Celestial Navigation, Etc. Short post. Reasonable Small Suggestions.

[CSeltzer]

I think it would be really fitting if there was a particular star pattern in the sky at night, maybe based off lore or something along the lines of that. And you can also use them as telling what direction you're headed at night when running from danger.

Also it would be a neat touch to be able to lean tools against fences. Also also when cutting bushes and grass with your knife and missing causes the character to stab at nothing. I think a little tweak for him to not do that would be nice. 

[SnapJelly]

21 hours ago, CSeltzer said:

I think it would be really fitting if there was a particular star pattern in the sky at night, maybe based off lore or something along the lines of that. And you can also use them as telling what direction you're headed at night when running from danger.

While an accurate night sky would be really cool to see, I don't think it would have all that much practical application.

If you play without a map you can already do this during the day with the sun (moon maybe too, I never tried) and also if you just remember the general diraction you'd be heading; the floor is made of perfectly straight blocks, so you can use those to easily make sure you're still going in the same direction.

Also I think that most people won't usually choose to travel by night because of monsters and low visibility in general.

21 hours ago, CSeltzer said:

Also it would be a neat touch to be able to lean tools against fences.

I assumed that was already possible so if it's not then I do think that it should be

 

21 hours ago, CSeltzer said:

Also also when cutting bushes and grass with your knife and missing causes the character to stab at nothing. I think a little tweak for him to not do that would be nice. 

Well that's just because it registers a click, how would you want the game to know that you click because you want to swing at something or that you missclicked because you weren't aiming your mouse right so this time you don't want to swing? It can't read your mind, it swings because you clicked

[LadyWYT]

10 minutes ago, SnapJelly said:

While an accurate night sky would be really cool to see, I don't think it would have all that much practical application.

Navigation via the North Star, or Southern Cross(or whatever is relevant for the Southern Hemisphere, if proper hemispheres are implemented). It's a little tougher to tell cardinal directions at night if you're not playing with the map enabled.

 

12 minutes ago, SnapJelly said:

Also I think that most people won't usually choose to travel by night because of monsters and low visibility in general.

Maybe, but Homo Sapiens players would probably enjoy it. There'd probably be others too who travel at night for grins and giggles. It'd also be useful out on the open ocean, where there isn't much threat and also not much way to get your bearings.

[Mac Mcleod]

There is a very obvious red star and a very obvious yellow star about 15 degrees above the horizon.    
I can't see why they would rotate the star bitmap so those may already provide stable directions

[Mac Mcleod]

On 9/3/2026 at 11:35 AM, CSeltzer said:

I think it would be really fitting if there was a particular star pattern in the sky at night, maybe based off lore or something along the lines of that. And you can also use them as telling what direction you're headed at night when running from danger.

Also it would be a neat touch to be able to lean tools against fences. Also also when cutting bushes and grass with your knife and missing causes the character to stab at nothing. I think a little tweak for him to not do that would be nice. 

The Southern Falx swings through the southern sky every night.    It starts at dusk at SSE, is due south at 1am, and is at SSW just before dawn.

The North Star

[Mushroomancer]

On 9/4/2026 at 7:29 AM, SnapJelly said:

I assumed that was already possible so if it's not then I do think that it should be

You can lean most tools against complete blocks, but not fences, I'm pretty sure.

I think the real issue is actually the length of days.I feel like you would want to have more realistic day lengths to properly use this mechanic, but by default with such short days it would not be especially useful to the majority of players. I do think simulating the natural motion of a night sky could be very neat, though I'm curious how such a simulation would play on a flat world. We already have day lengths that are tied to latitude. It might not be that much of a stretch. Or it might be an absolute nightmare.

[Mac Mcleod]

Just noticed the stars are different in 1.22.7 than whatever I'm running in my one player game.    I'll bring up a creative game and see if I can find a set of stars on thsi version.

 

[Mac Mcleod]

Okay, in 1.22 it's slightly higher in the sky.   It still has the white stars around it and the Sulphur and Rusty companions.  It could also be higher/lower based on the month or my latitude.

Edited Sunday at 07:31 AM by Mac Mcleod
height and latitude comments

[Temeriki]

On 9/4/2026 at 10:29 AM, SnapJelly said:

While an accurate night sky would be really cool to see, I don't think it would have all that much practical application.

If you play without a map you can already do this during the day with the sun (moon maybe too, I never tried) and also if you just remember the general diraction you'd be heading; the floor is made of perfectly straight blocks, so you can use those to easily make sure you're still going in the same direction.

Also I think that most people won't usually choose to travel by night because of monsters and low visibility in general.

I assumed that was already possible so if it's not then I do think that it should be

 

Well that's just because it registers a click, how would you want the game to know that you click because you want to swing at something or that you missclicked because you weren't aiming your mouse right so this time you don't want to swing? It can't read your mind, it swings because you clicked

I travel at night via boats using rivers and the oceans (mods to make large linking river systems).  Stars at night would be amazing.  

Make a sextant type tool the highlights the stars in question when its on your hotbar.  Make it a bit easier to navigate and whatnot.

Now getting into mods make a navigation skill, the more you navigate and use the tools the more accurate you are, earn that heading bar by using the nav tools.