Instant docking feature being unfair?

[Rubinstein]

I hope you don't confuse autodocking with instant docking.
Nothing against autodocking, the latter is cheesy and stinks.
Also, when we talk about "original", the C-64 version was surely
one of the more popular versions close to the original. And it had
no instant docking.

[pirx]

I hope you don't confuse autodocking with instant docking.
Nothing against autodocking, the latter is cheesy and stinks.

Don't quite agree.
When you play for a long time (let's say after around 3000 kills) the instant docking feature can save you a lot of boredom.
I docked under lots of circumstances manually and at some point the thrill of it is definetly gone.
With the same argument (that it is too easy) one could scrap the fuel injectors, because they speed long journeys up.

I'm all for keeping the option of instant docking (and its only an option after all, you don't have to use it...)

The good thing about Oolite is that you can play it in so many different ways. If you want to avoid the temptation of instant docking completely, simply shoot a few galcops or crack a behemoth and live as a fugitive happily ever after!

[Rubinstein]

Agreed in one point: docking has become way too harmless and thus became boring. But skipping it entirely
can't be the solution. A good game has to be challenging, but if the player needs to shoot in his own knees
to make it a challenge, then there's something wrong with the game. Oolite as it is now is more a game for
(carefully expressed) space tourists.