Wost thing about playing in open!

[DjVortex]

It's that if you do find a station with other pilots, someone landing manually has piled NPCs up in the mail slots.

I remember someone giving a rather different technical explanation for the NPC pileup at the entrance (can't remember what it was, though). Which explanation is right?

One situation where playing in open, even if gankers didn't exist, would be nice but is impractical is when there's a huge cargo transport CG where the destination has a relatively small number of landing pads, such as a rescue megaship. At peak hours you'll be waiting for a free landing pad for quite a long time.

And no matter how frequently you spam the request docking button, someone is bound to get there first, even if you have been waiting for longer. I really think they should implement a waiting queue so that docking permission is granted in order of the requests. In other words, rather than just denying the request, you get put into a queue (which you can obviously cancel if you want), and you'll eventually get the permission when it's your turn and a landing pad frees up.

There could even be some kind of counter visible somewhere that says something like "you are 5th in the queue", which counts down as commanders get their turn.

 

[Robert Maynard]

In other words, rather than just denying the request, you get put into a queue (which you can obviously cancel if you want), and you'll eventually get the permission when it's your turn and a landing pad frees up.

There could even be some kind of counter visible somewhere that says something like "you are 5th in the queue", which counts down as commanders get their turn.

Given that each CMDR has ten minutes to dock, that form of queuing could leave the player waiting for a considerable time within 7,500m of the station.

 

[Morbad]

If I was the developer for that portion, I would prioritize human over npcs. In that if an npc is on the way to landing (say at an outpost) and a human player asks for clearance, the npc aborts its landing and lets the human go.

Similarly in larger stations, they don't generally fill up, but if there is a human around, have the npcs hang back and go in one at a time. If the human is "in the air" then they all just hold until the human is out the door.

Probably easier to describe than to program.

NPCs already leave stations to make room for CMDRs if there are no other pads available and they will form up outside and wait during periods of heavy congestion.

The level of deference is already on the silly side and no doubt increases delays/reduces effective throughput.

And lets not forget the legacy that the original backers of ED were funding a solo game.

The multiplayer aspects of the game were played up in the very first Kickstarter announcement and implied as being integral to the game in the original FAQ. Mutlplayer was available as early as Alpha Phase 2. An offline mode was expected thoughout the duration of the Kickstarter, but was canceled well before launch and refunds were often available for those who didn't want a multiplayer game.

No doubt some significant portion of the original backers were looking for a single-player successor to prior Elite games, but whatever portion that was, it certainly wasn't all of them.

It does cause definite problems with throughput - at the absolute best of one full-cargo T-9 or Cutter each way [1], you can probably get two of them in and out each minute with ultra-disciplined traffic control. That's only 2 million tonnes of cargo a day (and no room for smaller traffic) - which sounds a lot, but a popular trade CG would deliver 10 million tonnes or more.

I don't think the bottleneck is at the entrance at all and maximum throughput should be much higher than this with anything resembling disciplined traffic control, given the number of pads available and the minimum duration required to get in, transfer cargo, and get back out.

Given that each CMDR has ten minutes to dock, that form of queuing could leave the player waiting for a considerable time within 7,500m of the station.

Queue timers should be dynamic. Ten minutes, or even longer, is fine in times of low traffic, but when a station is congested the rational thing would be to reduce time allotted to speed up the pace of traffic. One minute would be generous during peak periods.

 

[Brrokk]

It's a dumb station design, but I suppose it's all meant to look like the original Elite.

 

[DjVortex]

Given that each CMDR has ten minutes to dock, that form of queuing could leave the player waiting for a considerable time within 7,500m of the station.

I did think of objections to my idea when I was writing my post, but I couldn't think of any kind of abuse that cannot be done already as it is (such as, for example, requesting docking and then just waiting and doing nothing in order to block other players from getting that pad. That can already be done now, so it would not change for the worse. In fact, it would change for the better because now any such vandalism would need to wait its turn rather than getting in front of everybody else by spamming the request frequently enough.)

 

[mtfatboy3006]

It's a dumb station design, but I suppose it's all meant to look like the original Elite.

From an aesthetic perspective, I rather like the design, and remember when entering the station's atmosphere was an enchanting experience. I don't object to the mail slot, but to the buggy AI behavior.

It seems like all AI flight (Auto dock/takeoff, supercruise assist, NPC flight behavior) should be as flawless as Apex taxi flight, shouldn't it? Obviously, the game can handle the calculations for flight. It handles ours. It handles taxis... I doubt it's unrelated that if I'm in the first row or two of pads (closest to the mail slot), the flight assist will ram my Cutter into the wall. But the NPC pileups do only seem to happen when players are pushing through without queueing. (As an American, I have never had to spell that word before. So many vowels...)

 

[Valorin]

Queue timers should be dynamic. Ten minutes, or even longer, is fine in times of low traffic, but when a station is congested the rational thing would be to reduce time allotted to speed up the pace of traffic. One minute would be generous during peak periods.

Keep in mind that some people are using docking computers. They'll never make it in a minute...

 

[mtfatboy3006]

Keep in mind that some people are using docking computers. They'll never make it in a minute...

