Bigger mail slots

[Vasious]

That was actually a change made after release based on Cmdrs insisting that was what the green and red lights meant.

They were originally just orientation markers as described in other posts.

Indeed, and we still have the magnetic field of the coils in the front of the station push your ship to the centre of the docking portal

 

[Six6VI]

I always flight in the center.

Last time I went to a station It was the red ones that flash.

Doh! You're starboard, they do too. Fixed

 

[GJ51]

When you ask premission to land the Green light just tells you the landing pad is below you if it to the right.

There no right or left in Elite.

I guess you've never landed on 24 or 25

If there's no left or right why does the docking computer always line you up green to the right and move to that side when entering?

You have me so confused...

 

[GJ51]

If you see an NPC in a Beluga, Type-9, or Clipper, just stop and get out of the way. NPCs will follow the rule of entering and exiting on the green side, but the ships are so wide that it takes up more than half the slot. I've never been able to successfully pass these ships in the slot flying anything bigger than a Asp Explorer.

I pass them all the time in a Python. Admittedly the Beluga can get problematic and is better to just let pass unless your in a small ship, but the others are no problem. You have to be on an angle with the side of the Python into the top narrow channel at an approx 45 degree angle. I did get past a Beluga once but we did trade a lot of paint.

 

[GJ51]

I imagine it would be too difficult for these devs to implement an actual traffic control (queue) system that gives each individual ship clearance to enter and exit.

I never like the aspect of these large ships having to enter the mail slot. When first playing the game and getting accustomed to landing, I had imagined these larger ships would be dry docked externally, with an umbilical attaching to the side of the ship - or wherever the primary hatch would be located. I imagine the landing sequence would be automated partly, similar to the way an SLF docks with a mothership.

The whole slot thing does seem a bit silly and inefficient, but it's still kinda fun. It would seem much simpler from an engineering standpoint to have the pads on the outside walls of the port and just have them rotate 180 on the long axis once you land to put the ship inside. Probably conserve a lot more air that way. It might be interesting to see an external pad developed for the *cough* Panther Clipper.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

After the beluga got added in 2.3 there would have been a case for larger mail slots, however the OP's argument is fallacious and erroneous, smacking of "reenegineer the game to protect me from my own mistakes". "there is no timer for entering the dock" -its a ten minute timer, the greens arent traffic lights, merely an indicator of what side you should be on, and NPC's do adhere to the correct lane, except the most massive of vessels, but you should have seen them coming and if you are in an anaconda you should have logged enough time playing the game to know how do negotiate a bust starports mailslot by now.

 

[disorganise]

After the beluga got added in 2.3 there would have been a case for larger mail slots, however the OP's argument is fallacious and erroneous, smacking of "reenegineer the game to protect me from my own mistakes". "there is no timer for entering the dock" -its a ten minute timer, the greens arent traffic lights, merely an indicator of what side you should be on, and NPC's do adhere to the correct lane, except the most massive of vessels, but you should have seen them coming and if you are in an anaconda you should have logged enough time playing the game to know how do negotiate a bust starports mailslot by now.

There is however a shorter period allowed for egress. And, oddly, whilst you can pretty much go as slow as you like when entering, anything below about 70m/s (in a Condo anyway) will often trigger an infraction for loitering in the slot on the way out.
It does seem odd that there's no priority system or queuing in place. Feel free to break the queue and suffer the potential consequence of meeting a Beluga head on.

 

[Trekari]

Ya it for color blindness. Read what the art director Simon Brewer who work for Elite Dangerous explain about it in my earlier post. If you click the source you can read the 40 plus page topic about it. It has nothing about thoughts I found facts.

You've been proven to be wrong at this point in time.

That's why the controller will frequently tell you to FOLLOW THE GREEN on your way out. Use your ears and listen to what you are told. Your argument goes directly against what the game literally tells you to do.

After the beluga got added in 2.3 there would have been a case for larger mail slots, however the OP's argument is fallacious and erroneous, smacking of "reenegineer the game to protect me from my own mistakes". "there is no timer for entering the dock" -its a ten minute timer, the greens arent traffic lights, merely an indicator of what side you should be on, and NPC's do adhere to the correct lane, except the most massive of vessels, but you should have seen them coming and if you are in an anaconda you should have logged enough time playing the game to know how do negotiate a bust starports mailslot by now.

Misquoting me doesn't help your argument. What I actually said was

There is no time limit which will result in your destruction if you're trying to enter the stations.

If there was an argument to make for increasing mail slot size, how is a suggestion to increase mail slot size not valid? What happens at the end of your docking sequence if you haven't entered the slot yet? Do they annihilate you? No. What happens if you don't leave the mail slot before your timer for departure expires? Death. Which of those scenarios should have priority over the other if mail slot size isn't to be increased and massive AI ships are going to fly right down the middle? (And in case you haven't noticed, maximum ship size continues to increase, and as more players get more money, the frequency of large ships being unable to pass through the slot simultaneously will also increase.)

How about the one where punishment is death gets priority?


I suppose it's too much to ask that you read what I wrote in context.

