I'm still learning the limitations of the flight model, so I tend to hit things every once in a while.

After losing couple ships to this habbit, I had an idea: auto-docking.

Basically, if you command "auto" dock in a sector with a station, it will automatically fly your ship "sub-turbo" towards the nearest dock and toggle the docking procedure (put you in the station menu etc).

This would be convenient, especially if I need to be AFK for a bit but don't have time to wait for myself to get to the station and dock. All I do is jump to the system, hit auto-dock and go do what I need to do. It will automatically get me there and dock me without problems (unless some player decides to destroy you, but nothing can be done about that).

Anyways, just another idea =P

Actually, a damned good idea. I've been way, way out somewhere and had to answer the phone or door or something. It'd be nice to just let it fly me in if there's a dock nearby (say, within 3000m)

This was suggested a long time ago. It was cancelled at the 3.4.0 release, but then again, the version suggested was rather more complex. It could work. Or you could just get *name removed* to give you the code for the autopilot he wrote...

I don't think the auto pilots work since the removal of
/displays hippos.

It would be a nice feature, I don't think it would take away much since as stated above you could still be blasted if you tried to do it with hostiles near by.

Just use your brake. I just started and I've never lost a ship docking. Honestly, it's the easiest space-docking I've ever seen in a game.

I've had a long and bitter history with various forms of auto-docking, mostly with what happened in Terminus, where docking/launching had a good chance of getting you killed.

A -good- autodock algorithm would need to be really complex, to the point that it would functionally be a bot all to itself, else you get problems with colliding with people, colliding with the station when velocity is odd, and other annoying things..

It might be nice to have as an option later down the road, but the effort into doing this right and having it make sense might be too much right now.

Don't forget, however, that "anti-collision" code is already written, IE the bots.

The bots seem pretty sophisticated; able to follow paths without hitting anything (afterall those station guards seem to always be at full health and there are a lot of obstacles out there). The coding itself would not be difficult since all you would need to do is apply the existing bot algorythm to the player's ship.

Simply tell the bot algorythm that the next waypoint is the docking bay, and it will find it through it's own little AI.

i would vote yes for the auto docking.... maybe not as far as (dock) as soon as u enter a sector, but at least dock when ur within 3000 meters of a station. and regarding ion storms on another thread... yeah, please mark those sectors with red or something... i am curious tho... how come ion storms always have bots in them? strange. lol....

just my 2 cents... (yanshi)

Actually, IIRC the bots dock themselves when they're damaged, or at least they're capable of it. I may be wrong, though.

mmm..... i don't know.....

comeing from 'auto dock' eve online, i say its very refreshing to actually dock my ship manually

The bot anti-collision code sucks. The bots frequently run into ships in their flight path. More than once I've been rammed by a bot.

I'm not the only one that's experienced that; apparently sometimes station guards get -really- testy and start shooting.

You're kidding? Docking is easy.

If you're having trouble in arcade mode, use your strafe keys to line yourself up.

It's even easier in physics mode ... just put yourself on a course that crosses the docking port, rotate your facing to follow it, and when you're lined up hit the brakes to stop, thrust forward and you're home.

actually docking is fairly simple, compared to lining up on the rotating bay in the old "elite" games, this is a cakewalk.

for those of you having trouble, your best bet is to not fly directly at the dock, attemtp to come to a stop about 50 to 100 meters away from the mouth of it and then slowly (dont go faster than 15m/s) line yourself up and coast in until you have a better feel for the controls, then you'll be zipping in at full turbo from odd angles.

Funny Korban, I've always found that Arcade was easier to use for docking. Physics mode has too much drift for my taste. This is just me though.

Good Idea Orion... I don't find it hard to dock...but sometimes it hard to find the dock itself

I'm a noob and I fly full speed and then turn sideways sliding into the doc just fine.

What would be nice would be an auto undock or auto dock to get you past that 3k distance thing. Maybe Stations could launch you out into a clear path at say 1000 speed? Its so boring having to doc and undock. I spend more time getting to the station than actualy fighting ( at lower levels )

I think that the docking should be a lot HARDER than it is now.

Perhaps have space stations that are shaped like giant hexagonoids, with only a tiny slit to enter the docking bay with, and if you hit the side you instantly blow up!

Loads more fun! ;)

You can simulate that experience with a vulture and a tiny bit of lag! Boost toward the dock creaming the enter key... it's like playing chicken with your network connection. If you're laggy, chances are you'll bounce around the dock and wingbug - if not, you dock successfully and survive!