[REQUEST] How to get out of SC in line with Docking bay

[ralfidude]

I have a VIper with limited jump conditions, but I was thinking about this proposition for anyone to help out the community big time by spending a bit of their time crating screenshots to allow people to align themselves with the front door of the stations when they get out of SuperCruise.


A LOT of people complain that when they exit SuperCruise at a docking station, they are randomly spawned in. However I have observed that it is actually not true (I think) as I have placed the planet on one side of my cockpit, exited super cruise and noted that the relative position where I was in SC was the same when I exited SC at the docking station.



These stations orbit around the planets but only spin in one axis. Therefore the door entrance should be the same relative to the planets at all times right, or am I wrong?



If I'm right, it got me thinking. Would anybody be willing to post screen shots of where the stations doorway is relative to the planets they orbit, in order to be able to line ourselves up to exit supercruise so that the door is always in front of us, thus we wouldn't have to circle around to find it?


(This assuming my theory is correct)

I would do it myself but I have a VIper and I can't go very far with it... Anybody interested?

 

[Zvanya]

It has been my experience that if I maneuver to exit SC between the planet and station I'm almost always at least in the correct hemisphere of the station, with the access corridor visible.

 

[Skizomeuh]

I won't be against some visual indicator of station's axis while in supercruise

 

[-o-]

I always thought thats what the "ALIGNMENT" indicator on the SC Target HUD was for, but I could never get it to shift from the far right. Couldn't figure out what else that was for .. nothing in the manual

 

[ralfidude]

I will try to post some screen shots here of my first few stations if I have the time. But I'm currently swamped with several simulation projects like the DCS MIG-21 promo so I can't promise anything for sure anytime soon. Another reason why I was asking the community for help on this. I think it will be hugely beneficial.

 

[Ian Phillips]

These stations orbit around the planets but only spin in one axis. Therefore the door entrance should be the same relative to the planets at all times right, or am I wrong?

<snip>

(This assuming my theory is correct)

Unfortunately the theory is not correct. One of the devs has posted about how the stations move in their orbits, and the result is that sometimes the entrance is on the planetary side, sometimes not.

 

[ralfidude]

Unfortunately the theory is not correct. One of the devs has posted about how the stations move in their orbits, and the result is that sometimes the entrance is on the planetary side, sometimes not.

Fudge... OK, thanks for that.

Mods, you can lock this away.

 

[Jack Schitt]

It has been my experience that if I maneuver to exit SC between the planet and station I'm almost always at least in the correct hemisphere of the station, with the access corridor visible.

This absolutely appears to be the case in the current build. And it used to be the exact opposite; approaching the station with the planet directly behind it always used to give the best docking vector. So I think there's a little more going on here than the orbit models. Something was switched between the previous build and the current, as though FD are testing which works best. Imagine

Personally I'd like to see a return to the classic Elite configuration where the port faces the planet (R-bar approach) but the new flight model and the fact that we now have to fly inside the target makes V-bar approach along the orbital track more sensible. Of course ED doesn't model true orbital mechanics like, say, Orbiter or Kerbal so it really doesn't make much difference other than for aesthetics, and for finding a consistent alignment when exiting FSD.