Navigation Lights

Six6VI

Six6VI
Why do our ships not have navigation lights as in, port (left) wing tip red and starboard (right) wing tip green, and flashing, like real aircraft.

Ok, I get that you can tell which way another ship is facing from the hologram but that only works if you have it selected.

Why bother? Well, even though the NPCs seem to be able to leave stations and the docking computers can get back in a mailslot the correct way up, the vast majority of players I've seen on Frontier streams, youtube, twitch etc seem to mess it up.

Maybe flashy ship lights would help them fly green to green and red to red?
 

YinYin

YinYin
Help ...?

I fly through the mail slot vertical, there is no messing it up.

Also when I break someones target lock, I don't want colourful lights to still give my heading away.
 

Six6VI

Six6VI
Robert Maynard said:
There is no "up".... ;)
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There is if you're correctly orientated in the horizontal going through the mailslot.
Port (red) on your left, starboard (green) on your right, on the starboard side of the slot.
Entering a station pad 01 should be directly below you, hence there is an "up"...

*relative to the docking bay*

Naturally in a high traffic confined space, like the docking bay, this could prevent collisions ;)
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Robert Maynard
Six6VI said:
There is if you're correctly orientated in the horizontal going through the mailslot.
Port (red) on your left, starboard (green) on your right, on the starboard side of the slot.
Entering a station pad 01 should be directly below you, hence there is an "up"...

*relative to the docking bay*

Naturally in a high traffic confined space, like the docking bay, this could prevent collisions ;)
Click to expand...

There's no need to apply gravitationally required constraints to a zero-g environment.

The docking bays are around the internal circumference of the dock - so only one line shares the same "up" as the mail-slot - the majority don't.

That said, I do enter the mail-slot on the side with the green lights - with a blatant disregard for green / green. ;)
 

Six6VI

Six6VI
It was more a suggestion for helping those who don't watch and copy the NPC's, or the docking computer.

And maybe they only turn on while the docking timer is displayed on your HUD, when they might be helpful.

And I think it's mostly Ed messing this up that annoys me most, cos the intern really should know better, lol :p
 

MBaldelli

MBaldelli
Robert Maynard said:
There's no need to apply gravitationally required constraints to a zero-g environment.

The docking bays are around the internal circumference of the dock - so only one line shares the same "up" as the mail-slot - the majority don't.

That said, I do enter the mail-slot on the side with the green lights - with a blatant disregard for green / green. ;)
Click to expand...

It's top/bottom, but there's no need to explain it to them because while we're simming in a zero-g environment, we are still living in an environment that has an up and down.

As for the OP.... I could work with running lights, if it came with an on/off switch because you don't want that sort of things giving away your position in a firefight. Although I wouldn't be a fan of another keybinding. This game has enough of them thanks.
 

YinYin

YinYin
Six6VI said:
It was more a suggestion for helping those who don't watch and copy the NPC's, or the docking computer.

And maybe they only turn on while the docking timer is displayed on your HUD, when they might be helpful.
Click to expand...

Just during docking would be fine I guess, but how would it help the pilot if they aren't copying other ship behaviours where those lights are visible?
And how would it keep pilots from flying in "correct" orientation straight through the middle?

Also I quoted flight control. One of the voice lines tells you to follow the greens.
 

Six6VI

Six6VI
YinYin said:
Just during docking would be fine I guess, but how would it help the pilot if they aren't copying other ship behaviours where those lights are visible?
And how would it keep pilots from flying in "correct" orientation straight through the middle?
Click to expand...

Some of the bigger ships eg Cutter and T-9, maybe even the Clipper take up more than half the slot so...

YinYin said:
Also I quoted flight control. One of the voice lines tells you to follow the greens.
Click to expand...

Agreed, so I didn't see the need to object / comment.

(Edit: They could turn off when in FA-OFF or silent running modes maybe]
 
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YinYin

YinYin
Actually the Cutter sits right on half the mail slot width. Only T9 and Beluga wingspan currently use more than half the width. So unless you do some smart angling those are the only ones that really don't fit through at the same time.
 

777Driver

777Driver
Fenris Wolf said:
Unless you're colourblind...
Click to expand...

FD cater for colourblind cmdrs. Etiquette for Cmdrs is to keep green lights to the right, NPC's always follow that rule, UP is always relative to the station and approach lights.

Colourblind users will notice one set of lights always flash on and off, green solid lights are starboard, red lights (flashing) are port.

Back on topic, yes, running lights and strobes would be a great addition, doubt we'll see it added anytime soon, has been requested since Alpha.
 

Six6VI

Six6VI
Quote: "On each wingtip you’ll see a red or green light. Red is always on the left wing tip, green on the right. Why? Because ship captains back in the 1800’s thought it was a good idea. The lights reduced nautical collisions so well, that they are now used on all aircraft and even spacecraft. Each wing tip also has a white light facing the rear. Some airplanes have a white, rear-facing position light on the tail. Position lights are always on, day and night. When pilots see another aircraft’s white position lights, we know it’s flying away from us. When we see a red and green light in the sky, we know another aircraft is heading towards us. The lights help us determine aircraft position and direction – thus the name “position lights.”

Source: https://aerosavvy.com/airplane-lights/

Also see next section:
Flashy, Blinky, Anti-collision Lights

[Edit: This could be handy in other high traffic areas, like a CZ, for avoiding maniac NPCs in big ships :p]
 
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