Oolite Bulletins

Hi. I used to play Elite on the old Commodore 64 many years ago. Love the fact that there's a PC version but I am having some problems docking.
I'm following the tutorial exactly but no matter how slow and how well lined up I am with the space station at Zaonce, I keep dying. I can exit and reenter the station at Lave with no problems, but not at Zaonce.
I'm starting from the bouy as the tutorial says and I get lined up with no problem. Getting a bit frustrating.
Suggestions?

Do you have any OXPs installed, if so...which ones?

I've got no idea what an OXP is so that's probably a no to that question.
All I downloaded was the latest version of th game... although it is the trial version 1.74.2 so could that be the problem?

Hi beedle,

welcome to the boards and of course the game!

The "test" version is the latest and greatest, we all use it here. It's just that the developers are a bit particular about rather confusing the majority of users than the few OXP authors (no offense meant guys, we still love you ) by calling it "test".

Can you please post a link to a screenshot that you take just before you die? It's hard to diagnose what is happening to you otherwise. You can take in-game screenshots by pressing the * key on your main keyboard. Oolite will save it in a folder called "Oolite Screen Shots". Upload it to some web site, e.g. photobucket.com or flickr.com and post a link here. As you are new to the boards you cannot post the link directly yet, so leave out the http:// and replace the dots with spaces and it should work.

Cheers,
-Maik

I've given up for the time being. Lost count of how many times I've tried.
However, if I do play again, I will take a screen shot and post it.

[edit]
Although I should add that it looks pretty much like the picture in the tutorial.

Matching rotation doesn't seem to work either. In fact it seems to make it worse. I always start to veer off the to right.

Hi Beedle, and welcome.
I was (and indeed still am) pants at docking and I found this really frustrating to start with. There is one thing you could try. In Oolite you can buy and sell your ship (unlike Elite). What you could do is sell your shiney new Mk III Cobra and buy something cheaper, like a Mk I Cobra. OK it's not as good, but with the left-over money from the trade in, buy a docking computer.
This will at least get you started, and you can get on with the game, practising docking manually when you want to, until you're good at it.
To be honest, this is what I did and I've not done so bad since.
Also, well worth checking out the OXPs (expansion packs) as these can add all sorts of great features and make your 'Ooniverse' a much prettier place to be.
Don't give up....have fun

I've tried all of that. I can be perfectly lined up with the sites set dead in the centre of the 4 flashing lights but as soons as I try to match the rotation, it veers off.

I have just tried a totally different station, who's name now escapes me, and I got in first time and I wasn't even lined up properly. It went in with no problems at all. I tried the Lave station again after that.... crashed and died.

I struggled with docking despite also having played on the C64 before. However, with practice, I mastered it. The game can be expanded and then you can dock with other things besides space stations like bulk haulers.

I remember getting initially frustrated at docking. What control system are you using? I used the mouse at first but later bought an XBox 360 controller just for this game. With this controller, flying is a breeze.

Get up close to the station entrance and stop. If as the rectangular entrance rotates, you find that despite pointing at the centre, you see a side wall on each revolution and/or find that you drift away from the centre without doing anything, then you are not dead straight. If this happens, do not try to dock anyway. Turn round, then fly directly towards the buoy and then turn again. Likely, you will be lined up this time.

If you find it hard to match rotation, another technique is to not rotate, but instead time your acceleration to line up with when the rectangle is correctly aligned in front of you. I find this easier myself.

Hi, beedle, and first of all welcome to the boards and of course to this great game!

Two advices from here:

Lining up is key. However, you have to take into account that the "window" (or view camera) on your ship is not located at its center point, but rather above it. This means that in order to bring your ship's nose dead center between the flashing lights, your screen should be centered around a point above those flashing lights. I can't tell you how much above, but you can try it out by stopping closely in front of the station and aiming at different points while matching the rotation. If you found the point where the docking box does not veer away from you, but stays centered while you rotate with the station, you've got it. In the future try to aim at this point. (Note: different ships have different sizes and differently excentric cockpits. So, if you sell your Cobra and buy another ship, you will have to repeat the procedure and find the correct aiming point for your new ship.)

And second, don't be too shy with your speed. Don't go too slow. Entering the station with between a quarter and a half of full speed is better than crawling. The reason is that the faster you go, the smaller the risk of scratching your hull, because it is exposed to the walls of the docking box for a shorter time, and you also have to keep matching the station's rotating speed for a shorter time.

So, just give it another try, and:

Right On, Commander!

Suggest that you also watch the YouTube video: How to dock in Oolite

Sounds to me like roll and yaw are mapped to the same keys so when you roll it also adds yaw.