Instant docking feature being unfair?

[ArkanoiD]

It allows you to dock safely even if condition near the station is far from being safe.. Is it a good idea? And If there is a huge queue you are forced to dock manually otherwise.. i like it more.

[Flying_Circus]

I see its use as being optional. It's a major plus for those whose tendencies lead even a little towards "twitch" gaming, however.

It's like the energy bomb, in some ways: just don't fit them or use them, if you consider them unethical. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it: it takes very little to not use a feature. It's not like we're competing with each other - hell, if we were, someone could just hack their save file and award themselves 10,000 kills

[BobSongs]

I hear you. You've got a point.

In terms of "escaping" a threat... it's a bit of a cheat. Just a bit. But you're cheating yourself, as the saying goes. It's best to kick the butts of pirates who are making a mess of the area just outside the space station you're frequenting. You clear the threats and you get credits for doing so... and probably a nice slice of choice metal for good measure.

But it's useful during money runs: "computer-needy" Planet X sells cheap wines then sold to Planet Y for cheap computers. When you've got a good 15 or so runs it's nice to just "jump in" to the space station to sell your goods. And most of the action happens just in the space lanes. In a way, this is part of what you're paying for: time reduction.

But I hear what you're saying. And Flying_Circus has it right: it's not like we're competing with each other. Although, that does bring something to mind: a networked version. Hmmm.

[Lanx]

I find it quite practical for docking your ship when yourself are in a hurry and have to go and you are only waiting for the docking to safe your game. Then skipping the docking procedure is a relief. But normally I prefer to dock myself or to use the computers.

[Ponder]

Thinking about this, would it be possible to disable instant docking if under attack (condition red)?

[Commander Gralen]

Nice idea ponder...

Nice name too... Terry Prattchet?

[Ponder]

Yup, had this alias for a good many years, possibly over a decade

[the alberts]

Thinking about this, would it be possible to disable instant docking if under attack (condition red)?

Yes I agree with this too. I'm guilty of continuously using the instant docking - but as a laziness/time saver option rather than to avoid a fight, so I'd have no problems with this being implemented.

However, manual docking should always be available no matter what. If you can successfully manually dock while a bunch of vipers or pirates (or both!) shoot at you, you deserve to be able to dock!

[Selezen]

The autodocking thingy is a part of the original game, and as such should be left in as is.

err...that's it, really. I feel I should say more but can't think of anything...

[winston]

Insta-dock was the only option on the Spectrum version. On the BBC Micro disk version, there was no insta-dock - you either docked manually or waited for the docking computer to dock you. I don't remember what the (CGA, not Elite Plus) PC version did.

[Star Gazer]

Maybe need to ask Giles if it could have a possible local incident disable function in 'free gameplay' mode, that didn't happen in 'strict gameplay'...?

[stevesims]

The Electron version also had only instant docking.

Since I was an Electron user I always found the full autopilot docking sequence to be very tedious when I came to play other versions. In fact when playing versions of Elite that don't have the auto-docking I tend to dock manually, since I can do that much quicker than the docking computer.

In Oolite I use the instant docking all the time - I know that I can dock manually, since I've done it hundreds of times, so there's no challenge. For me Oolite would be much less fun if I had to wait through docking all the time.

[Ponder]

I ground my teeth on the C64 version which had no instant docking, I think that only appeared with the 16 bit versions (though I could be wrong). I never used the Docking Computers on the C64 because (a) it took too long and (b) it had a nasty habit of trying to dock with the back of the Station!

Another thing to remember about the original is the pirates normally ran away once the S appeared. This no longer happens, and rightly so.

I'd still like to see just the Instant Docking disabled under Condition Red otherwise it's just a cop-out

And while I'm thinking about it, what about a time adjustment when it is used?

[Rubinstein]

In general I agree with Arkanoid and Ponder, but even would like to go a little further and take a small
fee for instant docking: 0.1% (rounded) of your current Cr, starting when you have a minimum of 5000 Cr
(=5 Cr, before you wouldn't have to pay anything). What do you think? It's like taxes: the rich pilots have to
pay for their comfort (and it's getting painful for the really rich ones!)

I'm quite aware that not everyone would like it, I guess the community is somewhat splitted on this.
So how about kinda "adult"(*) setting: a choice between this and the old behavior you only have when
creating a new commander (like the current choice for strict gameplay).

(*)If it sounds silly in the context of Oolite... that's how options and settings are called in Angband
which only can be made once: on new character generation and not during a running game.

[TGHC]

The autodocking thingy is a part of the original game, and as such should be left in as is.

Quite right, without witchdrive injectors to escape it was sometimes a do or die situation when being beaten to a pulp to get within distance of the station to autodock, now it is far easier to survive, but in similar circumstances it would still be usefull if you are out of fuel.
Plus you have the ability to quickly flit between trading pairs to build up some cash when you need to, so my vote is to keep it as is.