Some docking bay questions

[Red Kite]

Haven't been able to find anything about these points so far:

1. Is it really necessary to rotate to match the docking slot? I have gone through at right angles on several occasions, usually because of an urgent need to avoid an oncoming ship, and I haven't so much as scraped the paint. Admittedly I've only flown the Sidewinder and Hauler so far. Presumably larger ships would be more likely to suffer?

2. What's the point of the hangar? (I usually take my ship down just to mute the annoying station PA!) I asked myself this and then thought of a couple of possibilities. If the more popular stations start getting congested it would be feasible to have four hangars per pad, at right angles to the lift. This may even lead to pay-and-display parking charges and tickets on the windscreen! More worrying: has anyone had their ship trashed on the pad by another vessel? It only takes a newbie or an NPC to lose control inside the station and hit the boost button at the wrong moment! If that is possible perhaps the victim should get a free replacement and the other ship's insurance should go up, just the same as causing a crash in your car. It's certainly a very good reason to stash your ship out of sight!

 

[Celeste]

More worrying: has anyone had their ship trashed on the pad by another vessel? It only takes a newbie or an NPC to lose control inside the station and hit the boost button at the wrong moment!

I haven't seen this, but I have seen ship collisions inside the station so it is possible someone could fly right into you. I usually park in the hangar bay to avoid that type of thing.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

to the first question the answer is 'it depends on the ship' try going through the port in an L9 on your side and its *kaboom* time

i think you answered your own second question so i'l leave that one.

 

[Unknown Terror]

I recall in Elite 2/FFE it was possible to shoot a ship on the planet while it was docked/landed. It would subsequently take off to fight you and the Police would shortly follow but the same thing could be adopted inside the stations in ED although I am certain it would lead to much misery. It would at least make use of the hangar part though, you'd be safe then.

 

[harag]

I recall in Elite 2/FFE it was possible to shoot a ship on the planet while it was docked/landed. It would subsequently take off to fight you and the Police would shortly follow but the same thing could be adopted inside the stations in ED although I am certain it would lead to much misery. It would at least make use of the hangar part though, you'd be safe then.

in the latest newsletter (36 I think) it showed some stations out on the outposts where these were basically pads in space you landed on, and limited to a number... if someone wants a pad they might encourage you to leave early. If you plan on stopping a few minutes, then go to the hanger, if not then risk stopping on the pad.

 

[Weps]

There is also the issue of outfitting the ship. When you outfit the ship, it get's outfitted instantly, because of gameplay considerations (imagine waiting a day or so to have it repainted for example). However an outside observer watching another player do this would just see paintjobs being applied out of thin air which would break immersion.

This is why outfitting is done inside the hangar, and since the devs already programmed it, why not allow the player to enter and exit it at any time.

 

[Red Kite]

in the latest newsletter (36 I think) it showed some stations out on the outposts where these were basically pads in space you landed on, and limited to a number... if someone wants a pad they might encourage you to leave early. If you plan on stopping a few minutes, then go to the hanger, if not then risk stopping on the pad.

The newsletter implied that the outposts would leave your ship sitting outside, no hangar space, so you would be quite vulnerable.

 

[Commander Corvus]

Haven't had my ship destroyed but while I was in the hanger in the outfitting screen I did have an eagle slide through my hanger.......no damage done....but it did make me chuckle....

 

[metatheurgist]

1 - Not for the small ships. You can clearly see how small Sidewinders are compared to the slot. Which always made me wonder about all those "It's so hard to dock in my Sidewinder!" threads.

2 - Sitting on a pad in a busy station means you're stopping someone from doing business. If 100 ships wanted to dock and 45 are sitting on pads twiddling their knobs, those people are just pointlessly holding up traffic. At least that's how I see it.

 

[Tempered]

In later updates to the game, the hangar space may also be used to access any additional ships you own. I think this is pretty far into the future, however.

 

[Krow]

I've never been damaged sitting on a pad.
However, I'd bet good creds it is possible.

I think the current main purpose of the hanger is to rotate your ship to face the Letterbox.
Also Outfitting animations are all set below.

If I'm Haulin Goods and in a hurry, I touch down and dust-off without entering the base. But I know what you mean about the noise.
The noise bug in the L6 is a killer, but you can go into Galaxy map to fix it.

You'll fine tune your landing skills once you get a bigger ship.
Hopefully without too much heart ache.

 

[Big Chap]

I've had a ship kinda collide with me while i'm on the pad. No damage done to me but i'm not sure that was the point. It was a human CMDR so i'm not sure if they were glitching out or trolling me by preventing me from lifting off without a crash. I've got a screen grab somewhere....

 

[Rookie Ray]

Haven't been able to find anything about these points so far:

1. Is it really necessary to rotate to match the docking slot? I have gone through at right angles on several occasions, usually because of an urgent need to avoid an oncoming ship, and I haven't so much as scraped the paint. Admittedly I've only flown the Sidewinder and Hauler so far. Presumably larger ships would be more likely to suffer?

2. What's the point of the hangar?...!

1: In larger ships yes, the sidewinder and hauler are very small but FD still haven't given any specifics to my knowledge.

2: Right now, nothing but maybe a year from now when we can walk around in our ships we will be able to leave the craft and walk around the stations.


Maybe.

 

[Veljex]

FD have discussed a few ideas for the hangar for example, you will be able to leave your ship in one port and jump into another ship. Also when you are buying weapons you need to be in the hangar to make any changes to the ship its self. Also as Rookie says, you will eventually be able to leave your ship at some point which I imagine will only be do-able if your ship is in the hangar.

Regarding damage while docked. If you watch other ships closely, once a ship hits the perfect landing position you can see them do the automated docking process however once they touch down, the ship disappears. You are still on the dock from your point of view but you are covered from damage. I'm not sure what the plan is for this in the future however I know that the outposts will mean you can be shot while on the platform so.. Don't take my word for it!