Newcomer / Intro I just cannot land in stations.

[Anopheles]

I thought getting through the slot would be hard, but that's relatively easy.

I just cannot land in the circle. Even when I get the ship on the circle it just scratches along. Four tries four deaths, two wasted bounties, 2 lots of wasted black market goods.

I thought i was clever because i smuggled stuff in twice, but I can't even land.

Infuriating.

Edit: i'll take throttle off increments, that's probably it.

 

[wolfski]

You seem to need to be facing the right direction on approach... the sloped metal plate designates the approach vector.

Make sure you deploy landing gear with your L button...
Then approach slide in slow, use the parking radar to line up on the centre circle, modifying location with your R/F up and down thrusters, Q/E strafe left right thrusters and A/D z axis rotate ....
Approach when close at <10.. closer to 5 when almost on the centre dot... the base will automatically tag you and land you when in the right place....

easy innit !

 

[Mobius]

have you tried lowering your landing gear?

 

[Aran Thule]

I have four buttons for speed: increase, decrease, 50%, 0%
Set full power to systems(shields) and the rest on speed
When preparing to land I put down landing gear first, this slows the ship drastically
Approach landing pad at half speed then stop when you get the landing screen
Rotate ship until it is facing forward on landing screen
use q and e to move left and right until your on the central line
slowly increase speed (forward or back) until you are in the middle of landing area, it will go blue
use thrusters F to go down slowly until you land

For take off upon being released use thrusters R to rise up to the level of letterbox
set speed to 50% and leave station
Stow landing gear and set speed to max and head out of mass lock

Hope that helps

 

[purecain]

the problem is the landing screen doesn't always start working. I just lost my whole game again because I ran out of petrol. guttered....

 

[TheNameIsJambo]

You need a few things to land:
1) Permission to dock.
2) Landing gear deployed.
3) Your ship to be facing the right way.

You'll discover all of this with due diligence!

 

[InfiniteGremlins]

Reasons I've failed to dock:

The landing gear wasn't down. Symptom: your ship bounces off the pad or scrapes against it. It can take a sec for the gear to deploy after you push the button, so deploy it early.

I was facing the wrong way: the control tower and holographic number is at the front of the pad, and the ship hologram on the radar should be facing away from you.

I forgot to ask for docking permission: a countdown starts for trespassing, and then the station starts shooting.

It was the wrong pad: a red countdown warning is displayed.

Using lateral thrusters makes docking a lot easier; just hover above the pad (with your landing gear deployed!) and lower the ship gently.

 

[Muthax]

The first 3-4 times I tried I went through similar experiences, but after fiddling with the controls now I can 'crash' land very quickly
And yeah that's when I remapped the thrusters to my hat switch

edit:lol T. negging this comment was priceless, thanks!

 

[DocMoriarty]

It would also be helpful if the landing pad bugs would get fixed, such as the pads not working or you need to turn around to actually be able to land when there was another ship docked before or the landing pad animation not showing for your pad ...

 

[Diwrnach]

Like anything, it's a learning curve. I bet in a week's time you'll be handbrake turning into your landing bay and wondering what all the fuss was about. Good luck CMDR.

 

[MaccGyver]

There is a docking tutorial available which will allow you to practice as much as you want with absolutely zero risk of losing anything.

It may seem odd to have to practice something so basic to the gameplay; it's not really something any major game title in recent memory has required. But once you've got it down, it feels great to lock in successfully on the first try after a long, dangerous haul or bounty hunting session or mining run or explora- blah blah blah. I'd argue it wouldn't feel quite as great if it hadn't taken some practice and learning to get there.

 

[DaveB]

Assuming you are doing everything right, ending up in the right place on the right pad with your gear down, there are a few known bugs with the landing pads right now. They are very intermittent and seem to occur most often at very busy stations. FD are working on them, they were WAY worse in early beta.

Things that I've personally experienced...

Landing pad didn't reset it's orientation after the last ship left so you'll have to land backwards. You can tell this by the fact that your ship image is facing you on the landing guide display. Turn around 180 and you'll be fine. Just remember to reverse your lateral thruster and throttle inputs when making corrections looking at the guide display.

Pad highlight disappears, sometimes accompanied by a visible "jerk" of the pad, like it started to descend and then changed its mind. This one's dodgy. Approach the pad anyway but it's possible the station has "forgotten" that you are assigned that pad. It remembers you have clearance to be in the bay, so you wont get shot for trespassing (yet) but when you get close the landing guide display does not appear and you might get a loitering warning. If the landing guide appears, try and land. If you don't get the landing guide, the station starts acting like it's not your pad or you have the crosshairs perfectly blue on the guide with your gear touching the pad and it doesn't capture you you're out of luck. Clear the pad, exit the station so you don't get shot for trespassing, cancel your docking request and submit a new one.