Thoughts On Starbases

[Commander Jake Skyrunner]

Hello,

is it just me or do others really hate being assigned the docking bays right under the entrance of the star port (any star port).

I am not saying this because I cannot land there, I just find these the most difficult bays due to :

1: You cannot see the bay on entry to the star port
2: When leaving the bay you run the risk of hitting anyone else who is exiting the star port as they do not expect a ship to appear in front of them directly in front of the exit.
3: For the same reason as point 2, ships that are currently coming though the entrance, do not expect to see a ship pop up in front of them at point blank range.

I really wish there was a 'Request different Port' communication option with star port traffic control. At least then there is the chance of a landing bay further inside the station.

Also while I am here... please PLEASE PLEASE can people enter and exit the star ports on the correct side. If you look at the entrance and the exit, there is a GREEN side and a RED side. You fly in on the GREEN side, you fly out on the GREEN side. This is so ships can come in and out at the same time and not expect to see a ship ballistically heading towards them on the wrong side of the entrance / exit port of the station.

.....ok... nag over.... as you were..

 

[Adam Lusardi]

Red Green bit of a problem at the moment with the cow catcher forcing you towards the centre.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Use Nav Compass (small circle top right corner in radar part of cockpit) to orientate yourself to your docking pad.

 

[Commander Jake Skyrunner]

I have only had the chance to pilot three ships so far, the SideWinder, The Hauler, and currently the Cobra Mk III, but with each of these I have had no issue getting on the green side of any entrance.

I can understand if the catcher you speak of is for the Anaconda and larger ships as that would make sence assisting you though the entrance for such a large ship. but for the smaller ships I have seen people come out the wrong side, come out backwards, come out doing barrel rolls and yesterday, a person in a hauler using left thrust and coming out side ways.......

Thanks Pecisk, I will try that next time. I thought that was only for star system alignment.

Would be funny if there was a texture on the back of ships that say "How am I piloting? Call 555-####-####"....

heh!

 

[Hellhawk666]

Dealing with pads close to the entrance is all part of the parcel, but yeah, people not even trying to observe the green/red "laneway" lights is a pain.

 

[ElGuappo]

Agree with the OP. Just another example of the poor design of ED space stations. Hopefully the powers that be are aware of the limitations, flaws and problems and will be addressing them in future releases.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Agree with the OP. Just another example of the poor design of ED space stations. Hopefully the powers that be are aware of the limitations, flaws and problems and will be addressing them in future releases.

Poor design? A poor design would be to waste valuable docking pad space. Granted, I dislike those pads for the same reason as the opening post, but I consider those pads as the equivalent of parking at the back of a parking lot.

 

[Turjan]

I have a kinda "middle of the road" attitude towards realism in games - obviously the more 'real' feeling a game is, the more immersive it is, and that's a good thing.

But seeing as getting away from reality is one of the main reasons we play games, sometimes it's better to cut bits of realism out.

With that said, I regard the 'docking bay at the entrance' thing as a good piece of realism to have ingame. For me it has a similar feel to driving to a crowded supermarket car park and realising your best shot at a parking space is...that one right there, just at the entrance - quick before you've gone passed it!

I see it as an everyday thing, a bit of colour that adds to rather than breaks immersion

 

[natte hond]

with routine comes experience.
nowadays I find the first landing pads adding some more challenge to the game.
parking in a big city is very alike this situation.

tip for you.
if you don't know where you going , just hang still out of the way of the entrance.
and have a good look around to position right.
and if you feel you cant see whats approaching.
you have always the possibility to back up first.

 

[Commander Jake Skyrunner]

ha ha !

Back of the parking lot... I like it... Please don't get me wrong, I can land on these pads with as much ease as any other pad, the reason I just don't like them is because I cant see them on the way in, and the other reason is getting in other peoples way on the way out...

Casing point (which is why I created this post ) I was parked up the back in one station, and was sitting there just watching other people, and a Sidewinder took off from a front entrance pad, went straight up vertical to entrance level, scared the crap out of an hauler who was coming in to the station though the entrance, the hauler took avoiding action, scraping the side of the entrance, the Sidewinder attempted to get out the way by continuing it's assent above the entrance but collided with the station roof and exploded. The hauler managed to dock but had sparks coming off it all over the place...

