phkb wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 6:04 am
That went pretty well, and better than I expected! I shouldn't have worried about the launch point - I got it working relatively easily.
...
Q: What about NPCs?
A: NPCs will not use the external docking ports at this time. It's a player only thing. However, I'm working on having some random docks be unavailable because there is a ship parked at the port.
Q: What happens if you are told to wait when you request docking?
A: The wait is for the main dock. If the external docking port flashers are on, you can dock at the external port without penalty.
Q: Can this be added to other stations?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you dock at Torus speeds?
A: Err, no. You must be going less than 100m/s otherwise you will crash into the station.
Q: Do you have to be aligned in a particular way?
A: No, you just need to be able to approach the centre flasher.
What do you think?
Brilliant! Well done sir!! Araminta has leaned on cousin Digby to organise a life-time pass for you at the Admiralty Bar. You will never have to pay for your pink gin ever again!
Wonderful!
Off the top of my head (and speaking just for myself, and
not anticipating any more action currently):
1) Finances
These ports on the Nuit are designed for the BIG ships. And there are just the
four of them. And they would have been expensive additions to the station. So there should be a
hefty docking fee (easily payable by a luxury liner laden with wealthy passengers) - which should be applied in full even if you are docking at one of them in a Cobra Mk.3. This would require warning the player - and would also require the station to do something, so some sort of docking procedure might be required.
But! That's if you
can dock with a Cobra Mk.3! The small ship would presumably have to be modified to be able to dock at those massive port doors. An Adder or Asp might not have the space on the hull to allow it! But it should be a different matter at the External Dock of Limbo's Rock Hermit (but that too might also need a different and smaller paid-for modification to dock there).
There should be at least two modifications. One is the modification to allow docking. The second is sideways thrusters (see alignment, below).
2) BGS
We will probably need a more suitable BGS docking sequence. I'm not sure if it is doable using the usual BGS technique (the folded over texture). Maybe just nothing? Or some other experience (I understand that there are other "enablers" built into BGS/Library).
We're not flying through a tunnel as with interior docking. We're individual people "walking" through it (maybe a moving escalator? ...but then, how would cargo be handled?), in and out of our ship. Or maybe we take some sort of flitter or buggy through the long struts into the heart of the Nuit station. Ideally some sort of sequence of travelling through a tunnel ending in say a HDBG screen showing the station lobby - or the inside of the ship (either another lobby for a liner/Andromeda/Imperial Star Destroyer
etc. or something more prosaic for my Cobra Mk.3).
3) Sideways docking
Is it possible to modify things so that one is "doing" the docking through the port or starboard Viewscreens?
4) Alignment
The alignment (to my mind) should be crucial. Ideally the alignment flashers should help on the approach (probably a lot of work to manage this), flying forwards to be
beside the dock. Then using side thrusters to edge the ship slowly sideways towards the dock.
5) Time.
This is more relevant for the Nuit. Those long spindly arms. It would take
time to onload/offload - getting things through those arms into the main body of the station itself. Especially liner passengers who would want to gawk at the goodies in the station lobbys.
Assuming that the arms could manage simultaneous movement in both directions, my cargo could be unloaded into the strut pretty quickly and I could get credited for it. But if I buy anything, it has to come from the main hub all the way down the struts to my ship. It will take forever!
And, all the time, I'm paying more and more in order to occupy that external dock all by myself!
6) Hoodlums.
There is also the issue of the Hoodlums. Dastards such as the dreaded and demoniacal Drew Wagar who
merrily drop Q-bombs in Orbital GraveYards, and who would just ram their ships into an external dock willy-nilly, wrecking it for anybody else. We might eventually wish to show a damaged external dock.
References
1) Limbo's Rock Hermit
limbo wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:41 am
Edited
...Donaldson's Gap cycle is how I imagine space would be. Grotty, sleazy - life being cheap. Making Weimar Berlin look like a teddy bear's marshmallow picnic.
Traders and miners and such would need to wear EVA to get inside. The high cost of personal storage at a station would necessitate having to wear the suit inside. There would probably be areas which the owners of the station wouldn't oxygenate.
Only the very very wealthy would have any form of... niceties.
2) External docking Sequence
Starts at 11.30 minutes [urlhttps://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwMybd7iuXM]into the film[/url]
(from Flight of Nova - thanks, Cody!)
This is far too complex for us, but gives a general idea
Concluding Unscientific Postscript
I'm hardly infallible! Any other ideas? Anything I've got wrong? Or missed?
