Docking - Does anyone find it fun?

Glowyrm

G
Hey guys,

I gotta ask, does anyone find docking to be a fun experience? To me, as a new player, it seems like it was designed to be as stressful and difficult as possible. Approach a rotating space station, maybe from the wrong side, line up with a tiny slot, match rotation, fly in, and land on a tiny pad that may be behind you - all while a timer is counting down and knowing that if you mess up badly, you'll be fined or your ship will be destroyed. :eek: In short, it's a pain in the butt. Does anyone else feel this way, or, did you when you first started playing?

I guess I need a docking computer!

What do you think??
 

Vasea Azure

Vasea Azure
I found it fun maybe first 100h I played (Im a flight simmer so it was not that difficult especially with small ships), but now I just put docking computer on everything bigger than Sidewinder. Also dont be ashamed by using docking comp if you have trouble landing, its a module available in game and if you desire to use it- just do it.
 

Bob Lighthouse

Banned
Bob Lighthouse
I thought it was really tough at first too but I free hand everything except for my Cutter now.
Will be doing that one too once I get the hang of it.

Do you know about the docking indicator on your hud?
It's more useful for leaving but it helps me a lot.
I use it for all of my big ships still.

Use thrusters not pitch when possible.
Also lining up the station *before* you drop out of supercruise makes the approach way easier.

Funny thing is I smash into stuff in the station most often in my courier...
 
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Glowyrm

G
I've never played a flight sim before, so docking is very challenging for me! Does a docking computer take up a ton of space? Thanks!
 

TinyPwny

TinyPwny
I still find it fun and challenging to boost through the slot and slam down the ship on the designated pad as fast as possible. Especially in small, fast ships like an engineered courier, but speed docking condas is still awesome as well!
 

Vasea Azure

Vasea Azure
btw - be aware that DC can have a ind of its own and can screw you over so always look what its doing... you dont want to end up glitching inside of station mesh...
 

ThudPucker

T
Docking is Hard. Then you get better. Then you get a whole lot worse but far far more fun. Then you get good.

The skills learned in docking will serve you well in all aspects of flight.

But it is a big galaxy and you have a space ship. Why do what you don't like? Please, fly your way.
 

John Tenzer

John Tenzer
The Docking sequence being hard to newbies is one of the everlasting features of the series. But you'll get the hang of it after a while. In fact these days I' m three times faster than the Docking Computer when docking manually.

Lock the station, request docking, look at the arrows on the stations holo (if it is a Coriolis station arrows on the holo will show you the direction towards the slot). Then fly in front of the slot, go slow (100-) and adjust to the roll regularly. The 9 minutes given to you are more than enough.

And if you don't like docking manually buy the Docking Computer. It's cheap and pretty reliable most of the times.
 

Ben Sevil

Ben Sevil
No. A DC was the first piece of equipment I bought when I started out.

John Tenzer said:
The Docking sequence being hard to newbies is one of the everlasting features of the series. But you'll get the hang of it after a while. In fact these days I' m three times faster than the Docking Computer when docking manually.
Click to expand...

These days my (recently improved) DC lands my Cutter in 75 seconds, and my Python in 60. Do you really regularly dock in 25 or 20 seconds? :eek:
 
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tagos

tagos
Docking as a skill soon gets imbedded. For me it’s no longer difficult, it’s just an activity that’s part of the immersion. If I have a spare slot in a really big ship I sometimes slot a docking computer if I’m just running routine missions.
 

InlineSix

InlineSix
In comparison to the 84/93/95 variants, docking is a piece of a cake.

I consider it a game-in-the-game, especially speed docking with coriolis-prone mass monsters like the Clipper (not an error: Clipper, not Cutter) - which tends to "drift" to the side when decelerating on a fast approach to the pad.

The only annoying thing is having a perfect docking approach just to realise there's a bugged NPC on one's pad.
 

babelfisch

babelfisch
- when you are in SC you can see the orientation of the station, try to approach it from the correct vector
- if you can't find the entrance on a coriolis station target it and look at the hologram, there are little arrows pointing to the letter box
- always leave and enter on the side with the green lights to avoid crashing into CMDRs or NPCs
- deploy landing gears when approaching a station, this will slow you down
- as soon as you enter a station the little dot in the compass will show you the position of your assigned landing pad
- get a HOTAS to fine tune speed
- don't land like an airplane, use directional thrusters and land like a helicopter
 
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Sllewji

Sllewji
It's steep learning curve, but feels great when you manage to do it without having to think too hard.

A few of key points that I use to make this as stress-free as possible :-
- when approaching the station in supercruise, adjust your approach to get the hologram station entrance facing towards you
- most stations have their entrance facing somewhat toward the planet they are orbiting, so get your ship between the planet and the station, before turning toward the station
- when on final approach, having requested docking permission, make sure you can see the centre pylon at the rear of the station, through the slot, it's normally glowing.
- as you get close approach the station on the right-hand-side of the slot with the green light on your right
- the landing pads are usually in the same place within the station - if you follow the above, you will gradually get used to where they are.
- approach slowly at least initially, say around 50
- use your compass to help you line up, the ball shows you where your designated pad is in relation to your ship
- roll your ship to get the ball in the lower half of the compass, and use thrusters / throttle to get it right at the bottom edge at the 6 o'clock position - your ship will then be directly over your pad.
- when the ball is solid, the pad is ahead of you, when it's hollow, you've overshot.
- remember to put your landing gear down :), and then slowly descend, watching the ball all the way and making adjustments to keep it at 6 o'clock.

Using these tips you can pretty much land on any pad without ever actually seeing it.

Good Luck.
 
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Ben Sevil

Ben Sevil
InlineSix said:
In comparison to the 84/93/95 variants, docking is a piece of a cake.

I consider it a game-in-the-game, especially speed docking with coriolis-prone mass monsters like the Clipper (not an error: Clipper, not Cutter) - which tends to "drift" to the side when decelerating on a fast approach to the pad.

The only annoying thing is having a perfect docking approach just to realise there's a bugged NPC on one's pad.
Click to expand...

TBH, I found the 93&95 variants much easier, in stations, because all you had to do was ram your way into the letterbox (especially in a Panther :) ) and it was done. Landing on the surface is pretty much the same, I think.
 
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Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
It's just practice, really - when you start out, you can barely fly the ship at all, so anything requiring coordination between which way the ship is going, which way up it is, and where other objects are will be tricky (be that docking or combat). After a little bit of practice, docking will be routine and you'll barely notice it's there. (Unless you have two minutes to go on an early-delivery bonus, of course)

There's a docking tutorial where losing your ship on approach won't cost you any more than the few seconds needed to reset the tutorial - so practice that until you're comfortable with it.

What controls are you using? Do you have easy access to left-right thrust, and up-down thrust?

A few tips:
1) The slot is bigger than it looks - your Sidewinder will probably fit in sideways as long as you're reasonably central, so you don't need to match rotation precisely. Even the bigger medium-sized ships can be some way off without scraping the edges - it's only the really big ones that need to be precise about it.
2) Outposts don't have slots and don't rotate, so you can practice landing on the pad without the other bits. There's also usually less traffic around to get in the way.
3) Once you're inside the station, the compass on your HUD will point directly to the pad, so you can find it without having to look all over the place first.
 
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