Before i throw this game away......

[PS4gamer]

Are there any one of you who actually had problems landing tha craft on a landing pad.
I've been trying to get, sigh, the sidewinder from station into deep space, no problem there, finding my destination, also after a few tries, no problem, getting to a station works only with lock, sadly I tried this without lock several times until i figured that out.
In the eighties i played also Elite, and the landing was then a terrible thing, mastering it with analog joysticks, but now it seems the technique has not improved. Come on, this is almost 4 decades ago, and we still use this stupid not automated control to land? and if time runs out, the fines are bigger than your wallet. !!!!!!

Seriously, if this does not improve, because i am no robot, then i return this<Ahem> game!

I've not been playing long and I'm still rusty at landing but imo the landing is far easier than it used to be on the BBC. practice does help a very large amount though!
Last night it was taking me like 30 seconds to dock when I entered the 'slot', now it's taking me under 20, so I'm getting better and it does seem to be getting easier.

Just keep practicing, you'll get there! have patience

 

[Lightspeed]

STOP giving out bad advice!

One of the many reasons the Docking Computer is in the game is for the purpose of aiding new players landing their ships properly. As I have said dozens of times... Watching your own ship perform an automated landing is the best way to learn how it is done.

It is such a disservice to these new players to be shoving them away from the one thing that will help them get past the docking learning curve as quickly as possible, while using totally debunked misinformation as to your reasoning behind such a bonehead opinion.

The alternative is to assist them in bashing their heads against the wall to the point they are threatening to return the game. Yeah... That's helpful. [rolleyes] [wacko]

Like I said the other day... Any time you want to have a docking competition, I am ready. We will get several YouTubers to capture the whole event to put this idiocy about not taking advantage of the DC to rest once and for all!

There you go, OP, welcome to the Forum, because ask any question and you will always get conflicting advice

As much as anything, it depends on your setup and what you are most comfortable with .... some prefer mouse and keyboard, some joystick, some X-box .... etc. , but you may not be doing what is best for you. At least give Dale's advice a run first, in case your settings are making it harder than necessary for you.

It is fair to say that docking is the single steepest learning curve that you will ever encounter in this game. Once you conquer that, everything else looks easy !

 

[Devantejah]

It is fair to say that docking is the single steepest learning curve that you will ever encounter in this game. Once you conquer that, everything else looks easy !

Could you explain your point of view?

I must say that I disagree (as you may know) that it would be the steepest learning curve. I would say that learning to master your ship in combat and the maneuvers involved would be a lot harder to learn due to the everchanging nature of it.

EDIT; Oh, and pip management too for that matter.

 

[Stigbob]

Yes, because landing is somehow extremely harder than flying in normal space without crashing into things.

I never really understood why some say that landing is so hard. You can just go in through the slot, roll a little and fire your dorsal thrusters and presto, docked and ready.

EDIT; And as GG7 put it, you can just watch the ship fly and mimic it..

Landings hard (for non space flight sim fans and only at first) because you need to put your ship at a certain place in a certain orientation within a time limit. When flying in space what with it being so empty you don't notice your ships all over the place as long as the front is just about facing the right way. You need a point of reference, like another ship you are fighting or asteroids. Once you get a feel for it it's really easy but when you start out just getting through the letterbox was harder for us all especially people who don't own a joystick haven't played every space flight sim ever made and just reconfigured their controls.

 

[Lightspeed]

Could you explain your point of view?

I must say that I disagree (as you may know) that it would be the steepest learning curve. I would say that learning to master your ship in combat and the maneuvers involved would be a lot harder to learn due to the everchanging nature of it.

EDIT; Oh, and pip management too for that matter.

The other stuff you mention is difficult to master and difficult to do well, but the docking process is the first great challenge you have to overcome to do anything else in the game. It means finding the slot, lining up with the slot and avoiding collisions, getting yourself oriented at the correct landing bay, working out what the landing radar is telling you .... and all the time you have a timer ticking down in front of you. On top of that, you are not yet master of your controls - they may not even be set optimally at first - yet you have to do this one thing to survive. It's the ratio of difficulty with experience - experience is on the bottom of the equation and when that is close to zero the ratio (the learning curve) is very steep indeed !

