Broken compass, seems fine to me?

[Spathi]

Assuming people are stupid should not indirectly compliment yourself, especially when it isn't true.

Well said. I wanted to say this, but did not know how to put it without starting a flame war, lol.

I searched the forum, and since the first day there are only 4 people who made this mistake, and all admitted within one post they made the mistake.

[Kthanid]

Given that it doesn't have N,S,E,W on the in game compass it can be easy to think example one is a given.

If it doesn't indicate N,S,E,W, how do you know which side of you compass is north? Just because the character picked it up and is holding it in a particular orientation doesn't mean he magically selected "North" to be correctly "up".

Using the same logic, tell me which way I'm facing without looking at your compass

Without looking at my compass, it's impossible to tell, obviously. Facing "left" on a map doesn't mean "west". Fortunately I do have a compass and I can look at it and see that the red arrow points to the same "upward" direction I have oriented my map, thus it is extremely trivial to tell that I am facing west in your selected screenshot.

[King Semos]

Without looking at my compass, it's impossible to tell, obviously. Facing "left" on a map doesn't mean "west".

Well, actually it does. Unless you like to hold maps the wrong way. Though maps are just as tricky as compasses so I forgive you.

[Kthanid]

Well, actually it does. Unless you like to hold maps the wrong way.

Please enlighten the rest of us... how precisely do you tell that a map is being held the "wrong way" (or the "right way") unless the map has a legend indicating which direction is north? I haven't fired up the game in the past 48 hours or so, but if I recall correctly, there is no such legend on the automap (and how you would determine that for your own hand drawn maps without a compass would be a feat I'd truly like to hear you explain).

[Spathi]

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... -always-up

It is not always exact, at uni an arrow was required on engineering drawings to indicate true north, so it may be at an angle to the page as you will want to align a building or structure sometimes to fit better.

I suppose you could argue that because our fantasy world is usually on another planet another convention may exist, or you could argue the the concept of compass should not exist as it would not be invented, but we are getting pedantic. Personally I have always had an issue with the use of a cutlass in these fantasy games, I like how it gives the skeletons spears, but then I found a damn cutlass, grrrr, a 19th century french weapon, grrr.

[Batty]

Ptolemy > (Kthanid + jfunk)

[Kthanid]

I suppose you could argue that because our fantasy world is usually on another planet another convention may exist, or you could argue the the concept of compass should not exist as it would not be invented, but we are getting pedantic.

I don't think it has anything to do with whether or not it's a fantasy world or not, we have NO indication of what direction is north without the compass. I can start drawing a map based on my relative location and pick any random direction to be "North" (or "Up") on my map, the mere act of doing so doesn't automatically guarantee that I have correctly aligned my map. What sort of device might be used to aid me in this task? A compass, of course!

Furthermore, it seems quite obvious to me the compass was included for the sole benefit of old school cartographers, if we grant the developers even the slightest semblance of common sense and decency, have aligned their automap to be aligned to face North, in which case the compass is absolutely worthless alongside the ease of pressing the tab key. As such, please see my prior question and explain to me how old school mappers are supposed to determine which direction is North without the compass to show the way?

[Spathi]

I love this word... http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/superfluous

sry 16th
"recorded in English since 1594"

[Simmox]

remind me never to get lost in the outback with you guys,god help us

[Batty]

remind me never to get lost in the outback with you guys,god help us

Don't worry, we'll be fine as long as we don't have the Legend of Grimrock Collector's Edition Compass with us.