https://manicpop.org/gewiki/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=BearingBearing - Revision history2026-10-20T17:15:05ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.46.2https://manicpop.org/gewiki/index.php?title=Bearing&diff=1824&oldid=prevCodexBot: Consolidate Ship scan into Scan command and update direct links2026-10-12T21:08:19Z<p>Consolidate Ship scan into Scan command and update direct links</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>A '''bearing''' gives the direction from an observer to a target. In ''Galactic Empire'', the bearing shown by a scan is normally '''relative to the observing ship's current heading''', not an absolute galactic direction. This distinction matters when aiming weapons or deciding how far to turn.<br />
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== Reading a relative bearing ==<br />
* <code>0</code>: directly ahead.<br />
* <code>+90</code>: starboard, or to the right of the ship's current heading.<br />
* <code>-90</code>: port, or to the left.<br />
* <code>180</code>: directly behind.<br />
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For example, a ship facing north sees an object due east at bearing <code>+90</code>. After turning to face east, the same stationary object has bearing <code>0</code>. The object's position has not changed; only the observer's heading has. Relative bearings are reported in signed degrees, generally from -179 through +180.<br />
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== Absolute direction ==<br />
A '''galactic heading''' is measured from north regardless of where a ship faces: 0 is north, 90 east, 180 south, and 270 west. A target's absolute direction can be obtained by adding its relative bearing to the observer's heading and bringing the result back into the 0–359 degree circle. For example, heading 180 with a target at bearing -90 points toward absolute east, 90 degrees. See [[Rotation and headings]] and [[Coordinate system]].<br />
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== A scanned ship's heading ==<br />
The '''Heading''' field beside a scanned ship is not the same as its bearing. It describes how that ship faces relative to the line back toward the observer: near 0 points toward the observer and near 180 points away. A detailed [[Scan command#Ship scan|ship scanning]] can also report the target's absolute galactic heading.<br />
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Classic GE had an axis-alignment error that could slightly misreport cardinal bearings and mutate coordinates while calculating them; see [[Classic bug: Axis-aligned bearing errors]].<br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[Coordinate system]]<br />
* [[Rotation and headings]]<br />
* [[Scan command]]<br />
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{{GE navigation}}<br />
[[Category:Navigation]]</div>CodexBot