 

[Trickylion]

Only reason for d.c is the blue Danube music, very retro as elite had it back in eighties.
When in station I use the ctrl to yaw? Rather than roll.

 

[Vandaahl]

Also, please please pay attention to the landing help/indicator, that orange holo ship in the HUD in front of you. In some exotic cases, when an NPC just left the pad you got assigned, you have to land your ship the other way around. It does not happen often anymore, but when it does (I still had it on 2.3.01) you can only see by how the indicator is orientated that you have to land your ship the other way around.

 

[Saxon Kili]

Are there any one of you who actually had problems landing tha craft on a landing pad.
I've been trying to get, sigh, the sidewinder from station into deep space, no problem there, finding my destination, also after a few tries, no problem, getting to a station works only with lock, sadly I tried this without lock several times until i figured that out.
In the eighties i played also Elite, and the landing was then a terrible thing, mastering it with analog joysticks, but now it seems the technique has not improved. Come on, this is almost 4 decades ago, and we still use this stupid not automated control to land? and if time runs out, the fines are bigger than your wallet. !!!!!!

Seriously, if this does not improve, because i am no robot, then i return this<Ahem> game!

Yes, initially I had lots of problems. Gotta use thrusters.

Defaults:

Q-Left
E-Right
R-Up
F-Down
W-Forward
S-Reverse
X-Stop

 

[Noctover]

Gotta be honest, just keep trying, the docking system in this game isn't sophisticated at all, pretty much just point and squirt and even if you don't land properly the ship gets pulled in, i can't remember struggling with it from day 1.

You'll look back at this and laugh one day .

 

[Lightspeed]

Some find the knack easily, others have to work hard at it . But we all find our way in the end.

OP, look on the bright side ............... you got out of the space port ..... now reverse the process to get back in

(Unless you are on a docking pad on a planet ?)

Yes, initially I had lots of problems. Gotta use thrusters.

Defaults:

Q-Left
E-Right
R-Up
F-Down
W-Forward
S-Reverse
X-Stop

Yes, this is helpful . Never be afraid to use X to stop in mid-"air" and F and R to move up and down vertically.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

If it makes the OP feel any better, I'm a veteran CMDR, of two years.
Never played the tutorial.
Never used the DC.
Never read the manual.

I learnt how to dock manually through trial and error. And YouTube (before I even brought ED).

And to this day, I still sometimes do the "left a bit, too far. right a bit, left a bit, right a bit! Forwards... Too far. Reverse. Too fast! Hit the lamps, bounce to a 90° angle. Start again" docking procedure.



If it helps at all, pick up a cheap Xbox one/360 clone gamepad for PC. Mine cost £20, and it's identical to an official one, same driver and mappings etc. And it lights up pretty colours that is incredibly distracting.
Works perfectly for ED.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[Kaybe]

Docking takes time and practice. For me, it was the hardest thing to do reliably when I first started. Now it's no problem. The only ships that I currently still use the docking computer on is the Beluga, Anaconda, and Cutter. Maybe it's due to the length of those ships, but I find it really challenging to register the ship being landed on those even if it's straight and centered. Mind you, I have no problems landing shorter large ships like the Orca and Type 9.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

Nope, duck to water.

But then, im amazing.

 

[Antinull]

STOP giving out such terrible advice!

Did the thought ever occur to you that some of these players just want to get out there exploring the game, and not spend hours in a docking bay to make some "High School" point of being "A Real Man - Who Doesn't Need Any Landing Help" like you apparently think everyone cares about?

One of the many reasons the Docking Computer is in the game is for the purpose of aiding new players landing their ships properly. As I have said dozens of times... Watching your own ship perform an automated landing is the best way to learn how it is done.

It is such a disservice to these new players to be shoving them away from the one thing that will help them get past the docking learning curve as quickly as possible. While using totally debunked misinformation as your justification for giving out such bad advice.

