always crash at the ss when trying to dock (mac) .65 and .69

[jonaath]

hi,
i'm new here and tried the game, but i always crash when i try to dock, can't use the 'c' key but i guess thats because i first have to buy something, when i try to dock at the space station i always crash against it, i can't dock...

i tried the 65 and the 69

i have a new macbook, european keybord

any help welcome ! really want to play it

[Cmdr. Maegil]

Welcome to our humble forum!

Sit down, have a glass of brown, or do you rather want some bug juice? Just keek clear of the crixit, they're soggy.
It's always nice to see new faces, hopefully you'll stay around for a while... You know, the turnover rate is quite high.

What turnover? Maybe I should outright say 'death rate' but I didn't wanted to scare you. It's just that the infinite dark yonder is a dangerous place, full of unfriendly people - some of which are even regular patrons here - and a spacer has to be able to fend for himself.

Yes, of course there are cops, but they're never around when you need them, my idealistic boy. And most traders will just run away at the first sign of trouble, only to fall prey of the very same pirates they could have killed while there was someone else to help - but didn't. Add to that the thargoids, legal 'misunderstandings', personal feuds, etc, and you'll find out why there are so few 'ELITE' - most spacers die young or retire as soon as they find they have enough money to live in comfort for the rest of their lifes.

Oh, yesss... then there are, of course, the accidents...
First of all, drinking and darts don't mix, whatever else the barkeep says. It's not that they kill each others with them, the trouble comes when armed drunkards disagree about the score - and it happens more often than you'd imagine...

Not an accident? That's what you say, but the cops will report it as one anyway after you go down the body shute - see that grid beside the counter? Never mind.
Next, drinking and flying don't mix either, and I think that this fits better into your concept of accident. Which brings us full circle back to your original question. Many rookies and even some veterans end up as vacuum-dried fertilizer on the stations' sides for drinking and/or failing to score a bullseye... Remember that you only have to miss once!

I've copied the following from other threads:

Well I am having some trouble docking at the corolis station (well actually the first one I see when I start playing, keep pressing shift + D, nothing happening, I guess I will have to go through the tutorial.

Annnnh... did you, by any chance, bought a docking computer?
Yes, to have one you need money, which means you have to dock manually until you can afford it - but when you do, you'll be proeficient enough not to need it in the first place Isn't life just like that too?

Docking in Oolite is simpler than in the other versions as it's got buoys. When approaching the station, aim for the buoy. On your scanner align the station and the buoy golf clubs so that some part of them superimposes.
When you are close to the buoy (scraping paint off them is harmful to your health) just pitch towards the dock and you'll be already aligned.

In due time you'll be trying to dock Pythons (and why not Anacondas too?) from ackward angles, at full injector burn and while being fired upon, but that's another story.

I've worked out why my docking was (and sometimes still is) so bad. It's actually counter-intuitive in that docking at slow speeds is really dangerous. If I go in at a dead crawl, all the correcting measures seem to send me off in the strangest of angles rather than where I want them to. Matching the speed of rotation is bloody hard with keys, hammering away with small taps hoping it matches. Nope, always goes wrong.

But if I just perch a bit outside, get myself lined up, then lean on the accelerator and rush the docking port before it can all go wrong ... yeah, that works. Bit scary, but it will do until I can afford docking computers on my new ship.

[TGHC]

hi,
i'm new here and tried the game, but i always crash when i try to dock, can't use the 'c' key but i guess thats because i first have to buy something, when i try to dock at the space station i always crash against it, i can't dock...

Hi and welcome Jonaath

to dock without crashing takes a little practice at first, but once you have worked out the technique it's easy, and as Maegil said, you have to manually dock whilst trading and earning credits to be able to afford a docking computer.

Anyway theres a good first flight tutorail here which the latter part shows you how to dock easily. The most important bit of advice is to head for the navigation beacon and once you have reached it you will find that you are aligned perfectly to fly straight into the station docking port. The other helpful bit is as previously said, when you get close enough to the port and have it horizontal in you view, hit the accelerator or even injectors and you will zip in without a problem.

just persevere with it, you'll find it very rewarding, and don't forget to hit the save button, if you have improved your credits.