For humans, punish whomever is NOT on the appropriate side of the mail slot. What good are traffic lights if the CMDR following protocol is fined/destroyed because someone else decided not to?

You're the only person around who has interpreted that statement to mean stop lights. They are in fact traffic lights, as they direct you to what side of the mail slot you should be using. Lights which direct traffic. Fallacious and erroneous indeed.

You know what my graphical settings are set to, to where you can make a universal claim that I should've seen it coming? Seems a bit arrogant to think that, but ok. I also earned my Anaconda doing nothing more than the Ram Tah mission over a year ago (and I just picked up playing again recently because of injuries), but thanks for thinking that you're also the arbiter of what everyone else should or should not know or do in Elite. Because obviously navigating the mail slot of a busy starport is exactly the same in an Asp Explorer as an Anaconda.

 

[Lestat]

You've been proven to be wrong at this point in time.

That's why the controller will frequently tell you to FOLLOW THE GREEN on your way out. Use your ears and listen to what you are told. Your argument goes directly against what the game literally tells you to do.

Here what I have proven. My info came from the Devs them self. The audio was added later.

Now what you have proven is you yourself are not paying Attention when entering or exiting a station. Your not even sure if the Anaconda was human or AI if your using words like presumably.

For me, If I see someone (human) That bring up a red flag and I fly extra caution. Well, some people get their jollies ramming people. To either jam, you in the station to make you explode for fun of it.

If you are not using all your instruments like Radar while entering or exiting a station and your complaining because you're not paying attention to what happening around you. The fault lies with you and only you. You're expecting the game to hold your hand.

 

[CW5. BH]

My only real gripe about this is that the stations don't seem like they were well thought out. Larger ships such as the Beluga and the Cutter take up most of the slot with little maneuvering room. So Exiting ships and larger ships should have priority when it comes to who should be able to enter the airlock. Sadly there is nothing in place in the game to keep AI from flying right into you and causing problems. I have been fined for being outside the no fire zone when a cop came and hit me while trying to scan me. How the hell is that my fault? To be frank, though the stations are not the best design with only having one way in and one way out, it was fine when they were made when the largest ship in the game was a python. Sadly now the ship sizes are getting so large that the stations are becoming a burden and the lack of leniency of the station is always on the side of the AI ramming you while you are just trying to hurry in and get what you want done.

Also.. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to NOT put in an emergency docking request for pilots on emergency life support? They should stop all traffic and clear the airlock of any ships if someone is coming in hot with no canopy.

 

[Trekari]

Here what I have proven. My info came from the Devs them self. The audio was added later.

Now what you have proven is you yourself are not paying Attention when entering or exiting a station. Your not even sure if the Anaconda was human or AI if your using words like presumably.

For me, If I see someone (human) That bring up a red flag and I fly extra caution. Well, some people get their jollies ramming people. To either jam, you in the station to make you explode for fun of it.

If you are not using all your instruments like Radar while entering or exiting a station and your complaining because you're not paying attention to what happening around you. The fault lies with you and only you. You're expecting the game to hold your hand.

I'm guessing that English isn't your first language.

At this point in time, you are wrong about what the lights indicate. You are correct at what they USED to indicate, but as to what they currently represent: you are wrong.

Furthermore, *I* was flying the Anaconda.

I was following the green light, and he was presumably not (AI).

I was following the green light, while the other ship was presumably not. The other ship was piloted by AI. The parenthesis does not imply that I am unaware whether the other ship was AI or not. I know for a fact that it was, because I was the only human CMDR in the station instance.

As to the rest of your insult, why don't you go check how well the radar actually works from inside a starport for showing whether a ship is about to enter the mail slot from the outside. Why? Because I checked, and with my ship at just under 90m/s, my radar gave me about a half-second notice that a ship was entering the mail slot before it was actually coming through the slot already. While you're at it, why don't you listen to what side of the mail slot you're told to exit via, and cease your trolling replies.

 

[Lestat]

Furthermore, *I* was flying the Anaconda.

Very easy ship to get into the Mailslot. I had Anacondas, T9. Flying home exploration to try the T 10 but should be about the same as the t 9. On my other accounts, I have flown all the liners. Right now both accounts have Anacondas. We don't need the mailslot bigger. But more player awareness an more player common sense that is what required. Use what Frontier gives us.

I was following the green light, while the other ship was presumably not. The other ship was piloted by AI. The parenthesis does not imply that I am unaware whether the other ship was AI or not. I know for a fact that it was because I was the only human CMDR in the station instance.

As to the rest of your insult, why don't you go check how well the radar actually works from inside a starport for showing whether a ship is about to enter the mail slot from the outside. Why? Because I checked, and with my ship at just under 90m/s, my radar gave me about a half-second notice that a ship was entering the mail slot before it was actually coming through the slot already. While you're at it, why don't you listen to what side of the mail slot you're told to exit via, and cease your trolling replies.

This still sound like user error. A player that not using everything Frontier given us and complaining about it asking to make it easier.

