3 replies to this topic

[Saint Scarlett Johan]

Ok, we all get that DC in nearly every match we play where he DCs at the start or the occasional Delta Bravo that sees his team losing so he goes and hides, powers down, then leaves match. Either way, it's often a goose choose which the opposing side posts up the 10 digit coordinates in All Chat so they can get the match over with and get their mech back.

But most players don't know how to:
-display their own location
-understand grid coordinates at al
-or the learned the grid coordinates of the start points

I personally love maps. I collect MGRS maps, Aviation maps, and Dep of Wildlife maps. Topo maps have always been a hobby for me ever since I was a Boy Scout and they still do in the Army with my annual Land Nav courses.

So what I decided to do was mark up the maps we have into their actual numerical grid squares. But first, some basics.

*NOTE: If you know how to read a map, you can skip the spoiler tag

Spoiler

How to display my grid coordinates?
Hit F9. It shows your frame rate, 10 digit grid coordinate, and elevation. Which means it will look like this:

123 FPS 0123.4 5678.9 123.4

Much like an MGRS map, where the grids have a scale (grid squares being 1000m x 1000m on an MGRS map), the grid squares in MWO are 500m x 500m.


How to read a map?
Maps are read Right and Up and are always oriented with the North at the top.


Below we have HPG:
A single grid square is read as the first two numbers of each set and the numbers are read right and up. So if you are standing on HPG at the top of the structure and your grid coordinate is 2000.0 2000.0 then you are are standing at the bottom left corner of D5 and that is your grid square.

If you move 250 meters right you would be at the bottom center of D5, and if you turned and proceeded 250m up, you would be standing in the center of D5 and your grid coordinate would be 2250.0 2250.0

How is this practical?
Well, for instance we have a guy that crashed out mid match and is mech is the last one left. The opposing team puts his grid up in All Chat:
2351.9 1225.4

His most accurate spot would be the small nook in D3 on the outside of the HPG. That much accuracy is however, irrelevant. All you nee are the first two in each set, the 23 and the 12, which lets you know he is in D3, which is the important part because you want that kill and the other guys want their mechs back.

Now that we have the basics out of the way or if you already can read maps, here are the rest of the maps:


Alpine:

Spoiler

Canyon:

Spoiler

Caustic:

Spoiler

Crimson:

Spoiler

Forest Colony:

Spoiler

Forest Colony Snow (the grid lines aren't the same as normal Forest Colony):

Spoiler

Frozen City (Day/Night):

Spoiler

HPG:

Spoiler

River City (Day/Night):

Spoiler

Terra Therma:

Spoiler

Tourmaline:

Spoiler

EDIT: Forgot Crimson

Edited by JohanssenJr, 12 May 2014 - 10:23 PM.

[OznerpaG]

nice post! i just got all learned and everything lol

[Danghen Woolf]

Mechwarrior,

Your use of dropzone intelligence was very useful. Having infomation like this makes it very easy for the other mech-jocks to see exactly where everything is located at each mission site. The problem I see is that the text-based communication systems that are currently being fielded do not lend themselves well to inputting long strings of coordinates. Additionally, throwing the grid coords up will not help many mechwarriors without a handy reference map. Until I can get my tech to rig up one of my auxillary monitors to display a battle grid this information might as well be LosTech.

Good job, hopfully the techs will figure out what is preventing consistent lance/company voice communications soon so we can work together.

Corporal Woolf signing off...

[mailin]

Really, all that needs to happen is for PGI to fix it so that the maps display correctly for DCs. Then there would be no need for the goose chase.