Being able to choose which exit bay you want, and being able to see out of them beforehand is something we all want.
It should be available via an easy turret selection interface, and the cameras should be able to be seen out of like turrets without guns, from the exit bay.
ezpz, lets add it.

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First of all, no you do NOT represent "all of us." Yes, you are free to speak your own mind, but don't presume that what you want is what everyone else wants, too. It's arrogant and pompous if not naive.

Secondly, I don't see how this improves the game in any significant way. Can you explain why this is worth the devs' time implementing seeing how this will delay other important things, such as releasing the game on steam? Adding new features are often harder and more time consuming than you think.

There have been multiple discussions regarding why this should be implemented. Considering that you lurk on every single post, you must surely know.

This is the Suggestions thread, where suggestions are made. Entries here have no impact on development decisions about when to implement the suggestions, were they to be implemented. The Devs set their own timelines after considering all factors.

I, too, bristle at the "something we all want" statement. It's a weak argument from a logistics standpoint, and also not necessarily true. The way to sell a suggestion here is to discuss how it would impact gameplay.

Also, note that JJ isn't the only person reading this thread, nor will it only be read by people who have been actively monitoring the forum recently. Particularly if you want to convince the devs, it's a good idea to include any supporting arguments in the suggestion thread itself, or at least a summary with links to the specific posts in question.

Anyway, +1 to the general concept. I like the idea of having more ability to look around outside a station, and I like the idea of letting people choose an exit. Undocking is currently a matter of chance, which runs contrary to this being a skill based game. Letting people look around and then select an exit gives them an element of control, making things like escaping a station-camper more tactical.

There probably should be some sort of measure to prevent you from docking at one end of a station and instantly undocking at the other end, however. Perhaps a general five-second cooldown after docking before you can exit.

+1 ti pizzaisgood's outline

+1 (with Rins additions) from me too. We should definitely have some situational awareness while docked, and choosing your exit would be beneficial too.

I mean, it sounds cool and all, but I've never really cared, or been greatly inconvenienced by the random undock thing. I have mused on the fact that you might dock in one place and undock in another, by the only thing I would say is undock at the closest to where you docked, but make this super low priority.

+1 I agree it would be helpful to know if this was discussed elsewhere...

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At airports IRL, you don't get to choose which runaways you take off from. The air traffic control makes that call, not you.

Conceivably, there's a similar traffic control at stations in VO to maintain order and efficiency. So that's why you cannot choose where you undock from.

JJ, these are not airports, and VO is not real life. If stations mimiced RL airports, ATC should also be directing incoming vessels to a particular dock. However, that is not something I would oppose. ATC would be an interesting addition to docking, IMO.

Regardless of whether we get to choose exit bays, we ought to have some awareness of conditions in the area surrounding stations. Currently, we are blind to the sector while docked.

Elite: Dangerous does the ATC thing, and it works nicely for that game. I don't think I would enjoy it in VO, though. Our stations are much more chaotic, in a good way. I like being able to just crash into whatever dock I feel like without pausing to warn them, and I like people I'm attacking in the NFZ to the station to have that same right. (Though I suppose if we did have an ATC feature, its restrictions could be suspended during an NFZ violation to encourage the victim to remove themselves from the situation promptly rather than escalating by returning fire themselves.)

Besides, it makes sense to not have ATC in a distant space future where spacecraft are more maneuverable than cars and so cheap and ubiquitous that the government gives them away for free. You don't have to radio in and have a parking space assigned when you go to Walmart, after all. ATC might be something that capships would need to deal with, but it just doesn't seem appropriate for normal craft.

Though, if we wanted to really push realism with regards to docking and undocking, FauxVikingRanger has the right idea. It makes no sense that stations would waste valuable internal space on Moth-sized transport corridors linking all the entrances and exits, when they could just have separate disjoint hangars for each individual cluster of ports. Hell, there are probably some stations where the docks on one end aren't even connected to the ones on the other end by anything but a skinny little spar that would be physically impossible for a ship to traverse.

But I don't think we need that level of realism, as long as there's enough delay to keep things from being too absurd.