I am surprised that there is so little information on station alignment. Alignment meaning lining up with the slot when exiting supercruise so you fly straight in. I understand it better than ever but still cant get it right. Does anyone have useful tips or links that can help me master this?
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Newcomer / Intro Station Alignment
- Thread starter hawknerd
- Start date
This generally only an issue with Coriolis stations, while in cruise it is possible to adjust your heading so that you can see a representation of the docking access slot on the hologram when you find that you can then turn to head for the station and by watching where the slot goes can work out how to finish the cruise roughly in line with the slot.
If you look at the hologram of one of the other station types when lined up on the slot you will notice the hologram is at an angle to you that is because it is off to one side of you, the angle is a mirror image of that of your ships hologram, so in cruise on final approach to the station if you get the station hologram at that angle you should drop out right in front of the slot.
If you do fail to line up a Coriolis there are a few tricks to find the slot, firstly target the station there will be arrows on the side faces of the hologram pointing to the docking slot.
Secondly the stations rotate anti clockwise when looking at the slot.
Thirdly there are red lights on the corners of the rear face.
If you look at the hologram of one of the other station types when lined up on the slot you will notice the hologram is at an angle to you that is because it is off to one side of you, the angle is a mirror image of that of your ships hologram, so in cruise on final approach to the station if you get the station hologram at that angle you should drop out right in front of the slot.
If you do fail to line up a Coriolis there are a few tricks to find the slot, firstly target the station there will be arrows on the side faces of the hologram pointing to the docking slot.
Secondly the stations rotate anti clockwise when looking at the slot.
Thirdly there are red lights on the corners of the rear face.
Target the station when you're in front of it. Compare the two holograms - your ship's and the station's and notice that they are not paralel - rather, if something is facing you directly, its hologram is facing the pilot (almost, you'll have to see how it looks).
So that's the first clue - manoeuvre in SC in a way that will leave you approaching the station when its hologram is facing you.
The other important thing is to notice how stations are positioned relative to the body they orbit. They are always facing one of the body's poles. In other words, they are facing the planet but instead of at the equator, they have their entrance turned 45° "up" or "down".
(we'll leave out the fact that this is physically impossible for now
)
So you have to approach the station by flying in between the station and the planet, watching the hologram to see from which direction.
dammit. Ninja'd
So that's the first clue - manoeuvre in SC in a way that will leave you approaching the station when its hologram is facing you.
The other important thing is to notice how stations are positioned relative to the body they orbit. They are always facing one of the body's poles. In other words, they are facing the planet but instead of at the equator, they have their entrance turned 45° "up" or "down".
(we'll leave out the fact that this is physically impossible for now
)So you have to approach the station by flying in between the station and the planet, watching the hologram to see from which direction.
dammit. Ninja'd
Before the station hologram became aligned in supercruise, showing the slot, we had to (well, I did anyway) loop to approach the station's orbit from above (or below), curving in between the planet and the orbit so as to reach safe disconnect facing the slot. Of course, if you guessed wrong (above or below approach) then the slot was not in front of you but all-in-all it made for a faster docking on average as you didn't have to manoeuvre to align with the slot.
There was a bug for a while that misaligned the hologram slot to the side by 90° - they had that bug in the Alpha of Odyssey - we shall have to see if it reappears after Wednesday.
(Strangely, the starter zone has Mawson Dock aligned differently - its slot looks out in the direction of its orbit. I assume they did that to give newcomers the awesome view of that golden planetary ring as they leave the station.)
There was a bug for a while that misaligned the hologram slot to the side by 90° - they had that bug in the Alpha of Odyssey - we shall have to see if it reappears after Wednesday.
(Strangely, the starter zone has Mawson Dock aligned differently - its slot looks out in the direction of its orbit. I assume they did that to give newcomers the awesome view of that golden planetary ring as they leave the station.)
That is true!
Some (if not all) asteroid bases are also oriented that way, AFAIK
Yes that is also true - plus of course one has to approach them from above or below the ring they are in or get dropped out by the rocks. Newcomers have that issue in Otegine (not helped by it being so dark there).
I have seen a video of a guy using the planet the station orbits to line up the slot apparently without any hologram alignment. I get that the hologram must be to the left and slightly downfacing but what if you enter a system and the slot is behind the station? How do you move all the way around to get the slot at the front of the hologram? I think you use the planet and the station orbit lines but I remain confused and really want to get this right.
I just did a quick and nasty video for you showing how I approach a Coriolis station to try to ensure I arrive facing the slot. Basically I adjust my path so that the slot on the hologram faces downwards then I loop up to approach the station orbit from underneath curving to arrive at the station from the direction of the planet (roughly). The video is a bit awful (I was eating the microphone at the start) but you can see the slot alignment and my approach path.
Here, so you don't have to wait for Para to come over
Check your cookies settings or something. It's weird that you don't see embedded videos.
edit: Oh great the forum changed the link to and embedded video. I hope you can at least see the code below it?
Interesting part starts around 3.00, but all of it is worth watching, particularly the right hand thumb part - I use it all the time.
ok seen it now. makes sense thanks a lot. I am starting to get it now. I have been spoilt using SC and docking computer to find slot on arrival. Now I am learning how to align by actually moving the ship around a bit to line up for planet facing slot. still need loads of practice though.
I am improving all the time now. The thing I need to understand better is how to get the perfect circles around the planet and station? I have horizontal straight lines all the time. So what is the technique. @Para made it look easy but there is something I dont know about getting perfect circles around the planet so I can line up the station directly above the planet.
Head away from the planet. (Maybe you are using SCA - waste of a slot.)
Well, he's been doing it for more than half of a decade.
If he had a hard time doing it, THAT would be a cause for concern.
Don't worry, you'll get it right one day and then every time after that.
Well I have been playing this game for 6 years so quite a bit of practice. I tend to loop my approach to any destination so as to minimise the time traversing gravity wells. Approaching outposts (orbital platforms) I try to go straight-in edge-on (I'd like the blue station supercruise light to be brighter for locating the outpost in its orbit). It is only for stations that I loop under the station's orbital plane to then come up in between the station and planet - just for slot alignment. (You can of course do the opposite, I just feel more comfortable coming from below rather than above.)
EDIT:
P.S. I should say that I am not suggesting that the way I do it is any better than any other way, it is just what I got used to before the supercruise hologram alignment and I have just stuck with it.
EDIT:
P.S. I should say that I am not suggesting that the way I do it is any better than any other way, it is just what I got used to before the supercruise hologram alignment and I have just stuck with it.
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