hrmmmm - my answer is speculative at best so take it with a grain of salt

my perception is that the devs don't want there to be 'easy' modes in the game hence no minimap, and the cartography skill is as much in the accuracy of the cartographer as it is through any in game mechanism

that said i expect that there will be ways to survey both above and below ground to prevent the kind of calamity you describe from occurring

potentially some kind of measuring devices and/or levels etc

Surveying would be a great idea.

I could not agree more with Dleatherus. I personally wouldn't want anything beyond the tools you would expect in this setting.

Unfortunately there may be a "cheat" around this. The way plots of land are set up, I believe the parcels above and below should be viewable from the county table for purchasing land. Because of this, you may be able to ensure youre a certain distance from the surface by. For example adjacent plots of land could be purchased on the surface. When underground and tunneling under those same plots, there may be an indication if the land above you is owned, or if youre trespassing. This would allow you to gauge how close to the surface you are.

Isn't it a hrothi trait to know where they are underground?

Posted By Takeda_Shinukage at 12:27 PM - Mon Jan 06 2020

Isn't it a hrothi trait to know where they are underground?

"They have a strong upper body and good sense of direction while underground. This allows them to navigate without being able to see the sun and stars above. This ability also bleeds into a good sense of time, without being able to see outside."

Sounds more like North, East, South, West than it does coordinates.

Yeah, the trespassing indicator would be nice to have. The tools would be great. I don't want to see what Life is Feudal had as that was nowhere near Immersive. The biggest issue with this game is that if you make a mistake your stuck with it. Unless they add a "fill in" option to the excavating.

yes - sense of direction as in points of the compass makes sense

though the comment about the parcel is valid and might give you a general sense of where you are?

we will need to see how that works - perhaps the info can only be accessed at a small property board on a stake on the parcel

will be interesting to find out

I guess there will be some kind of navigation down there. I also disbelieve, that there will be some kind of mini map or GPS. And for a normal human it would even be impossible to get a sense of the cardinal direction underground.

1. So normally I guess signs in combination with a map will help you navigate.
2. As a special trait I think Hrothi will have some "supernatural" sense of direction.

I think in general you'd be able to tell if you're close to the ground because in general the ground gets more compressed (and therefore harder) the deeper you go.

If you're close to the surface, the ground will be softer, in most cases.

Yeah I could see a system where having a map on your person could give you a basic mini map, the better made the map is, the higher detail and lower level of error it has.

Actual underground tunnels I could see the Dungeoneer profession coming into play, as they specialise in underground building and knowledge and might have a role to play in mapping out cave systems.

A compass works underground. Also cartographers could make maps of the underground.

It's been said that the LMT only shows adjacent and accessible parcels. So, underground parcels might not show up until the LMT is aware of a tunnel. My guess is that tunnels and sky parcels, and ungoverned parcels in general, won't show up on the LMT until mapped and a claim for the land is filed. For example, if someone builds a tall tower, the parcel in the sky above the tower would become available to purchase when the owner of the the tower's parcel files a claim to buy the sky parcel above the tower. Likewise, for underground parcels to be legally owned.

If omniscient game mechanic magic automatically updates the LMT with new parcels the moment they become accessible, then the LMT would show secret underground dungeons made by Liches, Vampires, etc. Entire underground caverns would likewise be automatically mapped into the LMT the moment that someone breaks through an underground wall into an underground cavern. Omniscient game mechanic magic automatically updating the LMT would make a large portion of the cartographer's profession pointless. A cartographer could just copy the LMT map.