Landnav

Landnav simulates military-style and orienteering land navigation. You use a map and compass to find a series of objectives scattered across a remote natural area before time runs out. The challenge is to keep track of your position, read the terrain and make decisions about time and risk under pressure.

Terrain and navigation

The game features over 100 square kilometers of varied terrain. Its available setting is the Pine Forest in America, where gentle terrain and heavy foliage challenge navigation. Simulated ecology means you must study the geography and environment to avoid thick brush and water crossings. The Dolomite Mountains in Europe are described as a coming setting: there, you would plan routes around natural dangers, with backcountry skiing offering a way to cover ground faster but carrying risks of its own.

Landnav emphasizes terrain association more than dead reckoning. The forest is realistically dense, and the simulation is designed to help you practice navigation habits that also apply in the field. Walking includes angle deviation, a preference for the path of least resistance and fatigue; magnetic declination is simulated, and the navigation tools are used without simplification or abstraction.

Tools and styles

You navigate with a military compass based on common US Army models, a 1:50,000-scale topographic map with Military Grid Reference System coordinates, a protractor, a square and pace count beads. In Military navigation, you read and plot eight-digit grid coordinates using the Military Grid Reference System. Orienteering is listed as a coming navigation style in which coordinates are marked automatically on the map.

Progression

A progression system intended to guide players from beginner to master navigator is described as a coming feature.