Someone has to say it: The docking slot is stupid

[DanTheMan]

OP need to learn where the edges of his ship are. ;-)

I've been thru in my Cutter with a T9 coming the other way.

Both boats are W-I-D-E but there is plenty of room.

 

[Psychomorph]

The slot design could serve the purpose of control. Control in the sense that only ships of certain size can fit through, for which docking platforms are available and to control traffic, so only few ships can pass through, while others are getting scanned so that the flight controllers can manage things easier. Smugglers and enemy assailants also would have too much of an advantage with a large slot.

And as someone mentioned, a narrow slot also allows for gates to be shut quickly, in case of emergency.


One thing I would wish is an actual traffic regulation, with lights and order. So if docking access is granted, you're instructed to "park" near the slot and stand by for further instructions and if you're given a go you can go through. One side of the slot is for entry (green light above) and other side is for exit (red light) and if a large ship has to pass, both sides glow up in red or green, so the large ship has the entire slot available for passing.

 

[Iskariot]

The slot thing is neat looking, very 2001, but really there should just be a large circular opening. No engineer would design an entry port like that, especially for ships that often barely fit.

A useless discussion, just like "Why are there no teleporters in Elite?", or "Why are there no tractorbeams in Elite?", or "why are laser beams visible?".
Just like any other scifi ED has it's own design aspects, technology fluff etc.

The shield technology used in the ED universe is unable to close off circular openings of that size.
The shield would collapse when it becomes larger than 3.3875 meters...

or

Shield emitters can only project rectangular fields...

...or... insert any fluffy technical reason you wish .

 

[AJStoner]

OP need to learn where the edges of his ship are. ;-)

I've been thru in my Cutter with a T9 coming the other way.

Both boats are W-I-D-E but there is plenty of room.

And, of course, someone has to drop by to tell us how awsome they are. Good for you, Dan; good for you.

 

[Lily from anim.o.v.e]

The slot thing is neat looking, very 2001, but really there should just be a large circular opening. No engineer would design an entry port like that, especially for ships that often barely fit.

yes ED enginers are all drunken trolls, thats why. Either the slot area would not rotate or be circular. But what we have is a strange legacy form the Elite past beyond feasability.

Not all ships are designed with the cockpit centered right in the middle. You need to learn where you are sitting in relation to the rest of the ship, and fly it accordingly. In one ship, you might fly down the center of the slot; in another, you might need to almost bump your head on the slot.

And eveyones car with a parking assist now has pity with the upcoming future.

The future, one small step for mankind, one giant leap for alzheimer.

 

[Magic Man]

2) If you really want a rational discussion about the slot, you first have to figure out why the docking pads are on the INSIDE!!!

The surface are on the outside of a sphere is much larger than the inner surface (I'll let the math wizards deal with the details).

If the docking bays were on the outer surface there would be a much more efficient use of the interior spaces for functional services and storage.

Except that would be a bad design decision for lots of reasons. The "mail slot" provides a single breach in the hull/environment. Multiple docking bays effectively breaching the hull would be fraught with issues and potential dangers. Far safer to use a single, managed opening and then everything happens within.

You also have the issue of repairs/cargo transfer that can happen on the landing pad now being in the harsh environment of space - bad - or forcing every ship to enter the hangar to carry out the tasks - inefficient.

Outpost are far smaller, less populated so the design compromise makes more sense there.

 

[EDbubba]

The slot thing is neat looking, very 2001, but really there should just be a large circular opening. No engineer would design an entry port like that, especially for ships that often barely fit.

Easy reason: Lore, no technical reason whatsoever...

It was done that way in previous versions of Elite, and there's now way they would redesign it for ED. A lot of what you see in ED comes from programs that were sold before many of the current players were born!

 

[Lily from anim.o.v.e]

Except that would be a bad design decision for lots of reasons. The "mail slot" provides a single breach in the hull/environment. Multiple docking bays effectively breaching the hull would be fraught with issues and potential dangers. Far safer to use a single, managed opening and then everything happens within.

You also have the issue of repairs/cargo transfer that can happen on the landing pad now being in the harsh environment of space - bad - or forcing every ship to enter the hangar to carry out the tasks - inefficient.

Outpost are far smaller, less populated so the design compromise makes more sense there.

It's generally nonsense in the ENTIRE design.

Sinc ento everyone wants to enter a hangar there would neithe ron outposts nor on stations be a need to build LOADS of hangars, ontop with EAC having a turnable platform.

Actually the true future would have cargo terminals as much as modern Airports have for passanger exchange. And a smaller subset would only consist of smaller amount of landing platforms leading into hangars, Wich at this point ontop would more likely even be like modern automated car parks already do.

[video=youtube;hKUgHLsAkZA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKUgHLsAkZA[/video]

this would both be a lot more efficient.