If the lights on the station entrance are meant to dictate which way is in
- Thread starter Kalearne
- Start date
They are port and starboard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_and_starboard
Port (left) is red, starboard (right) is green. (left and right assumes you are facing the "front", whatever that is in a starstation but in a oat it is the bow)
Fly whichever way you want.
Port (left) is red, starboard (right) is green. (left and right assumes you are facing the "front", whatever that is in a starstation but in a oat it is the bow)
Fly whichever way you want.
They aren't port and starboard (I know the old mnemonic, no red port left in the bottle) if you position yourself so you can see the outside lights and inside you will see they reverse (to indicate one way traffic)
EDIT: As in, the outside green lights corresponding inside colour is red
EDIT: As in, the outside green lights corresponding inside colour is red
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Well for ships you are supposed to pass port to port, which would correspond to using the green lane.
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No it's not meant this way. In another thread that I can't find anymore someone suggested that the green and red lights are just there to show the alignment of the rotating station. Since the docking bays are always arranged in the same manner and there is no real up and down in space this helps finding your landing bay. A simple example is the bay number 13 that is always "down" right behind the entrance but only if you align the station entrance in the correct way: green to the right. If you enter the station with green lights to the left, bay number 13 would be "above". I think this makes sense. 21 century traffic light conventions for cars would actually feel very odd in the year 3300, won't you think so?
If I hadn't read the devtracker from beta where they said it was a traffic light arrangement I'd probably be with you
It's super realistic programming.
The AI ignores it just like human players do, it's a seamless experience !
I have to apologies for an error of misunderstanding wrt the lead-in lights.
when I first started playing I noticed the lights but I did not notice that they are green one end and red the other, and having done a fair bit of sailing I am used to following the green buoys into a harbour and the Red ones out, so...
... I followed the Green in and the Red Out.
Scared the life out of a few Cmdrs I've got to admit, sorry.
when I first started playing I noticed the lights but I did not notice that they are green one end and red the other, and having done a fair bit of sailing I am used to following the green buoys into a harbour and the Red ones out, so...
... I followed the Green in and the Red Out.
Scared the life out of a few Cmdrs I've got to admit, sorry.
Normally the red and green lights would be on the vessel, not the fixed object - such as a canal (or station in ED's case). But given that we don't have these nav lights on our ships, which seems to me to be the right decision given the nature of the world in which we play, then they have to be on the fixed object. So they have to be set up in such a way that the give way rules will be effective - which are, move to the starboard (right, green) in order to keep the other vessel on your left (port, red). Travelling down the middle of a canal is the correct course generally but what hasn't been implemented in the AI (or the docking computer I suspect but I don't have one so don't really know for sure) is the give way action. The lights are reversed between the inside and the outside to mimic the lights that you would see on a vessel coming towards you and makes the give way rules work. It all works just fine if you simply remember that it is you who should give way (and this is normal at sea as well, generally speaking because it is EVERYBODY'S responsibility to avoid collisions) and move in the right direction. AND - stay out of the slot when a majorly bigger ship is already in there! Just take sensible piloting actions and all will be fine. So, it might be a little irritating that the AI won't adjust their course to give way to you, but really, are you so special that everybody should give way to you anyway? I don't think so.
Just have a look how the AIs are flying inside stations - they do currently have bigger problems than obeying traffic lights.
Edit: A quote on this topic:
npc's are completely oblivious to anything around them... infact they're a damned liability! to be honest, i've never noticed them all orientated the same way, infact quite the opposite! i've seen them going sideways, backwards, 90 degrees and getting stuck, bouncing and generally causing mischief... rarely passing eachother in a civilised manner. whatever the system is supposed to be, it's not working either way and it seems even we humans don't have any more clarity than the AI from my observations.
Edit: A quote on this topic:
npc's are completely oblivious to anything around them... infact they're a damned liability! to be honest, i've never noticed them all orientated the same way, infact quite the opposite! i've seen them going sideways, backwards, 90 degrees and getting stuck, bouncing and generally causing mischief... rarely passing eachother in a civilised manner. whatever the system is supposed to be, it's not working either way and it seems even we humans don't have any more clarity than the AI from my observations.
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AI doesn't seem to care about anything really when it comes to traffic regulations. They are even happy to change direction to hit me on my way to/from the letterbox. The best when there are more of them...
I keep the green-red rule and enjoy doing it. Hope the rest of the galaxy will follow
I keep the green-red rule and enjoy doing it. Hope the rest of the galaxy will follow
Have you ever seen the space docks on your avatar's show?
Every time I see that avatar I find myself thinking that an exit only dock is being violated.