OK. I know this is ... "retentive," but...

[BobSongs]

Now and then I enter a system, fight my way toward the station and as soon as that big green S appears, I hit "C" for the animated version of the docking sequence. What can I say? My kids like the music. Any chance they get they want to hear it.

It's always worried me how the station's "computer" guides my ship in. I mean: talk about twists and turns to get my ship inside the station. *shudder*. And sometimes my ship is flipped away from the station just as I'm about to enter.

Today my dread came true. I watched as my ship exploded upon entering the station. Good thing I paid for a docking computer.

Now, I realize most people choose instant docking. And this is probably "anal retentive" and all. But would it be possible to clean up the non-instant docking process a bit? Other ships just get lined up real easily and spin their way in. Mine seems to go through any number of turns and spins, none of which make much sense if I were a real space traveller.

This is probably a feature that hasn't seen much tweaking since the game was first coded. It's obviously not of high importance. But a streamlined docking sequence with few adjustments to the flight path would be "expected". And "blowing up" would not be a possible option.

Thanks!

[Eric Walch]

Now, I realize most people choose instant docking. And this is probably "anal retentive" and all. But would it be possible to clean up the non-instant docking process a bit? Other ships just get lined up real easily and spin their way in. Mine seems to go through any number of turns and spins, none of which make much sense if I were a real space traveller.

When you press C you are put into exactly the same dockingAI as other NPC ships. You'll notice this when you change the dockingAI itself.

When other ships dock smoother it is only because of the ships characteristics. (thrust, roll etc). But I agree that docking sequences could take in account even more ships characteristics.

The same is valid for frame rate (FPS). When a ship is turning itself towards its goal, it does that with its defined turn and roll speed. With low frame rates it does that in large steps. After each step the system checks if it is already within certain limits. With low frame rates it often overshoots its target because of the large movement steps and you see the ships keeping waggling and the amount of ships waiting to dock piling up. Only once in a while they hit target and move on one step in the docking process.
I noticed than giving those ships a lower turn rate in shipdata solves this and let them dock smoothly, even with low frame rates.

[BobSongs]

Now, I realize most people choose instant docking. And this is probably "anal retentive" and all. But would it be possible to clean up the non-instant docking process a bit? Other ships just get lined up real easily and spin their way in. Mine seems to go through any number of turns and spins, none of which make much sense if I were a real space traveller.

When you press C you are put into exactly the same dockingAI as other NPC ships. You'll notice this when you change the dockingAI itself.

When other ships dock smoother it is only because of the ships characteristics. (thrust, roll etc). But I agree that docking sequences could take in account even more ships characteristics.

The same is valid for frame rate (FPS). When a ship is turning itself towards its goal, it does that with its defined turn and roll speed. With low frame rates it does that in large steps. After each step the system checks if it is already within certain limits. With low frame rates it often overshoots its target because of the large movement steps and you see the ships keeping waggling and the amount of ships waiting to dock piling up. Only once in a while they hit target and move on one step in the docking process.
I noticed than giving those ships a lower turn rate in shipdata solves this and let them dock smoothly, even with low frame rates.

Uhm. Does this mean my ship won't be ripped into scrap metal as it's hauled into a Coriolis station while I'm in the ship's mess preparing Mac-n-cheese, Alton Brown style?

Seriously: I'm running the game on a MacBook Pro with a Core Duo processor in 64-bit. My frame rate, when I've bothered to check, is generally around 50 FPS.

Currently the docking sequence is a matter of being driven all over the place with very jerky turns and spins. I'm not speaking of frame rate when I say "jerky". This is what a "C" sequence is like:

Up, down, spin, up, spin, slow down, turn away from the station, move away from it, speed up, slow down, spin toward it, turn with the station, break from turning, adjust, spin with station, break, spin, advance, break pattern, fly away from the station, re-adjust, up, down, up, spin, stop spinning, speed up, crash!!!

I wouldn't expect this of a costly flight-control computer. Sometimes I wonder why I bought that thing. When I line up with and almost touch the nav bouy I can spin my ship toward the station's port and fly into the station at top speed -- full throttle -- with just a bit of spin. Heh. I actually feel safer at top speed than slower.