F3 somehow feels a little bit like cheating. It's the debug screen,and I have a lingering fear that one day, when Mojang is confident the code is really stable, they may remove the debug feature from public versions of the game. Even if they don't, it still feels like I'm stepping outside the game reality when I use it to determine my XYZ coordinates.
Yet those coordinates are extremely important in-game data in some contexts. There's rarely any other practical way to direct another player to a location in a big map, especially early on if you're trying to help a new player find your settlement.
So wouldn't it be nice to have an appropriate in-game mechanism for determining coordinates?
Here's what I propose: a craftable block which would have a text window (like a sign) on each fact that indicated the X,Y and Z coordinate of the block. It would be crafted from a smooth stone block, along with a compass, a clock, and a piece of string (standing in for a plumb line).
You could place these milestone blocks at important reference points around your map, or to save on costs, you could just carry one around to use as a surveying tool, placing and removing it and leaving behind a cheaper wooden sign as the permanent marker. (Of course, wooden signs wouldn't be as authoritative; someone could post one with false coordinates, which you couldn't do with the milestone block.)
This could be very useful in dividing up real estate and establishing borders, and also in building roads, rails, and redstone communication networks.
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Sounds pretty cool. It would replace the giant cobblestone arrows I use to signify important areas on the surface. There should be another item (sort of like a hub for all milestone blocks) that you can look up every placed Milestone block. When you select one from the list, a compass could guide you to the selected block.
The recipe for is seems a bit strange though if I am reading it correctly.
Well, it IS odd, since you're always at the equator on Minecraft; normal principles of celestial navigation do not apply. However, in the real world, clocks and compasses are extremely important navigational instruments. The biggest impact of the portable clock wasn't letting people get to work on time; it was allowing ships to determine their longitude accurately by observing when the sun or known stars rose or set. The role of the compass is obvious. The string represents a plumb line, a weight on a string for determining a true vertical line, also vital in measuring location.
Something like this?
Or would the recipe be shapeless?
I figured shapeless. When you're in a boat, you can't use a crafting table so easily. You could always place one on the shore but I don't see any benefit in requiring that step.
Sounds pretty cool. It would replace the giant cobblestone arrows I use to signify important areas on the surface. There should be another item (sort of like a hub for all milestone blocks) that you can look up every placed Milestone block. When you select one from the list, a compass could guide you to the selected block.
That would be a lot harder to code, and probably not necessary. Now that we can write in books, we can keep records of placed milestones for ourselves. Also, anyone who's using coordinates to navigate ought to be able to work out the proper heading without a compass. I navigate by the sun and stars in Minecraft all the time.
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Yet those coordinates are extremely important in-game data in some contexts. There's rarely any other practical way to direct another player to a location in a big map, especially early on if you're trying to help a new player find your settlement.
So wouldn't it be nice to have an appropriate in-game mechanism for determining coordinates?
Here's what I propose: a craftable block which would have a text window (like a sign) on each fact that indicated the X,Y and Z coordinate of the block. It would be crafted from a smooth stone block, along with a compass, a clock, and a piece of string (standing in for a plumb line).
You could place these milestone blocks at important reference points around your map, or to save on costs, you could just carry one around to use as a surveying tool, placing and removing it and leaving behind a cheaper wooden sign as the permanent marker. (Of course, wooden signs wouldn't be as authoritative; someone could post one with false coordinates, which you couldn't do with the milestone block.)
This could be very useful in dividing up real estate and establishing borders, and also in building roads, rails, and redstone communication networks.
The recipe for is seems a bit strange though if I am reading it correctly.
Or would the recipe be shapeless?
To read the haiku that you
Just finished reading
Well, it IS odd, since you're always at the equator on Minecraft; normal principles of celestial navigation do not apply. However, in the real world, clocks and compasses are extremely important navigational instruments. The biggest impact of the portable clock wasn't letting people get to work on time; it was allowing ships to determine their longitude accurately by observing when the sun or known stars rose or set. The role of the compass is obvious. The string represents a plumb line, a weight on a string for determining a true vertical line, also vital in measuring location.
I figured shapeless. When you're in a boat, you can't use a crafting table so easily. You could always place one on the shore but I don't see any benefit in requiring that step.
That would be a lot harder to code, and probably not necessary. Now that we can write in books, we can keep records of placed milestones for ourselves. Also, anyone who's using coordinates to navigate ought to be able to work out the proper heading without a compass. I navigate by the sun and stars in Minecraft all the time.