You said you only had a half a second. You must have had your radar setting so all the ships were clustered together that would make it hard to tell if ships are inside or outside the Station. Zoom out your radar so the ships on the radar are less clustered. It will also help you tell you if the ship flying in or flying out of the mail slot. Just by watching what ships are doing. You have 10 Minutes going in and 5 Minutes going out. Use that time wisely.

You can have a button that targets next ship. It tells you the type of the ship if they are flying toward or away from you. You can skip the security ships. So the 8 ships on your radar end up being 2 or 4 ships that you have to focus on. You can eliminate ones going away from you and focus on what left.

Lucky for me I never crashed into a ship. AI or player at a Station. Why? because I use EVERYTHING to prevent my self from having an accident. Common Sense gameplay. It might require more work. But at least I not asking for an easy mode.

 

[Trekari]

I deliberately went and tested the radar after the suggestion in this very thread. I had my radar zoomed IN, which spaces out the ships - not zoomed OUT, which would increase displayed sensor range but cluster everything. The other ship in this test appeared on radar at my 12 o'clock about a half second, maybe one full second before it came through the slot.

 

[Chob]

The mail slot is really a problem in the game imo. but not because why the op started the thread, more like because the ship designs are limited cause of it.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

The mail slot is really a problem in the game imo. but not because why the op started the thread, more like because the ship designs are limited cause of it.

nope, its not
the current ships are already pretty big for just one pilot. the Federal corvette is like a very large upscaled Viper.
if they want to go even bigger,
they have to bring in something more elaborated, and THEN you can expect to have a hangar big enough for small ships to transfer cargo, and outfitting in wet-docks.

 

[Chob]

nope, its not
the current ships are already pretty big for just one pilot. the Federal corvette is like a very large upscaled Viper.
if they want to go even bigger,
they have to bring in something more elaborated, and THEN you can expect to have a hangar big enough for small ships to transfer cargo, and outfitting in wet-docks.

I am not talking about size, i am talking about design.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

I am not talking about size, i am talking about design.

what does it limit design wise?
it only limits the size of ships that can go into the starport.
and to be precise, the more limiting factor, are the docking bays BEHIND the letterbox

 

[Velixar]

While leaving a station today, my Anaconda was hit head-on by an incoming ship which was not visible until I was already committed to the mail slot. I was following the green light, and he was presumably not (AI).

His ship impacted mine, and we both became stuck in the mail slot. If you're going to continue to make larger vessels, then this situation will happen more frequently. I could not back out, nor could I go forward. I ended up getting a fine, and thankfully force-closing the game before being destroyed.

When I read this the first time I almost agree with you. But I wanted to see what other players post was about. Some of the suggestion help me with docking or leaving the station. What I found after a hour docking and landing my Type 9. Like you I was ignoring some ship functions that made life easier for me. I don't have to worry about ships crashing into me.

Now here's my secondary gripe about this: I have five minutes to leave the station once I've undocked. There is no time limit which will result in your destruction if you're trying to enter the stations. So who should have right-of-way if no changes are made? THE DEPARTING SHIP.

Are you doing your hair or makeup or something? 5 minutes to me seems to be a long time.

A simple solution to this is to make the mail slot wider, and force AI ships to follow the green. For humans, punish whomever is NOT on the appropriate side of the mail slot. What good are traffic lights if the CMDR following protocol is fined/destroyed because someone else decided not to?

I tend to fly in the center because I'm flying a T9. At least I have wiggle room if another ship comes in. I do like the close in feeling of the station entering and leaving. And that gut feeling each time your going in or out of the station is always fun.

 

[Cavindar]

Granted the mail slot is small and its been like that since the very beginning of Elite, but can't there be some improvement added the mail slot, make it bigger or other. Why not add a CG for referb the mail slot on the station, we deliver the resource needed to work on the mail slot.

Just an idea and yes it will take time, this is how game should progress in time for improvement.

 

[varonica]

Granted the mail slot is small and its been like that since the very beginning of Elite, but can't there be some improvement added the mail slot, make it bigger or other. Why not add a CG for referb the mail slot on the station, we deliver the resource needed to work on the mail slot.

Just an idea and yes it will take time, this is how game should progress in time for improvement.

"Well it's like this, you see we built this station, cost us 100t credits, a million people live in it, we designed it for the ships of the time, we didn't imagine ships getting so large, but now we can't kick out a million people, where are we going to put them for a start, and redesigning the letterbox to take larger ships means completely dismantling the station, have you any idea how much that is going to cost and how long it's going to take. And that's without doing the same to every other station in the system!"

You see I don't think we should just try and retrofit all the old stations, you would never do it in real life, and yes I know it's just a game, but I like my universe to be consistent, even if it is just a game. The Panama Canal is an example of this in real life, the old canal locks are to small for the new ships, some of those things are HUGE, but they don't just rip out the old dock, that would disrupt traffic for decades and cause no end of problems, so they built a series of parallel locks and new canal.

So new stations could maybe have the new larger slots, old stations stick with what they have and pilots of big ships either take a bit more care docking, or fly smaller ships into the stations with smaller slots if they can't handle it the way it is.

Oh yes, the mail slot isn't really small, your flying a frigate sized ship, everything looks small!