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aussieterry84

Reading the Map Guide?

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Anyone interested in making a thread about how to read the map? Would love to know how to :)

Like way do the 6 number coordinates mean?

How do you know whether it's a dip or a climb purely by looking at the map?

If someone could make a tut I would love them so much :)

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1. 6 digit coordinates. First 3 is east-west coordinate, last 3 is north-west. Accuracy 100m. 8 digit grid gives 10m accuracy. 10 digit grid gives 1m accuracy. 8 and 10 digit grids (easy readous) not supported by vanilla maps. Zoom out and you get 4 digit grid, 1000m accuracy. OA uses correct map notations, with numbers increasing as you go north. Arma2 uses wrong map notation on the northing, with numbers increasing as you go south, which causes a mysterious jump from i.e. 2 to 29 instead of 2 to 20, which has lead to some confusion. You read the map from left to right and from bottom to top (regardless if notation is wrong).

2. Can be hard to tell. You tend to look at neighboring features, i.e. woods are normally in lower parts (in Takistan). Other giveaways are looking for triangles and height readings. Features to look for includes dips, valleys, ridges, peaks, and most importantly saddles.

3. Learn to identify the "small stuff". How are bushes depicted on a map versus a tree? Read the features you see, both natural ones and man made ones. I.e. Eagle Wing after crash. What can you identify? A settlement. A road. A field. A powerline. A powerline? How convenient :p

4. Loose the GPS. In A2 only squad leaders get them. Not even sniper team have them as default. In OA I think also team leaders and SF (?) have them, unsure about sniper team. In OFP you were lucky if you even got binoculars, and GPS was only grid readout, and a true luxury.

5. Try to be mental about your orientation. Practice playing without compass and stay very focused about where you're looking. The sun and time of day is a good help for a very rough estimation on direction. At night, use the stars. Anyone remember the escape mission in OFP? Excellent mission :)

6. Move the compass on the map, it already gives you a direction. You can also rotate it using some keys I can't remember atm, so you can figure out what direction you need to travel in order to get to a certain point.

7. Make note on speeds. How long does it take you to travel a full 100m grid at the common speeds?

8. Use map before you engage to check your escape options. Can you actually manage to break contact (AI in coop games), or will they for sure spot you once they start chasing you.

9. Use map in a tactical way. Are there any locations that stand out? If attacking humans (in PvP), can you exploit the sun position and elevation? Can you hide your approach? Can you setup a supply point with minimal risk to the suppliers that are still close enough for comfort? Can you hide vehicles with limited supplies within buildings? What's your protection options against indirect fires?

I'm no expert myself on these things, but I try to "pay attention". Navigating successfully can be just as rewarding as a good fight. Hmm, got a little more into tactics than I planned, but...

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Hey Terry,

Map reading is definitely one thing u need to be good at with arma games, hav a look at this link, it explains the basics..

http://www.1stusvcav.com/Techniques/Move/map_reading.html

Just remember when u hear coordinates in the game to take good note of them as often they scroll up and are gone before uv worked them out.

Arma 2 uses two three figure coordinates when spotted, so divide the number into two parts...

e.g if you were given 546012 as a location of something spotted ud do the following

546 - is the horizontal part

012 - is the vertical part

So find square 54 on the bottom of the map and then find square 01 on the left or right hand side and where column 54 & row 01 meet is where ur X narks the spot should be,

This is where it gets a little tricky, you then divide this square up into 10x10 bits in ur mind & then use the last two numbers on the coordinates to make the point more accurate.

So inside that square go 6 along & 2 up and that is ur precise location that's being called out.

If you need to give ur location out you can either work it out on map or pull up your gps which will show it.

Hope this is helpful Terry :-)

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Only realised this recently that your GPS shows your height above sea level

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Once you get used to looking at a topographical map it becomes second nature. The big thing is context. Recognize what landmarks you can and work from there.

Great advice above, only thing I would add is to focus on peaks and man-made structures. A mountain top is really easy to spot (not too many sinkholes on the map), giving you an easy point of reference. In a hilly area, villages will tend be in a valley or depression. Same goes for roads and power lines- why climb a hill if you can just build around it?

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Anyone interested in making a thread about how to read the map? Would love to know how to :)

Like way do the 6 number coordinates mean?

How do you know whether it's a dip or a climb purely by looking at the map?

If someone could make a tut I would love them so much :)

Here try this, It's how we learned to do in the Army.

---------- Post added at 16:15 ---------- Previous post was at 16:14 ----------

Here try this, It's how we learned to do in the Army.

http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/land_navigation_map_reading/identify-major-minor-terr.shtml

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