Your alternative is basically to assist them in bashing their heads against the wall to the point they are threatening to return the game. Yeah... That's helpful. [rolleyes] [wacko]

Like I said the other day... Any time you want to have a docking competition, I am ready. We will get several YouTubers to capture the whole event to put this idiocy about not taking advantage of the DC to rest once and for all!

OP, also check that you have not disabled `Rotational Correction` (it's been a while since I played, but I think it is in the left hand panel. Should be in keybindings too). I'm not sure if this is persistent across gaming sessions.

Nothing wrong with using the DC I guess, but could the OP even afford one without finishing a couple of missions?

"docking competition". You must record this epic engagement, for the ages.

 

[Devantejah]

Landings hard (for non space flight sim fans and only at first) because you need to put your ship at a certain place in a certain orientation within a time limit. When flying in space what with it being so empty you don't notice your ships all over the place as long as the front is just about facing the right way. You need a point of reference, like another ship you are fighting or asteroids. Once you get a feel for it it's really easy but when you start out just getting through the letterbox was harder for us all especially people who don't own a joystick haven't played every space flight sim ever made and just reconfigured their controls.

I don't own a joystick any longer, (thinking of getting some HOTAS for E) but this is my first space game I've ever owned being much too young to have owned the original Elite when it was new. I did start this game with mouse and keyboard and I still fly with it.

While I do have a lot of experience from regular flight sims the only thing that really carried over here was being methodical and calm so that I don't slam on the throttle for minor adjustments for example. What with having thrusters mounted all over the ship and autostabilization there is not much similarity with an aircraft in the handling, no risk of stalling out because your airspeed was too low or breaking off your gear because you put the craft down too hard.

I got a little thrown off when the slot started to rotate relative to my Sidewinder when I started out and I likely did bump into it. The first landing I did was adequate - hardly stellar, if you pardon the expression, but I didn't lose any hull as far as I can remember at least. I just simply flew in at a moderate speed, rolled to get the belly in the right direction and did a shallow dive towards the pad and put the ship down without too much of a hassle. I did overextend a little in a few directions but hardly enough to give me the impression that docking was very difficult.

As far as a point of reference goes, I understand what you mean but surely that's just an issue of opening the throttle too much or perhaps accidentally hitting the boost at the wrong time? You drop out rather far away from the station and while maneuvering towards it you should get at least some feeling for how the ship reacts. There's no reason you would fly at high speed towards a pretty small target if you weren't confident in your ability, right?

When I first started driving I took it easy because I knew I had little experience and would likely not be able to recover if something would happen and thus I tried to minimize the risk of something happening in the first place, I took more or less the same approach in here.

The other stuff you mention is difficult to master and difficult to do well, but the docking process is the first great challenge you have to overcome to do anything else in the game. It means finding the slot, lining up with the slot and avoiding collisions, getting yourself oriented at the correct landing bay, working out what the landing radar is telling you .... and all the time you have a timer ticking down in front of you. On top of that, you are not yet master of your controls - they may not even be set optimally at first - yet you have to do this one thing to survive. It's the ratio of difficulty with experience - experience is on the bottom of the equation and when that is close to zero the ratio (the learning curve) is very steep indeed !

I see your point and I did have problems with finding the opening several times before I noticed the arrows on the hologram and tried following them instead of guessing. And while it could be hard to see where the correct pad was at times I think the landing radar is quite intuitive actually. I didn't care much about the timer as in my mind 10 minutes would be plenty to try a few times.

Regarding the controls, it probably helped that I did pay close attention to what the pre-flight checks wanted me to do in addition to being in the habit of checking out what the controls do in the settings before setting off.


Upon reading my previous post again I realise I came across as rather hostile. That was not my intention and I hope you didn't take any offense by it.

 

[GG7]

There you go, OP, welcome to the Forum, because ask any question and you will always get conflicting advice

As much as anything, it depends on your setup and what you are most comfortable with .... some prefer mouse and keyboard, some joystick, some X-box .... etc. , but you may not be doing what is best for you. At least give Dale's advice a run first, in case your settings are making it harder than necessary for you.

