how to use the map im kinda new

[funboy1 the cake is a lie]

Hello, im afraid that ive never gonne be able to use the map i have 7 hours in this game right now. And i have found a very active tribe, they are building a cool base and it seems like they never could get lost. When they are farming wood, stone,berry's they walk for 30 min and find their way back to the base with no problem. I onley farm around the base because im always scared to lose my base, because i dont know how to use the map. I'm used to mmorpgs where the map moves together with you. and cordinates ive never used it before so for me its insane to learn. Is this game for me than ? im scared that im just gonne be stuck at walking around my base. And i like this game so mutch i didnt had this feeling in a very long time so that means this game is awesome. Is there a way that i can learn it ? Or are there more ways to navigate around the island ? alright ty you guys already ! cheers

[3yerrt]

Press "m" to access the map.

[What iz]

as you are so new to the game just stay near your base and get to know your surroundings. Venture a little further each day so you don't get lost. It all becomes much easier when you start taming....especially birds.

[Pecusic]

Thats just the way it is when you start :) Me and my BF also was afraid to go to long away from our base when we started. But at time went by, we moved futher and futher out. We learned a small place of the map at the time, and now, we know almost the entire island. And it help when you get a GPS also :)

[UnhappyCLOWN]

I can land anywhere on the island, not look at map, and know where I am after a minute. It just takes some time to get used to your surroundings. The island really isn't that big, and you'll figure it out with time... and exploration. You start close, go a little further... a little further... etc. You'll figure it out... or you won't. My friend has no sense of direction and couldn't find his ass with both hands...

[dizzyronson]

Coordinates are easy:) they are basically height and with.
So if you have a pice of paper, 10x10 cm and you mark the centimetres along the left side and the bottom you get a grid.
Then if I say to you : place a dot at h=1 w=1 then you can just look at the centimeter marks
Draw a line from the left to right at the first centimetre on the side for the height.
Then draw a line from the bottom up at the first centimeter. Where those two lines cross is the place my numbers told you:) then with that I can tell you like go from h1 w1 to h3 w6 and if you do the lines again the point will have moved to exactly where it should:)

Usually the coordinate for height is called latitude or lat. the with is called longitude or lon.

I hope this helps you understand the map a little better:) and you should get a compass. Or a gps. It will save you one day:)

[Tekamo]

learn the possitions of the 3 big pillars that helps a lot at the beginning....the volcano in the mittle has alsoa distinct appearance that help to recognize

[UnhappyCLOWN]

Originally posted by Tekamo:

learn the possitions of the 3 big pillars that helps a lot at the beginning....the volcano in the mittle has alsoa distinct appearance that help to recognize

Indeed also good advise. The pillars don't move or change colors and there are only 3. So use them to triangulate your position at first.

[DarthaNyan]

Originally posted by Pufferfish:

Indeed also good advise. The pillars don't move or change colors and there are only 3. So use them to triangulate your position at first.

They did change their colors with biome update, but thats exception.

OP, you can ask your tribemates to put transponder on you so they can always find and/or guide you to base in case you are lost.

[Flossimae]

Don't worry. I was getting lost and turned around for ages in the beginning. I wanted the map to be more helpful, but I realized that it makes sense that you don't have information about the places you haven't been yet. It makes things scary at first, which is cool.

Learn your environment around your base and venture out slowly. Take your time. When you go further, look at landmarks and such. I would always start along the beach or a river to learn my area, because if I got turned around, I only had to find the water to find my way home.


Take your time. Explore. Have fun. :)

[EightSeven6]

just look at the map and use the sun along with the time (H) to find your way around....dude, if youd be in the wilderness with a watch, a map, and a clear sky....youd be lost anyway wtf xD

[Shane]

first of all the towers as... Tekamo has stated, first check which colour is your nearest one, and when lost you can head for that...

