Who the h*ll designs these stations....????

That station very clearly has elevator parties to and from the cantina, it looks like a great design. Nothing like stumbling onto the landing pad with a belly full of Lavian Brandy and a face full of Diso Ma Corn while the confetti bursts from the elevator behind you. You'll never forget that station, best refuel that side of the galaxy.

This is a re-enactment of what you would see at this station to be precise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkSPUDpe0U8
 
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They are there so you can have fun landing at them :cool:

[video=youtube;6oVHut53cQA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oVHut53cQA[/video]
 
There is couple of types of stations where the landing approach is obscured by stupid stations stuff. Maybe someone living near to the landing pad got annoyed of over speeding pilots breaking just before the pad. This obstacle right in the middle of the most logical approach pad makes pilots take it more cautious. And maybe they have a hidden landing pad cam to catch those moments when pilots come in / leave without the lights on. Selling those crashcam videos might give them good credits.
 
I think its great, it means you have to work out flight paths. Wait till the barbed wire is rolled out and you have to make sure you clear that.
 
I think its great, it means you have to work out flight paths. Wait till the barbed wire is rolled out and you have to make sure you clear that.
I'm waiting for the update where we need to visually check platforms for zombies before deciding to dock and open the airlock.
 
That doesn't make the designs any less illogical. They're very illogical. There's no gameplay reason, nor any in-game fictional reason that makes sense for these terrible design decisions.
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Of course the designs are logical because the gameplay reason is aesthetics. Pilots don't want to look at boring sameness. And pilots don't want the same boring approach to all stations. The wide variety of required landing approaches due to the obstructions makes the game interesting. And in one case, it made my heart race when I approached an eclipsed station too fast in my fully loaded clipper and a tall indestructible spherical storage tank was located right after the end of the docking bay. I couldn't turn up fast enough and couldn't stop fast enough. I thought I'd dent the tank but, instead, my ship took on some hull damage accompanied by the sound of grating metal on metal. Instead of fighting the odd station design and landing approaches, embrace them for the game variety they provide.
 
Yes , one wonders if the tea lady was responsible, since she's not a pilot !,, tight squeeze on some outpost approaches
 
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Talking about station designs.. The larger one should have a RoRo system (roll on, roll off) where you enter at one side and leave on the other.
That would solve a lot of letterbox headache's.
 
Having travelled on the train the other day what stations need is a man in a high vis blowing a whistle when you can leave.
 
These are explained in Kate Russell's excellent book "Mostly Harmless". They are used for high gravity acclimatisation by workers heading planet-side.
 
What you not can see in this picture is the spacecraft repair shop, a bit more on the left side, of the station designer.
 
That doesn't make the designs any less illogical. They're very illogical. There's no gameplay reason, nor any in-game fictional reason that makes sense for these terrible design decisions.

Gameplay reason - these flaws makes take-off and landing more challenging and interesting, and less routine.

In-universe reason - maybe the outpost wasn't designed with landing pads in mind. Maybe they were post-fitted, with not much space to put them and not a lot of money to money to re-configure the outpost.
 
Presumably, the outpost was planned by a descendant of the person responsible for this:

E9q9h7V.jpg
 
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Of course the designs are logical because the gameplay reason is aesthetics. Pilots don't want to look at boring sameness. And pilots don't want the same boring approach to all stations. The wide variety of required landing approaches due to the obstructions makes the game interesting. And in one case, it made my heart race when I approached an eclipsed station too fast in my fully loaded clipper and a tall indestructible spherical storage tank was located right after the end of the docking bay. I couldn't turn up fast enough and couldn't stop fast enough. I thought I'd dent the tank but, instead, my ship took on some hull damage accompanied by the sound of grating metal on metal. Instead of fighting the odd station design and landing approaches, embrace them for the game variety they provide.

I'm with you on that.
It adds a requirement for a bit more skill on landing.
I find the easiest way is nose to the platform and swivel when you are on target. But I like maneuvering around the obstacle at low speed. Even, if I sometimes catch the landing gear on the blast doors. :eek:
 
Indeed to echo SMcA - I find outpost docking easier than flying the letterbox no matter where the pad is - just approach it directly from above. Once your nose is close enough to trigger the landing graphic you can roll till your underside is showing, pitch up, thrust down - job done. With this approach you don't even need to think about which side of the pad is the front or the back until your nose is scraping it.

I do the same in larger stations too if the pad is close to the entrance - sometimes I need to because I overshot coming in.
 
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