It is fair to say that docking is the single steepest learning curve that you will ever encounter in this game. Once you conquer that, everything else looks easy !

Hopefully the OP can tell the difference between someone pointing them towards a feature Frontier put into the game that will aide and address precisely the issues the OP pointed out in his original post vs someone trying to shove their well known Anti-DC agenda down their throat whether it actually helps the OP or not.

I'm basically done having this stupid debate with you. As I said, I will trust in the OP and other new players to sort out who is actually trying to help them, and who is just using this thread as another opportunity to push an agenda that is beyond tone deaf to the immediate issues new players are facing.

 

[Nerwan]

Others have done a great job of pointing at vids which show you the basics of landing but let me reassure you, after a little while landing becomes so second nature you don't even think about it.. and you can do it within seconds. That minimum landing time seems like a joke once you can leave hyper space, boost through the mailslot (naughty!) and land within 15 seconds.. You'll find yourself giving yourself extra challenges like doing it entirely with flight assist off etc ;-) Personally I'm really glad it's in the game. It's like a therapeutic little ritual you do at the end of each mission. Sometimes it's even quite exiting.. being chased to the landing pad by PVPers is a fun experience ;-)

 

[Inaksa]

Whatever you do ..... don't use the Docking Computer .... you will never make the effort to learn how to handle the ship properly in landing, and how will you take over when it goes wrong ? (They do !)

As Devantejah said, if you learn docking (at the different type of stations) then you could buy a docking computer. Docking becomes really dull (like the jump-horn-scoop process when doing a trip).

 

[DaveB]

I'm not going to get into the whole "docking computer vs manual" argument, in the original '84 game I darn sure DID use a docking computer! In ED I never have. However, even in the original game - vastly less experieced at flight-based games and with a much cruder stick to work with - I could do it.

First off, OP, if you don't fly with the mouse as a control, explicitly turn on the mouse widget in your control options. That gives your HUD a "center dot" showing where your forward axis is pointing. This is often not where you think it is. It's particularly important when you're trying to match roll with something like the docking slot without your heading going all over the place - it gives you an explicit visualization of the center of your roll.

Next, I'm going to say something that you may find contradictory. The two easiest ways to fail at getting in the slot and onto the pad are to either be too tentative or too heavy-handed on the controls. Each will mess you up as bad as the other. If you're tentative, you're going to end up eaten by the toast rack, clipping yourself on the sides of the docking pad, potentially blown up by the station for loitering of pad-blocking etc... Then you'll go the other way in a frantic attempt to escape, using too heavy control inputs and overcorrecting everything. Then you won;t need the station to blow you up, you'll hit the sides of everything, including the docking bay, and handle the explosion all on your own - possibly even ending up on the spikes at the far end of the bay! If it feels like you're "taking it easy" but at the same time your control inputs are positive, confident and precise, you're probably doing it right.

 

[Red Anders]

Good god, enough with the docking computer nonsense. That's how you DON'T learn how to land, literally.

Actually (don't shout at me or I will scream GRIEFER) a docking computer can be helpful just because it lets you sit there in the ship watching exactly how to do it. OK it will be a long time before OP is at this point but it's also a great way to grasp things like 'when you're flying an Anaconda through the mailslot, you are never too high'

I certainly don't advise it as a replacement for learning to dock though, especially not on a Sidewinder since you're using up pretty much the one spare slot you have to equip something actually useful. In some ways, one of the cruelest things the game does is give players a ship as nimble as a Sidey to start off with because they are twitchy as hell when you're not used to the controls; my first ever docking attempt didn't quite see me bouncing around the inside of the station but it wasn't far off.

Full disclosure - I use a docking computer on my T9. Not because I can't land it manually (it's easier than an Anaconda for a start) but just because when you're running short-haul trade runs the last thing you want to do is manually dock a T9 15 times in an hour.