Any trader not using a docking computer isn't trading hard enough . Water and bathroom breaks shouldn't happen when you're sitting idle at a station, because you should never sit idle at a station. Time is money. Hydrate. Take a breather. Scan some shields. But keep the ship moving! Another run before you stop playing is far more valuable than the tiny amount of freight per run you can fit by removing your docking computer...

Plus, when you land manually, you eventually jam some NPCs up in the mail slot, and then you're losing time when you nick one taking back off and have to go find an interstellar factor and pay your fine before you keep trading.

Besides, it turns out Blue Danube actually never gets old.

 

[robbyp]

Fly manually, keep under 100, and you dont have any problems, do you?

 

[mtfatboy3006]

Fly manually, keep under 100, and you dont have any problems, do you?

Hypothetically, if a person kept it under 100 ... maybe? Who actually lands manually under 100?

But there's still the problem of needing to hydrate and occasionally take bathroom breaks IRL. Auto docking for the win! (plus Auto dock doesn't observe port speed limits on approach, so it's faster than legal manual landing).

 

[Weps]

InB4 someone finds out it's actually another one of those instance authority orphaned NPCs frame of reference type things...

 

[Brrokk]

Hypothetically, if a person kept it under 100 ... maybe? Who actually lands manually under 100?

But there's still the problem of needing to hydrate and occasionally take bathroom breaks IRL. Auto docking for the win! (plus Auto dock doesn't observe port speed limits on approach, so it's faster than legal manual landing).

A Cutter doesn't dock manually. You have to use docking computer so you can sip Lavian Brandy and light up a Kamitra Cigar.

 

[Don Euclid]

A Cutter doesn't dock manually. You have to use docking computer so you can sip Lavian Brandy and light up a Kamitra Cigar.

Heh, it's an Imperial ship. Nobody's docking, they just send out several hundred slaves to daisy-chain it through the mailslot. If you ever wondered about the occasional splotches of red paint just below "BASK IN HER GLORY"...

 

[Morbad]

Keep in mind that some people are using docking computers. They'll never make it in a minute...

Unless they are significantly improved, one shouldn't expect docking computers to be usable everywhere.

Likewise, if a pilot lacks the piloting skills to keep up with traffic, it's reasonable for them to be excluded, by force if necessary, from high-traffic areas.

 

[Northpin]

It's a dumb station design, but I suppose it's all meant to look like the original Elite.

Not dumb
Just designed for low traffic conditions, usually found in Solo or small PG, conditions that are not found in open where cmdrs like to converge on certain systems.
The game was never designed for massive player build-up in open (like one would expect to encounter in open-only scenarios)

 

[aRJay]

Any trader not using a docking computer isn't trading hard enough . Water and bathroom breaks shouldn't happen when you're sitting idle at a station, because you should never sit idle at a station. Time is money. Hydrate. Take a breather. Scan some shields. But keep the ship moving! Another run before you stop playing is far more valuable than the tiny amount of freight per run you can fit by removing your docking computer...

Plus, when you land manually, you eventually jam some NPCs up in the mail slot, and then you're losing time when you nick one taking back off and have to go find an interstellar factor and pay your fine before you keep trading.

Besides, it turns out Blue Danube actually never gets old.

While true it is slightly annoying to here such a short snippet, it would be nice if the DC had a slow option.

Fly manually, keep under 100, and you dont have any problems, do you?

Hypothetically, if a person kept it under 100 ... maybe? Who actually lands manually under 100?

Me most of the time.

But there's still the problem of needing to hydrate and occasionally take bathroom breaks IRL. Auto docking for the win! (plus Auto dock doesn't observe port speed limits on approach, so it's faster than legal manual landing).

Sports bottles and certain products from companies with names that anagramise as Anet can help.
Also autodock doesn’t necessarily take long enough for you to avoid pad sitting.

 

[mtfatboy3006]

InB4 someone finds out it's actually another one of those instance authority orphaned NPCs frame of reference type things...

I've heard this before. I obviously don't buy it. It doesn't happen in other environments. But even if I'm wrong about why it happens, the salient facts remain: it happens, it happens exclusively in multiplayer, it cosistently and pervasively happens, it should be fixed, and it won't be.

 

[Dragsham]

Hahaha priceless!
Baited a beamaconda lurker into chasing me out past the 10km marker..at about 14km on boost my little vipers shields on their last legs, chaff gone, my wingmates who, well we was actually winged up & were in the same pmf, ambushed him, a corvette and a Lance! I flipped my bait frag minnow round and joined the fray! Conda died! Was a hoot!
Now that's open gameplay. Scratch one alliance!
Up the empire!

 

[mtfatboy3006]

Hahaha priceless!
Baited a beamaconda lurker into chasing me out past the 10km marker..at about 14km on boost my little vipers shields on their last legs, chaff gone, my wingmates who, well we wasn't actually winged up were just in the same pmf, ambushed him, a corvette and a Lance! I flipped my bait frag minnow round and joined the fray! Conda died! Was a hoot!
Now that's open gameplay. Scratch one alliance!
Up the empire!

Lol, so many things I wouldn't do.....
camp stations for pvp...
rely on beams for pvp...
fly an anaconda for pvp...
pvp...
so silly .

 

[Dragsham]

Nah fair comment he was trying to stop us farming rares.. I've had a few run ins with em in the leesti system. And l got fragged yesterday so it's swings n rbts