Hi Guys,
I have an Aviation Industry background and I am also familiar with the Maritime Industry.
One thing I find lacking in the game is there are no Docking Navigation Aids.
What I mean by this is that there is no easy way to navigate from a distance to where I need to dock,
eg a light beacon at say 5 km from the station opening that I can navigate to and then I am lined up with the airlock opening.
This would make sense as there are Maritime bouys that mark the entrance to shipping channels, but more importantly in Aviation
there are what is known as a Localiser, which is a beacon that aircraft fly towards that will line them up on the Instrument Landing System
at the Airport. From a computer programming point of view it would just need to be a flashing point in space at an appropriate place. To be
in line with what exists in reality at Airports then a line of strobes leading to the Airlock from the Beacon would just look Cool!
Also if the Player's ship was fitted with a Docking Computer, this would be the Docking Sequence Entry Point.
For rotating Space Stations, the above is more a cosmetic thing, but for Outposts I am finding the need for this essential.
I have so far had no real problems locating my landing pad on Outposts except when the Pad is located on the opposite side of the station
to where I am. This can cause all sorts of problems because you literally have to fly around the station at close range until you find your Pad
and I think this is unrealistic. The Elite version of "Commercial Aviation" would have demanded some kind of docking system to locate an
assigned pad from a distance, since it is safer to maneuver at a distance from the station than close up.
Using the Navigation Aid theory presented above, the easiest solution is to again put a series of strobes from the centre of the pad either
straight up, or directly out from the pad (or both) to a distance that if I can see the end of the strobes I can safely maneuver to my Pad. Again it
would be a simple programming fix to just add a line of flashing points. In terms of identifying Pads when there are multiple docking requests,
just put the Pad number at the end of the strobes. I would also have the identifying number Red on the Pad side and Green on the space side
to assist the Pilot to approach from the correct direction. BTW - leave the flashing Docking Volume, it is very Cool.
Couple of last things about Outposts:
Why do I land over the station infrastructure when I approach the station from space? This is the equivalent of putting Passenger Terminals
at the ends of Runways - not very safe if there is a crash! Please turn the Pads around so that all the approaches are from space. Those Blast
Shields exist for a reason - to protect the Station, why deliberately bring traffic in that way.
Also,
Why does the Outpost take my ship inside the station to turn around? It looks pretty, but it isn't what you would expect from this type of Station
and would in reality be very impractical and a waste of station resources. I think it would be better to just release the Docking Clamps and let the
Ship depart and cut that bit of code out.
Thanks for listening and I hope my suggestion makes sense.
Cheers
Drewpan
I have an Aviation Industry background and I am also familiar with the Maritime Industry.
One thing I find lacking in the game is there are no Docking Navigation Aids.
What I mean by this is that there is no easy way to navigate from a distance to where I need to dock,
eg a light beacon at say 5 km from the station opening that I can navigate to and then I am lined up with the airlock opening.
This would make sense as there are Maritime bouys that mark the entrance to shipping channels, but more importantly in Aviation
there are what is known as a Localiser, which is a beacon that aircraft fly towards that will line them up on the Instrument Landing System
at the Airport. From a computer programming point of view it would just need to be a flashing point in space at an appropriate place. To be
in line with what exists in reality at Airports then a line of strobes leading to the Airlock from the Beacon would just look Cool!
Also if the Player's ship was fitted with a Docking Computer, this would be the Docking Sequence Entry Point.
For rotating Space Stations, the above is more a cosmetic thing, but for Outposts I am finding the need for this essential.
I have so far had no real problems locating my landing pad on Outposts except when the Pad is located on the opposite side of the station
to where I am. This can cause all sorts of problems because you literally have to fly around the station at close range until you find your Pad
and I think this is unrealistic. The Elite version of "Commercial Aviation" would have demanded some kind of docking system to locate an
assigned pad from a distance, since it is safer to maneuver at a distance from the station than close up.
Using the Navigation Aid theory presented above, the easiest solution is to again put a series of strobes from the centre of the pad either
straight up, or directly out from the pad (or both) to a distance that if I can see the end of the strobes I can safely maneuver to my Pad. Again it
would be a simple programming fix to just add a line of flashing points. In terms of identifying Pads when there are multiple docking requests,
just put the Pad number at the end of the strobes. I would also have the identifying number Red on the Pad side and Green on the space side
to assist the Pilot to approach from the correct direction. BTW - leave the flashing Docking Volume, it is very Cool.
Couple of last things about Outposts:
Why do I land over the station infrastructure when I approach the station from space? This is the equivalent of putting Passenger Terminals
at the ends of Runways - not very safe if there is a crash! Please turn the Pads around so that all the approaches are from space. Those Blast
Shields exist for a reason - to protect the Station, why deliberately bring traffic in that way.
Also,
Why does the Outpost take my ship inside the station to turn around? It looks pretty, but it isn't what you would expect from this type of Station
and would in reality be very impractical and a waste of station resources. I think it would be better to just release the Docking Clamps and let the
Ship depart and cut that bit of code out.
Thanks for listening and I hope my suggestion makes sense.
Cheers
Drewpan