Navigator

[EagleDNY]

I'm up in my lovely box of B17s, I call down to the navigator to ask how long until we reach the IP.....   and hear nothing back.   My navigator is GONE, vanished, perhaps drunk, maybe he fell out of the bomb bay.

My wish is that when I am in my box of bombers, I can actually call down to my navigator with a

.NAV <field number>

and have him reply back with a course and distance in miles to my target (or initial point if I am setting up a mission with waypoints).

This should not pose much of a programming problem, and obviously you can't use this on a CV group (since it MOVES), but it would make bombing (and mission planning) a bit more realistic by simulating the presence of an actual navigator in aircraft that had one.   

[Lusche]

There already is a navigator in the planes, just as there are gunners.


It's you 

[colmbo]

That would be cool if we also got rid of the GPS "you are here" plane on the map….if you're gonna navigate…navigate.

[lunatic1]

what do you think this is eagle--12:00 o'clock high??????????????

[EagleDNY]

what do you think this is eagle--12:00 o'clock high??????????????

OK OK - so I watched a lot of 12 O'Clock High as a kid - is that really such a bad thing?  I'm just wishing I had more precise navigation data - right now I feel like the navigator in the "Leper Colony" that couldn't find his way to the latrine.  It would also be nice when planning how much fuel I actually need to carry.

[colmbo]

OK OK - so I watched a lot of 12 O'Clock High as a kid - is that really such a bad thing?  I'm just wishing I had more precise navigation data - right now I feel like the navigator in the "Leper Colony" that couldn't find his way to the latrine.  It would also be nice when planning how much fuel I actually need to carry.

Pretty easy planning.  Our airplanes perform perfectly every flight allowing us to know our exact true airspeed, our fuel consumption is always right on book values and the winds aloft are consistent in direction and speed. 

[TheCrazyOrange]

Sectors are 25 miles wide. Do some rough estimating and Pythagorean theorem if you want to be more precise.

[shotgunneeley]

What about wishing for a ruler on the clipboard?

I'm thinking of something similar to the waypoints set on a CV. The player could adjust the ruler so the beginning point is at the current location and one or more waypoints are placed along the desired route. A measurement tool would then show the  linear distance and travel time (by TAS, I suppose) along the route. Would be a quick way to know that a player is "22 miles from target, ETA 4 minutes".

[kvuo75]

What about wishing for a ruler on the clipboard?

I'm thinking of something similar to the waypoints set on a CV. The player could adjust the ruler so the beginning point is at the current location and one or more waypoints are placed along the desired route. A measurement tool would then show the  linear distance and travel time (by TAS, I suppose) along the route. Would be a quick way to know that a player is "22 miles from target, ETA 4 minutes".

I put it under:

you're not crazy, would be of limited use, but why not?

[shotgunneeley]

I put it under:

you're not crazy, would be of limited use, but why not?

Maybe Google Earth would be a better example. There could be two modes: an open ended polyline with multiple waypoints to show linear distance, or a closed polygon with multiple waypoints to show the complete route distance back to the IP. So with the IP locked onto the current position icon, distance and travel time could automatically be calculated.L-click adds waypoints, R-click deletes waypoints. A player could draw off the line/polygon and "navigate" through a desired path.

So for example, I'm cruising at 22k feet doing 270mph and I want to know the indirect distance (dodging radar) from my position to the enemy strats. I could draw off a polyline on the clipboard to find out my course puts me at "87.6 miles/19.5 minutes" to target.

[bozon]

What about wishing for a ruler on the clipboard?

I'm thinking of something similar to the waypoints set on a CV. The player could adjust the ruler so the beginning point is at the current location and one or more waypoints are placed along the desired route. A measurement tool would then show the  linear distance and travel time (by TAS, I suppose) along the route. Would be a quick way to know that a player is "22 miles from target, ETA 4 minutes".

Asking for a distance measurement on the map is reasonable. Even a simple straight line ruler will be useful, but calculating a path drawn on the map is fine as well.

ETA is more problematic because it depends on your speed which is variable. So ETA can only be calculated according your your instantaneous speed and need constant updating. I dont think that a GPS-like dynamic calculation (i.e. real time continuous updates)  is appropriate. However, once you have the path distance, you can see TAS yourself and do the simple math any time you feel like.

[Chilli]

Actually Eagle, I think this is a BETTER idea for Task Groups (only as sort of an autopilot course). 

You click on a point on the map and instead of getting the error message for "segment touches land" the course is automatically plotted using the most direct route avoiding beaching along the way.

This would be a great tool for plotting landing craft.  Note the segment touches land has no definite visual clue from looking at the map.  Since the program obviously know where the "land" is, this would significantly improve this function (especially, after maneuvering to avoid bombers and needing to get back on course).

OR am I the only one that seems to have Gilligan's luck when plotting a course (the Minnow would be lost)?

[EagleDNY]

The tool would be nice for plotting task group course, but it would be an abuse to do a .NAV <enemyCV> and find one that way.
I can see your point about using it for plotting CV course around a point - you would know the closest point to land is X degrees from some shore point you put down, so when you .NAV that point and get the right angle you know it is time to let the LVTs run.

For the task group (and for my lovely B-17Gs with the C-1 autopilot equipment) I would suggest another dot command - the .COURSE <000-359> which would just turn the group to the desired course.
Why you ask?   2 Reasons:
1.  Because if you look down in the cockpit of the B17G you see a lovely (OK not so lovely) rendition of the C-1 autopilot, which allowed the pilot to change the course of a B17 by just turning a knob.   Having the ability to set
.COURSE 045 and turn your group after your .NAV F001 came back with "F001 is 22 miles bearing 045".  .COURSE would execute a nice, easy turn to the desired heading without all the insanity caused in the bomb group with noob pilots turning too sharply, or otherwise ruining our filming the next episode of 12 O'Clock High - The Bishops HQ Raid.
2.  Because if you are the Captain of a CV group, it would be far simpler to take evasive action while you are busily trying to blast my Tu-2s to smithereens in your 5" guns if you could just type .COURSE and execute a turn instead of pulling up the map and jumping through the hoops to change course in 4 easy steps.