General Concerns about autodocking

Flagioz07

Flagioz07
o7 commanders

While I was playing I happened to recall the ship back, while I saw it landing a question arose: My ship is not equipped with the automatic landing module, but despite this the unmanned ship would be able to autodock in a settlement or autolanding on planet. Why do I need to buy a module at this point to use this feature? Why not give the ability to enable this option from the right panel as the commander's free choice?
 

varonica

varonica
Flagioz07 said:
o7 commanders

While I was playing I happened to recall the ship back, while I saw it landing a question arose: My ship is not equipped with the automatic landing module, but despite this the unmanned ship would be able to autodock in a settlement or autolanding on planet. Why do I need to buy a module at this point to use this feature? Why not give the ability to enable this option from the right panel as the commander's free choice?
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Because dismissing your ship was only added as a safety measure to prevent CMDRS having their ships destroyed while sitting on the ground while they were out and about in the SRV in high traffic areas, so it's not really autodock, that's a much more complicated feature than the simple take off and land.
 

Flagioz07

Flagioz07
varonica said:
Because dismissing your ship was only added as a safety measure to prevent CMDRS having their ships destroyed while sitting on the ground while they were out and about in the SRV in high traffic areas, so it's not really autodock, that's a much more complicated feature than the simple take off and land.
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But it is evident that the ship without me inside manages to perform this kind of maneuver in total autonomy. In my opinion, not being able to take advantage of these characteristics included in the ship except by buying and, above all, occupying a slot for a special module does not make much sense ... it is already strange that in the 3300 this kind of characteristics are not included by default in ships, while in 2022 we already have cars that drive and park themselves 😅
 

varonica

varonica
Flagioz07 said:
But it is evident that the ship without me inside manages to perform this kind of maneuver in total autonomy. In my opinion, not being able to take advantage of these characteristics included in the ship except by buying and, above all, occupying a slot for a special module does not make much sense ... it is already strange that in the 3300 this kind of characteristics are not included by default in ships, while in 2022 we already have cars that drive and park themselves 😅
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The original docking computer that has been in the game since it launched occupied the same slot, all you are doing is swapping the regular docking computer with the Advanced Docking Computer, it's not suddenly occupying an extra slot.

The original docking computer was introduced before planetary landings so it wasn't designed for that, so they added that function for pilots who had Horizons. Now they have combined those functions into the ADC which handles planetary and station landings, I don't see the issue.

And please don't start bringing "but we have that today" arguments into it, this is a game not the real world. As for parking and driving themselves, I'll refer you to the latest Tesla news where the autopilot disengages when it detects an accident about to happen so it can't be held to blame. Those sorts of comparisons don't help when we are talking about a game and not the real world, some things are there for a reason in game.
 

Greasetrap42

Greasetrap42
Flagioz07 said:
But it is evident that the ship without me inside manages to perform this kind of maneuver in total autonomy. In my opinion, not being able to take advantage of these characteristics included in the ship except by buying and, above all, occupying a slot for a special module does not make much sense ... it is already strange that in the 3300 this kind of characteristics are not included by default in ships, while in 2022 we already have cars that drive and park themselves 😅
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Game mechanic so we have a fun game to play.

There is lots of evidence that in the ED universe there is no need for physical pilots at all. Space trucking, combat, and exploration could all be done without pilot or crew. Wouldn't make for a very fun game.
 

Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
Given that technology has the potential to advance in such a way that people could leave the whole thing to AI, if you wanted realism in this area, you might be best just watching someone else's streamed gameplay instead of playing the game yourself.

To answer the OP- watch a few gank videos of players shooting landed and unmanned ships and ask if we shouldn't have an easy way of putting our helpess ships somewhere safe.
 

Flagioz07

Flagioz07
Sorry, let's think for a moment.

This is a section for suggestions, so how to improve the game, and I think enabling this option (not obligation) is precisely an improvement.

Let me explain:

I have been playing Elite since 2014/2015, I have seen many evolutions in recent years. For example, when I started playing there was no night viewer on ships and SRVs. But no one complained that it had to be a separate form or that it made the game too easy. It's just an option. Even the game panels themselves have evolved over time to facilitate some operations that were previously more cumbersome. Very good! Keep it up!

So I say, why not get better yet?

The issues are very simple:

Can the ship currently make an automatic landing and use supercruise assist without installing optional modules?

Yes, but only if the pilot is not inside the ship

But doesn’t the game get too easy like that? Do you want to take away my taste of piloting my ship?

No. I did not say that it must be mandatory to use it, it would be an option that can be activated from the right panel in the same way as when the ADC module is installed. I always land manually too, I like to fly the ship. But for example when exploring in some areas it can be useful, perhaps in difficult areas on which to land manually. Or sometimes you can say “ok, while the ship lands alone at the station I’m going to get a beer in the fridge.” Or for example if I wanted to reach the Proxima Centauri area, let go of those 45-minute drive the ship and do anything else without the worry of crashing into the star or losing course, I mean, I still have to be careful not to be attacked by someone but I don't even seem to want to ruin the game to anyone. Right panel->ship->options->on/off

I see no reason to say that it would be a wrong suggestion, that it damages the game or that it ruins the simulation or immersion. It just seems to me a logical option, as they are already native functions of the ship at the moment. So why do I have to install or choose modules for something the ship already knows how to do without me?
 

