn I dragged the weather slider all the way to the left in a previous test but I must have botched it, so here goes again.

You're right, full left weather, midnight, and no stars at all.

Suddenly I'm....afraid...

Next test:- this time I've only dragged the slider to halfway, and navigation will be a lot easier because it gives a mix of clouds, stars and even the moon!

It's just you and me again bro..

However, this daytime test below was spooky because even with full left weather and an overcast midday sky, i still cast a shadow! Suddenly I'm afraid again!

"Can such things be, that o'ercome us like a summer's cloud without our special wonder?

You make me strange even to that disposition which I owe,

When I think you can behold such sights and keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,

while mine are blanched with fear"- Macbeth

Edited March 11, 2011 by PoorOldSpike

[noubernou 77]

Someone made this video a while back using my original version of my Map Tools. It gives a good bit on resection and some other stuff related to navigation (since thats a big part of forward observation... :p)

n8B2Lb5mDDQ

[BittleRyan 10]

My question is, how do we find Mils, to the exact mil, I am using ace 2, and I need the exact mils for the artillery system...

I can only guess...

[noubernou 77]

My question is, how do we find Mils, to the exact mil, I am using ace 2, and I need the exact mils for the artillery system...

I can only guess...

What do you need to find the exact mils for?

If its for laying the battery, use your compass, its close enough for right now till we add in a aiming circle/director. If you are placing guns in the editor then just take the direction they are facing in the editors azimuth which is in degrees and multiply by 17.777778 and round up or down and its pretty much exactly what it needs to be. You can use that value in the BCS direction of fire field.

Otherwise your mil readings can be a bit less accurate if you are doing polar or shift missions, its not a HUGE deal.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

@BittleRyan:

You put markers on your location, target location, line it up and align it, and read it out. I believe call for fire in polar mode are done rounded to nearest ten mil anyway. Keep in mind 6 digit precision is the preferred and standard call for fire. Without preregistration fires, an 8 digit precision have little purpose. So if you don't have precision guided ordnance, don't attempt surgical artillery strikes without adjustment.

@PoorOldSpike: In real life the sun during overcast the sun is scattered greatly through the clouds, making the "light size" larger and dimmer. This results in larger and larger shadows until they pretty much don't exist anymore. This is very time consuming to compute (hey, I'm used to ray tracing :p) so the common game trick is to just weaken the shadow intensity instead. A full overcast sky continues to cast a shadow. Although not sharp and prominent, check under your car.

But the stars visible through clouds (and the fact that stars are rendered in front of the moon, lol) always bothered me - I know, I'm a picky sob :D. Have anyone tried to fix these textures? Without having tested, I think they are Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\Addons\Ca\Data\data\mrak_01_ca.paa (through 04). I wouldn't know how to make it though.