Oolite Bulletins

<smugMode>Perhaps the question could be recast: "Do you have a Docking Computer installed"?</smugMode>
Then again, I don't pilot a big ship . . .

I hate docking after a long battle. I love my docking computer. But I can dock if I have to.

I prefer to dock manually, but sometimes I'll use the "insta-dock" if there is any urgent need when arriving at the station to upload or download coffee.

I manage. (Hmm, that could do with a HD remake.)

Wow, you are GOOD at that!

I don't need a docking computer, I can dock without it. I only use it when I am a hurry.

Guess what? I thought auto-dock was disabled in Oolite 1.75.2, but today when I decided to edit the keyboard controls (d for dump cargo was too close to s for me), I found out that only the key was changed! I changed it back to D.

I use the docking computer because the Fast Docking saves a lot of time and palaver after fighting my way as far as the station aegis.

When the occasion does arise, I still can dock manually without too much difficulty.

RyanHoots wrote:

Guess what? I thought auto-dock was disabled in Oolite 1.75.2, but today when I decided to edit the keyboard controls (d for dump cargo was too close to s for me), I found out that only the key was changed! :oops: I changed it back to D.

It’s all there in the manual. :-)

Ahruman wrote:

RyanHoots wrote:

Guess what? I thought auto-dock was disabled in Oolite 1.75.2, but today when I decided to edit the keyboard controls (d for dump cargo was too close to s for me), I found out that only the key was changed! I changed it back to D.

It’s all there in the manual.

It's a well established fact of life that people don't read manuals. I can't help thinking that if one of these days I were to swap the contents of the entire ReadMe file with [wp]lorem ipsum[/wp] noone would notice.

another_commander wrote:

Ahruman wrote:

RyanHoots wrote:

Guess what? I thought auto-dock was disabled in Oolite 1.75.2, but today when I decided to edit the keyboard controls (d for dump cargo was too close to s for me), I found out that only the key was changed! I changed it back to D.

It’s all there in the manual.

It's a well established fact of life that people don't read manuals. I can't help thinking that if one of these days I were to swap the contents of the entire ReadMe file with [wp]lorem ipsum[/wp] noone would notice.

Both my MSc dissertation and a couple of NATO reports I wrote contain the line: "If you're reading this congratulations, give me a call and I'll buy you a pint." (Complete with my mobile number) - nobody has ever called.

In my final couple of years with MOD having been ticked off for having an incomplete Glossary of Terms/Acronym list once - I then added "TARDIS - Time and Relative Dimensions In Space" to said Glossary for every subsequent report - nobody ever noticed.

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Both my MSc dissertation and a couple of NATO reports I wrote contain the line: "If you're reading this congratulations, give me a call and I'll buy you a pint." (Complete with my mobile number) - nobody has ever called.

Ooooh. Details please, I fancy a free pint.

Gimi wrote:

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Both my MSc dissertation and a couple of NATO reports I wrote contain the line: "If you're reading this congratulations, give me a call and I'll buy you a pint." (Complete with my mobile number) - nobody has ever called.

Ooooh. Details please, I fancy a free pint.

As an ex-Shrivenham Student you should be able to find my MSc dissertation in the Cranfield Library, I'm not going to tell you any more than that - you'll have to work for your beer.

The NATO ones you'll have to be cleared to SECRET to read them I'm afraid...

DaddyHoggy wrote:

The NATO ones you'll have to be cleared to SECRET to read them I'm afraid...

Send them to Wikileaks

Grey Area wrote:

I use the docking computer because the Fast Docking saves a lot of time and palaver after fighting my way as far as the station aegis.

It saves time as the player perceives it, but it still takes time so far as your ship's clock is concerned, so manual docking can be better when you're doing a long cargo run and time is becoming a precious commodity. It is also an essential skill if you ever have fugitive status and want to save game. Being able to come in fast and slip into dock before any Vipers near the station can get a bead on you saves unnecessary fuss and expense. Or if you have "fought your way as far as the station aeigis" and then note that your docking computer has been damaged, it's a good skill to have put a bit of practice into.

It's not really a hard thing, it's just a matter of how many times you've done it. It's not something that takes a huge amount of work or time to get decent at, either. Here's a vid I made of docking when I'd only been playing Oolite about three months.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRmUZBLlWrA

With full throttle and injectors, one can go from almost touching the planet surface to stepping out of a Cobra MKIII to head for the station bar in about twenty seconds. I usually would figure that's not wasting too much time.

But it's not a huge issue if one uses a docking computer or not. It's a matter of tastes and personal style in gameplay more than anything.

I do feel it's a good example of how Oolite is a fast action space game rather than a realistic space simulator, though. If it was realistic, accelerating enough to travel a couple hundred kilometres in twenty seconds (part of that while in a planetary atmosphere) and then pulling into a dock at that speed without decelerating to match the station would be realistically fatal in any of several ways. LOL