Riverside

Riverside
Flagioz07 said:
Sorry, let's think for a moment.

This is a section for suggestions, so how to improve the game, and I think enabling this option (not obligation) is precisely an improvement.

Let me explain:

I have been playing Elite since 2014/2015, I have seen many evolutions in recent years. For example, when I started playing there was no night viewer on ships and SRVs. But no one complained that it had to be a separate form or that it made the game too easy. It's just an option. Even the game panels themselves have evolved over time to facilitate some operations that were previously more cumbersome. Very good! Keep it up!

So I say, why not get better yet?

The issues are very simple:

Can the ship currently make an automatic landing and use supercruise assist without installing optional modules?

Yes, but only if the pilot is not inside the ship

But doesn’t the game get too easy like that? Do you want to take away my taste of piloting my ship?

No. I did not say that it must be mandatory to use it, it would be an option that can be activated from the right panel in the same way as when the ADC module is installed. I always land manually too, I like to fly the ship. But for example when exploring in some areas it can be useful, perhaps in difficult areas on which to land manually. Or sometimes you can say “ok, while the ship lands alone at the station I’m going to get a beer in the fridge.” Or for example if I wanted to reach the Proxima Centauri area, let go of those 45-minute drive the ship and do anything else without the worry of crashing into the star or losing course, I mean, I still have to be careful not to be attacked by someone but I don't even seem to want to ruin the game to anyone. Right panel->ship->options->on/off

I see no reason to say that it would be a wrong suggestion, that it damages the game or that it ruins the simulation or immersion. It just seems to me a logical option, as they are already native functions of the ship at the moment. So why do I have to install or choose modules for something the ship already knows how to do without me?
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Your proposal for change is understood, your reasoning is fair enough, and of course it's a change that could be made to the game. You present a good argument and however the current mechanisms are justified, a change could be justified or retconned too.

However what this boils down to is a desire to free up optional module slots, which is a common request and something FDev have actually done in the past (to allow room for modules like these). And I think that stuff like autodock and supercruise assist are luxuries that I do want to be able to replace with cargo space, or more likely HRPs & MRPs. IMO it is supposed to be a dilemma, and I think there should be more little dilemmas and compromises like this in the game, not less.
 

Northpin

Northpin
Flagioz07 said:
So why do I have to install or choose modules for something the ship already knows how to do without me?
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Because installing the module means that you waste an outfitting slot.
And if you do that, you cannot use that slot for something else - so, it's a way to "balance" the benefits added by the module

Not at last, when FD added SuperCruise Assistant, all small ships got two size 1 slots and all mediums and large got one size 1 slot.
So if they would integrate the Flight assistants in the ship right panel, they will have to remove at least one if not two slots from all ships
 
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gorankar

gorankar
Just a game mechanic. They needed a way to remove ships when you got too far away, and to protect people from getting their ships blown up while they were outside it in open. Yes, it breaks immersion, but it's needed for gameplay.
Now, to repeat the old compromise if they make ADC and SCA just a part of the ship and not modules that take up slots, they should take back the extra one, and for some ships, two, size one optional slots that were tacked on to ships for those modules.
 

Brrokk

Brrokk
Riverside said:
There's certainly been plenty of occasions where I wished my ship would remain when I was more than 2km away :)
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Heh, I remember my first time in the SRV. I wandered so far that the ship must have taken off without me noticing. I drove around in a panic for a while trying to remember what direction I had started out in and wondering how I was going to find my ship again!

It was a while before I thought of trawling through the menus and finally found "Recall Ship".
 

Flagioz07

Flagioz07
Ok! Then the logical solution could be one of the 2:

  • Eliminate the ability to dismiss ship if SDC, ADC or SCA modules are not installed. If you want to feel more confident, it seems right to me to organize by installing the module when you need it.
  • Eliminate the extra slot inserted into ships and integrate ADC and SCA module software into the ship's onboard computer (my preferred solution)
 

Northpin

Northpin
Flagioz07 said:
Eliminate the extra slot inserted into ships and integrate ADC and SCA module software into the ship's onboard computer (my preferred solution)
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That wouldnt be a a solution with a positive outcome
There are people that are not using SCA/ADC at all, which means they're using the extra slots for something else. And they will not be happy at all since they will see it as a Nerf to their ships
(while i do use sca/adc on most of my ships, i dont use it for all of them - my axi, mining and most of my combat ships are not using sca/adc - so this change will negatively impact my gameplay)

Flagioz07 said:
Then the logical solution could be
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... to leave it as it is.

There is really no point to make any changes. Nothing is broken, nothing needs to be fixed in this regard
 

Dushess74

Dushess74
Don't touch our precious slots, huh. They're anyway gonna make the parts as they wish, not sure they'll really ask the community.
 
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