We all know newbies are stupid. They like to completely ignore the training missions and fly toward the sun for 20 minutes, or to confuse the forward and backward radars, etc. Whatever their excuse, they have a tendency to find themselves stupidly long distances from the station. As they cannot /explode in the training sector, the quickest solution is for them to start over, which is lame.

My suggestion is to encase the newbie sector in a large impenetrable bubble so that they can't get so far away. I would say make it an invisible wall, but since you're flying through space with no ground, and newbies are stupid, they may not realize that they aren't moving any-more and just sit there. On the other hand, making it visible all the time would be very ugly and would probably have clipping problems. So the best solution would probably be to have it only become visible when you get close to it, and maybe have it look similar to the force fields on the exit docks.

Alternately, a giant hovering "Turn around you stupid idiot" text could pop up when they get too far away. That would be simpler than a bubble, and wouldn't be quite as goofy as a random wall in space.

The main idea here is just to prevent newbs who don't pay attention to the mission (or are just curious) from screwing themselves over.

Of course, if the /explode restriction were to be lifted, this would also be much less of an issue. Having to delete a character because you stranded yourself leaves a bad impression, worse than just self destructing in a free ship (which helps to remind them that it's perfectly fine to die in this universe).

I think there probably is a need to prevent new players from becoming horribly lost in space. A bubble, if possible, would be good. Alternately, some training-sector-only command to return to the station would be good.

Newbs are ignorant of the ways of VO, certainly, but I disagree that they are stupid. Ignorance can be resolved through learning - but stupid is eternal.

Just have the instakill lasers blast them if they hit a certain distance, and maybe some text explaining why.

Text telling them to turn around isn't going to do much good. Of the times I saw this happen on 100, it was usually because the newbie drifted quite far away while AFK. By the time the ship reaches the threshold to show the text, it is quite likely that no-one will be around to see it on the screen.

And is there an actual limitation preventing the use of /explode? Perhaps it is actually a bug that prevents its use under certain conditions. I know I've used /explode in the training sector before (although that probably was more than year ago).

+1 to Pizzasgood suggestion, newbies are newbies ))

Alternately, some training-sector-only command to return to the station would be good.

Whistler, -1. Every newbie should know from the first steps in VO that no God's hand will ever assist them in 'verse.

+1 to the more simple solution: Enable /explode in training sectors.
-1 to bubbles or magic solutions in general. Isn't this game supposed to be "open"?

I generally agree that there should be no "god's hand". I just don't want the noobs getting lost in deep space.

"Just have the instakill lasers blast them if they hit a certain distance, and maybe some text explaining why."

I like that idea even more. The RP reason would be that they have not yet received authorization to wander the universe. Combine this with the floating text warning - first they are warned to turn back, and if they continue further, they get blasted out of the sky.

True, this RP idea sounds pretty wise too.

the instakill lasers sounds good to me, i like things blowing up.

Ok, so we have one last alternative, out of box thinking:

Declare that training missions are performed in a SIMULATOR. At least the first few, until the maiden solo flight, when pilot/player gets a real ship and fly to capital.

Then we can do anything, including instructor bots, guiding beacons, distance limits so on, every time it occurs make clear it is a simulation... Probably adding a few "computer voice commands" like "turn around and return to base" or "Warning: distance limit exceeded. Restarting simulation, launch again when ready". Possibly make everything slightly different there, as glowing bots, floating markers and much larger "Dock this way" 3D arrows...

Then add the importance of maiden flight, the 1st time on a real ship. Play trumpets, award the might Flight Badge when he arrives in capital!

Finally, add a shorcut as a single certification mission shown only for new alts on vet's accounts. Instead tutorials, a simple "get out there with a ship, kill 8 bots and take its scraps to capital system."

All fixed.

A "lesser code" case would be to have the noob ship turn towards base and turbo for 10 seconds and print a message that the unlicensed pilot is not allowed to exceed station flight control distance (or similar hokum) whenever the distance meeter passes a particular value. That should have about the same code complexity as creating a single mission/quest. Attach the logic to the a "free" "learners-permit auto pilot" dingus for the large port on the free ship and have it automatically installed in the spawned free ships issued by the training station.

The autopilot distance would be far enough out that system jumps would be possible.

The autopilot dingus would prevent non-training mission jumps to sectors without stations.

The training station would not allow the operator to un-equip the heavy slot on a free ship, or in the alternate display dire warning about that equipment removal being a very bad thing.

One particular mission would eventually direct the noobs to remove the autopilot limiter thing.

This way, an experienced player starting a new character could just jump to another station (e.g. the capital) and de-equip and sell off the limiter.

In terms of code this should be relatively simple, the "scanner" that isn't a "mineral scanner" that you have to take on for the prospecting missions is already precedent for such special-purpose add-ons.

Turning the ship rather than shooting it down would probably be friendlier to the newbies, but I still prefer the idea of shooting them down. Of course I tend to be biased toward solving problems with explosions. :)

"That should have about the same code complexity as creating a single mission/quest."

You are mistaken. Creating a mission has zero code complexity - it is done with an editor and involves no programming whatsoever. In fact I wish it were more program-writing-like, as it feels very limited right now. But I digress.

"Attach the logic to the a "free" "learners-permit auto pilot" dingus for the large port on the free ship and have it automatically installed in the spawned free ships issued by the training station."

Free ships do not have a large port, only a single small port.

Maybe just make /explode work for training sector, but /explode in the training sector does not count towards death-toll. A free ship is lost, the new guy gets to see a pretty explosion, and learns a new command. Maybe make it clear when you /explode in the training sector, that doing it elsewhere will cause loss of ship equipped/loaded guns/cargoes.

Simples.

/explode needs to be added in the training manual/missions.

+1 to turning the newbies around automatically, without an addon, which could be complex in that all free ships would then have large ports and a special autopilot and different mass, etc, etc. RP: Station radio command used to 'prevent new pilots from entering unsecured space.'

Add a recorded VOICE message also and a flashing warning whenever they drift away too much.

then, if htye continue drifting away, instead of auto-turning or remote control, I prefer that they simply respawn inside station again. No lasers, explosions, nothing, just restart from docked with a message...

Might I say. What the fuck are you on Alloh. Teleporting back to the station will confuse the shit out of anyone, and this goes under the heading "God's Hand intervention". What incentive, provided they don't get confused, is there for turning back? They could just fly on and holy shit i'm back in the station again! Because the only reason why you'd turn back is to go back to the station...

I love the idea of the kill lasers. Shows the process of warning-follow-up consequences procedure for real piloting!