[jonaath]

but i just do that,
i noticed the beacon the first time i played and always go for it, tried slow and fast speed, i even stopped before the station at zero metres and it crashes... i think i can fly a bit, i'll try again a thousand times...
thanks !

[Commander McLane]

Hi, jonaath, and welcome to the boards!

Sorry for your problem. I'm not sure I've understood yet, so please clarify one thing: Do you mean that you crash into the station (so your pilot is dead)? Or do you mean the game crashes when you dock (so you return to your desktop)?

In the second case you should send the crashreport that is automatically generated when a program crashes to [email protected]. (And have a look here for what informations may be helpful to send together with your report.)

In the first case: Do you rotate with the same speed as the station, when you approach the docking bay? Without rotating (rolling) you can't dock.

[jonaath]

hii,

well i crash not the program, but the ship when trying to dock,
well, i just tried over hour to dock, and i couldnt never dock always crashed the ship, only when i acceidently ran into a rock hermit somewhere i could dock there ???!!

what do you mean with rotating at the same rate ?

i gonna try again... but i always go down to the gate straight in line, not to much speed etc...

[jonaath]

OKAAAAY !!!


it's the roll thing, i docked !! (now in version 6.2, have to try 6.9 again !! )

sorry for the shit

sorrrry

[Cmdr. Maegil]

Most stations rotate around their axis, right? So, when you're going in you have to keep the retangular slit as horizontal as you can. If you try to get in while the slit is vertical, it's 'hasta la bye-bye'! The limit is somewhere around... maybe 30°?

Besides, there isn't much of a problem with the Cobra MkIII as it's much smaller than the slit, but with larger ships it becomes a tricky business to avoid scraping the sides - especially when the cabin is set very high in relation to the ship's nose.

EDIT: Congratulations! Now, follow the Golden Rule - Always Save!

Did it? Good, have a brown to stop the shakes...

[jonaath]

i guess i didnt thought about it becuz 13 years ago i always played privateer when i was a kid, the docking went a lot easier, i just thought go in and doock, it didnt even occure to me i had to roate with the station

[Captain Hesperus]

i guess i didnt thought about it becuz 13 years ago i always played privateer when i was a kid, the docking went a lot easier, i just thought go in and doock, it didnt even occure to me i had to roate with the station

As you get better, you'll find that you will be able to a) dock at full speed (and Injectors) or b) time it right to dock without rotating or c) both.

That's when you know you wasted the money you spent on the Docking Computer.....

Captain Hesperus

[Cmdr Wyvern]

You can really use a docking computer.

However, that particular piece of kit will set you back 1500cr, and by the time you rake together that sort of cash, you would've mastered manual docking and the DC would just be a more-or-less needless luxury. (But it tends to malfunction often...And it's usually one of the first things to go offline when you start taking serious battle damage.)

You could visit the Black Monks and obtain some monetary assist, but dealing with those fellows is a riskier business than manual docking.

Your spare cash is best spent improving your ship's defences.

[TGHC]

It's interesting that a lot of people dock manually, perhaps it's because the are always offending or have fugitve status, personally I always shift-D when I can, only because it saves time. I do enjoy scooping at speed though that's much more fun!

[Cmdr Wyvern]

It's interesting that a lot of people dock manually, perhaps it's because the are always offending or have fugitve status...

Manual docking is a show of a pilot's skill. It's saying you fly the ship, it doesn't fly you.

I mostly manage to keep my nose clean. Those moving violations were a momentary laspe in concentration, I paid the fines and got that sorted.

It's not like some of us are selling trumbles on the side, or anything.
And if a Python wanders off the lanes and catches a Nuke, and no-one was around to see it...

errmm...Yes. I'll be over there.

[Cmdr. Maegil]

And if a Python wanders off the lanes and catches a Nuke, and no-one was around to see it...
errmm...Yes. I'll be over there.

So that's why some of the containers I bought at Onzaenve set off the radiation leak alarms!

[Captain Hesperus]

It's not like some of us are selling trumbles on the side, or anything.

I have a highly developed skill at docking a Python tail first using the 'Hand-Brake Turn'....

Captain Hesperus