Additional medium pads on outposts

[ebbrell]

Could you add at least 1 more medium landing pad to outposts. Currently they have 2 small and 1 medium pads, most cmdrs use medium size ships at outposts.
Very often we a few of us sit waiting for a cmdr to leave a pad

I do a lot of bgs work and I often see fellow squadron members at the same outpost. It is a bit of a pain queuing and waiting for a single pad to be empty.

Maybe base the number of pads on the local population, starting at 1 pad, then 2 upto 3 medium pads.
High population need more InF point to increase their influence, more missions required to be complete, more or better access to pads. You can see how it would help.

Currently immersion is broken as cmdrs are forced to jump into solo or pg to dock. Bearing in mind board refresh times, cmdrs can sit there 30 to 40 minutes each.
Additional pads would really make a difference and everyone can stay in open or the same instance

 

[Riverside]

Yes please, if only for the sake of variety

I don't mind having to wait occasionally (usually for an NPC nowadays) but with more new players quickly progressing into medium ships it would make sense to accommodate that shift in the players' early rate of progression.

 

[ebbrell]

Yeah I dont mind waiting a little, NPCs are ok... it's real people who take ages.
And if 2 pads full, we still wait thats fine.

Yeah people jump passed small ships now, due to money making so quick now. So small pads are not used for long

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

Rather than adding one additional medium pad, how about install one large pad. That would be the best of both worlds, because any ship when the other's are occupied could use it including large ships.

 

[Sylow]

Yes to the additional pad. Also, when FD is already working on medium pads on outposts, they should be turned by 180 degrees. Most of the time, they are oriented absolutely wrongly. When you dock, you have to dock with your ship looking away from the station. Then when you launch again, the station turns your ship around, resulting in your ship again looking at the station.

Turning them around should resolve this problem, and having a second one should reduce traffic jams.

On having large pads: i think that's the "privilege" of bigger stations. If you want to dock at an outpost, use an appropriate ship. I actually even think that having some small-only outposts (needs another name and another symbol, so people easily see the difference) would be good. No, it would not solve the problem of small ships being outclassed. But it would provide some "exclusivity" for those who use small ships, either out of devition or due to being new and not having the money for something bigger yet.

So: nice to have, albeit at very low priority.

 

[Riverside]

Rather than adding one additional medium pad, how about install one large pad. That would be the best of both worlds, because any ship when the other's are occupied could use it including large ships.

There is a rule that is easy for players to remember - outposts don't have large pads. It's arbitrary, all dockable ground bases and megaships have large pads, but I suppose there is some logic that smaller ports will not have the facilities for larger ships, it adds a little flavour.

I suppose dockable stations could be added which are less well equipped than a normal station (ie you dock on the outside like an outpost or megaship) but the game still calls them stations instead of outposts. That way the mission templates aren't affected but we still get the cool new shape of port to dock at

I'd like small pad only bases too, or ground bases that only have a single large pad & nothing else. Small pad only ports would require some tweaking of the mission rules etc and the Cobra MkIV would become a meta ship.

 

[Kissamies]

I think it's cleaner to keep the large pads off the outpost, so it's always clear that you can't dock with those with a big ship. Sometimes having an additional medium pad, at the expense of a couple of smalls perhaps, would be fine.

 

[Sylow]

Small pad only ports would require some tweaking of the mission rules etc and the Cobra MkIV would become a meta ship.

Hmm, yea. You're right. That's actually a good point against the small pads only sites.

 

[metatheurgist]

Not all outposts have 2S 1M. There are outposts with 5 pads but I can't remember if they have more Ms. Point is they are small dinky locations so they wouldn't have more than 1M. But more variety is good.

 

[Kissamies]

I always assumed they were all 4S 1M. They should always have at least 2S and 1M. When one would have more mediums, it would have less small, but never less than 2S.

 

[Riverside]

I always assumed they were all 4S 1M. They should always have at least 2S and 1M. When one would have more mediums, it would have less small, but never less than 2S.

A smaller ship can use a larger pad, a potential outpost variant that would still meet the existing mission rules might only need a single medium & no smalls. Similarly a ground base (which always have large pads) could just be a single large pad, or double large since they always seem to come in pairs.

 

[Kissamies]

A smaller ship can use a larger pad, a potential outpost variant that would still meet the existing mission rules might only need a single medium & no smalls. Similarly a ground base (which always have large pads) could just be a single large pad, or double large since they always seem to come in pairs.

There's an interesting thought. There could be outposts with 3 mediums and no smalls at all. Of course it would mean small ships hogging up some of those pads, but I'd appreciate the variety.

 

[ebbrell]

On some outposts the small pads are back to back.
Do they same with medium, there is little need to change the outpost shape in many cases

 

[Sylow]

On some outposts the small pads are back to back.
Do they same with medium, there is little need to change the outpost shape in many cases

The problem there is if you look at the geometry. The bays in medium pads go in deeper. So if you'd model them normally, you will have the internal bays collide. (Yes, there are modelling tricks to work around that. But somebody would still notice that medium bays would be bigger on the inside then. )