Picture ~ http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/386539136917202126/5DD066AF7447674031D60C503625958D0CB58FE8/

NOTE:
take no notice of the pushpin locations, in my picture, i altered screen resoultion and they moved and dont display correct locations now...


okay looking at the map left side you have a numerical line for latitude, and across the bottom you have another line for longitude...

so if i gave you cords (you give lat first) 40,40 then you look down the left line find number 40, then use a rule if you have too hold it along that mark and then find 40 on the long bar, and where the two lines meet is the 40,40 cord location.

next you can press "P" whilst map is on screen and enter a pushpin marker for reference, to your base location as example...

sometimes you will have a cord like 40,43, so in this scenario you find the 40long then count in 3 little marks between 30+40 on the bar.


later you can construct GPS device and get new cords like 42.2,40.1, but same principles apply so here just head for 42,40 instead.


Next...

learn your surroundings, when you get a flyer, its actually easier to navigate after a certain period of time, but explore outwards section at a time, and maybe use signposts in the game as markers

example picture of signs ~ http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/386539136908392633/C8CD3098A20777B3A5345EC255683960EF220672/

[Silberfuchs]

Orientation is actually not that difficult.

If you take a look at the map, you will see numbers at the sides and the words "Lat" and "Lon", which stand for latitude and longitude. If you want to tell others a position, you open the map and look where that position is. Then you look to the left end of the map at the numbers, and memorize the "height" of that position, counting from the TOP of the map downwards. This means coordinates with the first number being 10 or 20 are far in the north, coordinates with the first number being 70 or 80 are probably at the south shore.

And then you do the same for the east-west-axis of your coordinate. You look at the position you want to describe, and then you drop a perpendicular line to the bottom of the map and memorize the number. They get bigger from west to east, which means if a position has 10 or 20 as second number it's at the west coast, if it has 70 or 80 it's probably in the east.

So much for the coordinates. But there is more to it, if course. As far as I remember on official servers there is no player marker on the map, so you have to find out where you are yourself, and this is done best by landmarks. The obelisks are the most obvious ones, but riverdeltas or mountains also work well. Try to memorize distinguishable landmarks and their position on the map. For example northwest of the green obelisk, between the mountain in the northeast and the two mountains in the middle right center of the map is a small, flat river with a few high rock pillars. Those rock pillars are easy to remember, and you immediately know you are relatively central on the map, a bit to the northeast.

In general keep in mind that the south of the map has a lot of smaller "islands" between the riverarms, in the southern center and the east of the map there are swamps, then there is a big open river which goes from west to east with a lot of big dinos there. Between that river and the swamps there is the central, most southern mountain. North of the big river you pretty much have only mountains, until you reach the snow in the northwest.

[Flaax]

@OP:

The hard part is always to know where you are.
You can put a sleeping bag or bed and press E on it. A fast travel map will open an show you your coordinates. So you can read them on the map and know excactly where you are.

Since you wont place every 2min a sleeping bag you have to look for the big Obelisks (red, green, blue -- not the supply beams!) - You can look up their posisions also on a Ark map on google.
Just think about, that the obelisk colors rotated counter clock wise with the biome patch and most maps on the internet are still showing the old colors.

Locactions atm:
Red is at south-west
Green is at east
Blue is at north-west in the snow biome

http://ark.gamepedia.com/Obelisk

Than you have to look at the location itself, the landscape and the forms that could fit the map.
If you don't play on a primitive server, you can craft a GPS later, that will show you your coordinates.

In my first days I wasn't carefully and I got lost in the southern islets, too proud to die and loose the stuff I picked up while I was exploring. After 2 hours I found the way back to my base... even if I came from a completely different direction than the one I left.

[Flossimae]

@Dovah, there is no place for pride in this game! Lol. My tribemate would always ask me where I was and I'd be telling him....um.....well, shoot....yeah, I don't know. He would ask me what's around, you know, landmarks and stuff. Every time I'd tell him, I'm on the beach and I see some trees and a mountain in the distance......Oh, look a pretty Dimo!

It's a wonder he didn't find a way to throttle me through the computer screen. Lol. Of course, sometimes, I find the best things when I get lost. It's part of the prices for me. ;)

[funboy1 the cake is a lie]

Ty all for the replys gonne try to do all the stuff that you guys have said. Ill guess map reading and oriantading comes with time so more playing more skill :D I have a compass now so i know when i walking north that my base is south so its makes it a bit easyer :p