Horizons Better settlements approach mechanics in Elite Dangerous

[Pville_Piper]

I like to come in low (< 20m from the ground) and fast (PIP to ENG/Boost), then as I approach I request docking (thanks VoiceAttack), reattach my eyeballs that have fallen out of their sockets because of no "request docking" hotkey (thanks Frontier) and then I do a single flight around the settlement to get my bearings and show off for the ladies in the buildings with a little wing dip that may or may not cause me to crash, burn and die. Assuming successful flaunt of my ship vents, I bank hard, thrust to the left/right annnnd... over-shoot by a substantial margin which results in me spending inordinate amounts of time realigning and thrusting my ship into position with a hard bang on the landing pad.

Great approach tactics... I recommend them highly! [hotas]

I love to do an overhead approach, rolling in as I come in over the pad. It's a blast to do in a Lakon cockpit, right up until I forget to check the gravity and drop like a rock!

 

[Rugbyfan1972]

The next problem are when we need to align our ship to the pad, helicopter or airplane style landing approach do not matter, you still need to rotate you ship in the right direction so that you can lock on to the magnetic docking collars.

I suggest that we get some lights in the front of the pad that turn on when you get assigned.

I don't see what the problem with lining you ship up is, just remember the number on the landing pad has to be at the further edge of the landing pad as you come in and you are pretty much aligned (apart from the fine adjustment to get centralised on the pad).

 

[Pville_Piper]

I don't see what the problem with lining you ship up is, just remember the number on the landing pad has to be at the further edge of the landing pad as you come in and you are pretty much aligned (apart from the fine adjustment to get centralised on the pad).

It is not always clear from a distance which end you are looking at, particularly with outposts. Most of the time with planetary landing it's not that difficult to tell which direction you need to land. What I dislike is that almost every time you request docking at least 1 other pad lights up at the same time and you are not in position to see the numbers.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

It is not always clear from a distance which end you are looking at, particularly with outposts. Most of the time with planetary landing it's not that difficult to tell which direction you need to land. What I dislike is that almost every time you request docking at least 1 other pad lights up at the same time and you are not in position to see the numbers.

Perhaps changing color of the lading pad to green and adding path marker like the one we use for scooping when you get closer to landing pad be a better option.

 

[nats]

I usually spiral down to a landing myself.

I would love to see more landing lights to tell you where to approach. Or some HUD instrumentation like they had on the space shuttle to determine your landing spiral. Or both.

At the moment the only thing to tell you you are coming in correctly is that the illuminated pad number is always at the back of the pad. But thats not ideal especially from further out. I love flight sims so would love to get more involvement in the landings.

Although what I would really like to see is some gravity to counteract - hopefully that will come with the larger planets later. I dont like the way the ships can hover indefinitely with no assistance. The older games made landings more of a challenge.

But yeah - approach lighting, and talk down instructions would be superb. At the moment you get some instructions - like "you are 500 metres out" but there are pretty useless on the whole.

 

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Great suggestions by the OP
+1

 

[Muss]

One of the few things I actually hate in this game is not having a keybind to do the docking call... Really breaks my mersion dude!

This right here

 

[Turranius]

I dont like the way the ships can hover indefinitely with no assistance. The older games made landings more of a challenge.

Thats your flight assist doing the hovering. Turn flight assist off and you'll drop fast, depending on gravity.