Oolite Manual

[Cholmondely]

Sample Text - this is the sort of thing that I'm thinking of.

Launching and Landing
These can be fatal – collision with a large object at velocity is a non-trivial matter.

If one lacks experience in these activities then it will be necessary to either practice – or to purchase a Docking Computer1.

To launch from a station, one merely advises the Station that one wishes to do so (pressing the 1 or F1 command on your astrogation panel) and after a short delay one will find oneself launched into space heading straight at the Navigation buoy. One must swerve to avoid both it and the planet some way beneath!

To land at a station, one must first register the station in one's view (pressing the 'r' command on the astrogation panel). One must then request a Landing slot (pressing the 'L' command). One will then be assigned a landing slot. If one is not already facing the entrance to the station2, one should endeavour now to do so.

When the landing slot becomes available one heads for the entrance to the station. One needs to match the station's rotation, using the roll ability. At entrance one's speed should be between 50-100 light mach.

The usual method is to align with the center of the rotating entrance slot, paying due attention to any other ships approaching or leaving. Visually aim for a point in space a few hundred meters in front of the slit so that one approaches the slot along the rotation axis of the station. Upon final approach commence matching the ship's rotation to the Space Station's. Enter the slot at the suggested speed (50-100 lm) and the craft's shields should be able to withstand any (minor) pilot error.

Note that one's landing slot can be delayed by the interposition of an armada of other craft wishing to depart the space station – they have a higher priority than your arrival. One may also find oneself de-prioritised by local craft with higher priority such as police vipers, corporate chair-entities, communist commissars or important feudal overlords. It is not unusual to spend 3 hours waiting for an available landing slot, since the arrival of one flotilla of space craft can lead to the launch of several other flotillas!

Footnotes:
1 The optional Docking Computers operate in 2 different modes. The control 'c' enables docking once one is within the station's aegis. This is accompanied by relaxing music which can be neutralised by pressing 's'. The control 'C' enables anaesthetisation at appropriate stations (not some of the more brutalist communist installations for example) thus shortening the delay.
Note that access to the Docking Registry at the above appropriate stations can be had with the installation of the renowned PHKB (Prossor Hirkling Kringfor & Buttress) systems Station Docking Interface (.oxz).
Note that an alternative version to the popular Docking Computer has recently become available (ILS). This allows for a manually accelerated Docking.
2 The entrance to the station faces the planet. Some 10 km distant is the Navigation Buoy (marked by N and a square in the space compass). The station is usually some 60 km above the surface of the planet!

Edited (much later) to add:
While I enjoyed writing bits of a manual, I realise that Cim's is far better and it is silly to produce yet more competing documentation. Project abandoned. Download Ship's Library OXP instead!

[stranger]

The station is usually some 60 km above the surface of the planet!

The main stations is always at altitude equal to planet radius - from 27 to 69 km (there is 1:100 ratio between game and planet scales).

[Cholmondely]

The station is usually some 60 km above the surface of the planet!

The main stations is always at altitude equal to planet radius - from 27 to 69 km (there is 1:100 ratio between game and planet scales).

Before I started downloading your oxps, the station was always 60km above the planet surface. This was invariably true for almost half a year. Then I downloaded your oxps. ... And then I had a heart-attack!