Beacon to find your way home

Hmm.........Think 'they' wanted to add in maps so you could label important spots. Labeling your spawn point there could be one way of doing it, or so was loosely mentioned in the first page in suggestions from constantly being frustrated. That could be one way, or some kind of device (other than compass) that could point you towards your place hmm.

Even if your are not an admin, you can enter "setmark" in the console.
That is like a waypoint. To teleport back to the waypoint, just enter "gotomark" in the console.
But this you have to do every session.

Other way is, to use F3 and write down the location (x, y & z) of your buildings...

Beacons? It's been done. And it's too easy to get out of sight of one (get behind a mountain, get too far away, etc.).
I suggested that a Compass that has 2 needles. One a regular compass needle, and the other (like a minute or second hand) to point at your current spawn point. We'll see what they come up with. A Map with a current position and direction indicator could work also... depending on the size of the area shown on the Map.

Quote from NZ_Simplicity

Well I finally found my cave where I been building in
First thing I did was put two of those big torches on top of the highest mountains above my cave, hopefully I will be able to see them from a distance, especially now you need to have food...

Ooo! Beacons! Clever. There's that "setmark" Labautermann mentioned. If we're going with beacons and all that how about some pillars? Doesn't have to be tall, just something that's the occasional distance of yourself and the render distance or something.

I really like the addition to the compass. Just another needle which shows direction to your homespawn and a small indicator of distance to it. But, this is somewhat advanced tech. What could be used as a simple tech? Still need to explore a bit in the early stages. Getting lost in this game is easy... lol

Maybe some simple thing you can build which makes it easier to read the sun in order to know where north is etc.. and while using that it shows base direction? I don't know...

But yeah, no beacon for me either.

A map. Hmm. Needs to be very simple and easily made near the start so people can explore a bit early (which will be necessary I believe). Just need a form of paper, and something to write with. Charcoal to write with would be easy to make since a fire would be one of the first things people will make. And what about using the inside of tree bark to write on? While having these in your hands it draws a line for where you go, and very simple drawings for landmarks you walk passed or through, like partial triangles for mountains, little stick trees, simple icons for cave entrances or structures etc etc... With this I think we could find our way back just by following the line you made. You could make several of these and keep them for the different directions you went. Just hold right click or whatever to bring it up and look at it. If you have to swap to a weapon and fight or whatever, it stops recording where you go so you would have to be careful. Equip it again in your hands to continue. Even if you run out of room on the bark, you could just start using another and it should be pretty simple to figure out which one comes next, especially if the base is marked with it's own icon on the first one. If done properly, this would be great IMO.

Hmm.......beacons & pillars being one of the easiest things to do.

• Maps with labels (I guess when you upgrade high enough in map items.
• Bark Maps: Using stick-figure trees and basic symbols for trees and hills. Basically the maps you find in stores still.....(This is using @ZaCormyr idea & an Indie game buddy who made a Caveman game for a game Studio to gain interest.)
• Cotton Maps: From sheep and plants, you would be able to make slightly more detailed maps by marking off stuff in slightly more detail (More detail in the symbols with you actually able to mark down roads and such in very basic manners.)
• Paper Map: This one should be easier to produce and copy in detail. Should be able to 'mass-produce' these by handing them to other players, if so desired.
• GPS Tablet Map: A simple device to map out and log real-time data of an area while also being able to label the map in real time. Should have a draw-back of battery life to not be too over-powered (View bolded below.)
• Bark -> Compass home beacon -> cotton -> Paper -> Electronic Tablet; Each one with larger and better detailing on the map than the last.
• GPS Tablet <-> Computer: This could make use of computers by uploading and downloading computer map data from the computer you have built onto a portable GPS device (tablet) with you able to mark out waypoints. The GPS would read out the map real-time. The down-side being you having to make sure the tablet has battery life on the tablet and that the computer would have to be sync'd up each time to view the whole map.

You accept any of these ideas? I actually like the GPS Tablet idea of syncing up your GPS tablet with the computer and vice-versa. You should be able to view your map on a computer to plan stuff out, study, and then probably even turn those maps into custom posters to hang up somewhere. Might be more of a mod idea with the custom posters. Something to insert though.

I would be fine with two types of map, or way to find home game mechanic. Don't need more then than IMO.

Quote from ZaCormyr

I would be fine with two types of map, or way to find home game mechanic. Don't need more then than IMO.

True, but there are people who might like other options. I could say we don't need all those decoration blocks because we could simply make due with wood and stone. Adding cotton, silk, and/or GPS+Computer interactivity would insert a bit more of long-term fun, or so I'd hope. Sticking to cotton might rub someone the wrong way so adding paper would please them. Or there are those that simply prefer going the tablet route while struggling to keep the batteries charged for prolonged manners. It's also a 'teching up in age' thing that I'm probably butchering in thought now.

In fact I love every idea that gives you the chance to choose between middle age and modern life. And as we already have electricity - not really, but electric lamps powered from "above" - I am with the idea of GPS and everything between the existing map.

if you write your coordinates down,double check to see if their is a "-" in front of the numbers ie: -124 versus just 124