Navigation in Space (part 5)

One thing I noted with the submarine directions was that it was also related to what I'd been doing originally. Several years ago, I wrote a Solar Echoes novel (still unpublished) that, at one point in the story, described a very involved starship dogfight with a squadron of ships. Believe me, tracking each of the good guys and bad guys was not easy, especially when they were swarming around each other. I'm pretty good at visualizing things, though, so I was able to describe it well enough that my beta-readers all said they were able to follow it. What I did then, though, was to make the “stationary” reference point the starship itself. All directions were relative to the position of that starship's perspective. When calling out to a wingman for help against an enemy, the commander of that starship would indicate the enemy's position relative to him, which would help the wingman spot the position of the enemy once knowing where his ally was positioned in space. When referencing an enemy attacking his wingman, he would give directions based on the wingman's position rather than his own. It was a little rough, but at the same time, it helped the reader visualize positions without complex references. I also used the standard 12-point directions of our clock for directions, rather than degrees of a 360 circle. In the visual novel I'm writing, I intend to do the same, though I have brought in some of what I've learned from my Navy friend.