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From an aircraft carrier Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsQIaDSBaP8&NR
150Mph or 67m/s landing speed with the hooks.
Speed limits of say 70m/s is not out of whack. I like the idea of having to line up, or perhaps a dock reset timer. Assume the dock has dozens of catch wires like a net so you don't have to be exact, but it takes 10-15 seconds after each ship before they can be used again, until then the dock is closed.
If you over speed, well its damage or destruction for you, and a speed fine for the repairs needed to the wires ect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsQIaDSBaP8&NR
150Mph or 67m/s landing speed with the hooks.
Speed limits of say 70m/s is not out of whack. I like the idea of having to line up, or perhaps a dock reset timer. Assume the dock has dozens of catch wires like a net so you don't have to be exact, but it takes 10-15 seconds after each ship before they can be used again, until then the dock is closed.
If you over speed, well its damage or destruction for you, and a speed fine for the repairs needed to the wires ect.
The talk about gravity webs and what not to catch a speeding ship as it docks is all well and fine, but even in the year 4435 there are physical limits. I mean, if I were to decelerate from 220m/s to 0 in the space of about 10 meters, I know I'd have a pretty bad headache afterwards.
Serco might be able to withstand those kinds of extreme conditions, and it'd be an interesting detail if more of their stations were built with more difficult docks, or something.
Capital stations might have extended docking bays for this sort of thing, but it'd be interesting on the fringes of unmonitored space to have to tailor your docking to out of date, cheap and dirty stations. Plus it'd be another reason for newbs to stick close to civilized space.
Edit: I guess what I have in mind is that you can only fully dock at 0m/s, but after entering a forcefield, you actually fly into the station a ways, and dock at a neat little platform. On the starting systems, there would be automated systems and stuff for this, make it nice and easy.
Although this seems just like a neat little visual effect, it would make it so that if you slammed into a dock at high speeds, you'd then bounce around inside the station, and probably wreck your ship. The game would handle it with same engine used for regular space flight, since it seems to work just fine for flying inside hollow 'roids and what not.
Serco might be able to withstand those kinds of extreme conditions, and it'd be an interesting detail if more of their stations were built with more difficult docks, or something.
Capital stations might have extended docking bays for this sort of thing, but it'd be interesting on the fringes of unmonitored space to have to tailor your docking to out of date, cheap and dirty stations. Plus it'd be another reason for newbs to stick close to civilized space.
Edit: I guess what I have in mind is that you can only fully dock at 0m/s, but after entering a forcefield, you actually fly into the station a ways, and dock at a neat little platform. On the starting systems, there would be automated systems and stuff for this, make it nice and easy.
Although this seems just like a neat little visual effect, it would make it so that if you slammed into a dock at high speeds, you'd then bounce around inside the station, and probably wreck your ship. The game would handle it with same engine used for regular space flight, since it seems to work just fine for flying inside hollow 'roids and what not.
I don't think it's worth the headache. The fun of the docking sequence would wear out the third time you did it, then you'd just want to get on with the game. How many times are you in and out of those things in the course of a session? You really want to go through more of a procedure EVERY time you dock? That's time spent not doing other, funner things.
The gravity net, or the inertia-dampening rods, or the helping-friendly space monkeys are fine with me!
The gravity net, or the inertia-dampening rods, or the helping-friendly space monkeys are fine with me!
I said this mostly in reltion to being able to board capships.
Oh! I apologize. I thought you were talking docking in general. By all means, then!
If you look at it that way, this entire game is just twitch based procedures. Which is the point; this is a twitch based game, but I'm still having fun.
speed docking makes perfect sense... just not the way it's done.
Obviously the docking bay is only the front end to an internal hangar, so why shouldn't you be able to fly through it as fast as you like as long as you can stop (with the assistance of tractor beams, if need be) before reaching your mooring?
It would be nice if we had some kind of animation of opening docking bay doors or something to support that theory, but it's a bit of work to implement for something so... trivial.
Of course if the devs are ever bored beyond reason, I would suggest something by which the bay doors at the back of the bay only open for friendly ships, and you have to fly through them to dock.
Obviously the docking bay is only the front end to an internal hangar, so why shouldn't you be able to fly through it as fast as you like as long as you can stop (with the assistance of tractor beams, if need be) before reaching your mooring?
It would be nice if we had some kind of animation of opening docking bay doors or something to support that theory, but it's a bit of work to implement for something so... trivial.
Of course if the devs are ever bored beyond reason, I would suggest something by which the bay doors at the back of the bay only open for friendly ships, and you have to fly through them to dock.
Good call.
On a related note, imagine a capital station docking bay... very big, with a long approach tunnel. The tunnel would have gun placements along the inside, so as to fend off any unwanted intruders or attackers... the doors at the end open to reveal the actual bay. These bays could double as departure bays since they're large enough, and could even accommodate some small frigates.
To gain entrance, a player has to be liked by the local faction and signal the station to open its bay doors. If an enemy id detected in the docking tunnel, the doors will not open, or will automatically close. If you have someone on your tail, you either run really fast and hope you can get through the doors before they close, or you wait for the tunnel guns to take care of them.
Once inside the docking bay, players have the option of allowing the station docking computer to guide them automatically to a mooring, or dock manually with one by pulling alongside and hitting activate. Of course firing inside the docking bay would create an instant KOS, and the station's full defensive armament would respond appropriately.
To gain entrance, a player has to be liked by the local faction and signal the station to open its bay doors. If an enemy id detected in the docking tunnel, the doors will not open, or will automatically close. If you have someone on your tail, you either run really fast and hope you can get through the doors before they close, or you wait for the tunnel guns to take care of them.
Once inside the docking bay, players have the option of allowing the station docking computer to guide them automatically to a mooring, or dock manually with one by pulling alongside and hitting activate. Of course firing inside the docking bay would create an instant KOS, and the station's full defensive armament would respond appropriately.
I like that, but what about if the ship is moving? I find it almost impossible to dock with our cappies when they're moving... Even thinking about compensating for the ship's movement inside a tunnel... /me faints