I guess when it comes to docking, think of star wars and be mindful of your surroundings... hah

 

[prasak]

The docking must be organized as the landing pads are limited. Any parking lot by the supermarket also has some spaces which are poor designed and its very hard to park your car there.

 

[kilvenny]

Personally I like the variety of the pad positions.

A lot of theses issues would be solved by reading the radar and making sure pilots were on a flight path.

Personally I would extend the toaster outward from the station and into the station so that pilots are in the "door" for longer. I would also add a warning light above the toaster. Red flashing - pilot in toaster, amber - Pilot approaching toaster to give you a visible clue that a collision is possible.

Extending inward would mean for the pads close to the door you would fly in and have to circle around which would add to the complexity.

 

[Commander Jake Skyrunner]

I like the traffic light sensor idea...... would be useful

 

[lysan]

Nothing agains the location of the landing pads, maybe what we need is a better docking UI.

A HUD displaying "highway in the sky" and maybe a quick display on you HUD where the landing pad is located. Then you would know before you enter the station.

 

[ElGuappo]

Poor design? A poor design would be to waste valuable docking pad space. Granted, I dislike those pads for the same reason as the opening post, but I consider those pads as the equivalent of parking at the back of a parking lot.

Entrance/exit being the same thing is a flawed design due to ship size. Get a pair of Lakon 9s passing each other and it's paint scraping time. That's without the centering pull at the entrance.

Traffic control granting permission to leave to one pilot as it grants permission to leave to another is a broken design. You may just as well let people come and go as they please. At least that way you'd expect a free-for-all and deal with it accordingly.

Bays just inside the station then point you towards an exit that is above your head. You rise up and just hope there's no-one doing a fast exit because who knows who else is joining the 'permission to leave granted' collide-a-thon.

Tradition dictated the devs start with the classic, iconic Coriolis design. They could have punched a hole through the other side and had a flowing, much friendlier, much easier and more logical one-way system. They could have had two letterboxes, one atop the other, for in and out maybe.

Instead they took a design that SHOULD work (the interior) and matched it with a design that stuffs it up (the entrance). You can make up all the in-game reasons you like for the choice but as an old knight once said, 'they chose... poorly'.

 

[Commander Jake Skyrunner]

collide-a-thon hahahaha!!! like it..

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Entrance/exit being the same thing is a flawed design due to ship size. Get a pair of Lakon 9s passing each other and it's paint scraping time. That's without the centering pull at the entrance.

Traffic control granting permission to leave to one pilot as it grants permission to leave to another is a broken design. You may just as well let people come and go as they please. At least that way you'd expect a free-for-all and deal with it accordingly.

Bays just inside the station then point you towards an exit that is above your head. You rise up and just hope there's no-one doing a fast exit because who knows who else is joining the 'permission to leave granted' collide-a-thon.

Tradition dictated the devs start with the classic, iconic Coriolis design. They could have punched a hole through the other side and had a flowing, much friendlier, much easier and more logical one-way system. They could have had two letterboxes, one atop the other, for in and out maybe.

Instead they took a design that SHOULD work (the interior) and matched it with a design that stuffs it up (the entrance). You can make up all the in-game reasons you like for the choice but as an old knight once said, 'they chose... poorly'.

No, it's not bad design. In fact DDF predicted that you will have waiting time till other ship docks before assigned docking pad. It's clearly not enabled yet.

So instead of everyone rushing at exit/entry, they will just have to wait outside, as it was supposed to be by design.

 

[Iskariot]

Just as in real life there are parking spaces people do not like. It is part of the game world as far as I am concerned. There is nothing to fix here. These kinds of likes and dislikes are part of the immersion I feel. If these things get smoothed out the game would become tasteless.
The same is true of the Coriolis' single docking entrance. I like the danger and inconvenience of it. It should not be changed. This apparently is how these stations were build in the days. You can only accept it.

 

[Commander Jake Skyrunner]

There is no right or wrong answer here, I was just sharing my thoughts. Everyone has a different view, and at no point have I said change it. Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond

 

[timbow]

One thing that would make pads more interesting would be to have more than one ship hangared per pad, up to 4 maybe. It's going to be intersting with congestion in the core systems when the game proper gets going.