its a cool feature, but in actual use around stations and other large objects it can be undesirable..

scenario: you are picking up a stack thats larger than your available space..

outcome: you pull the stack into you and fill available space, but drag the rest of the stack around behind you as you move, can additionally "slingshot" the stack while turning or docking. this can cause the stack to become embedded in an object where you cant reach it.

possibilities?

have the tractor automatically disengage (temporarily) while your holds are full

while this feature seems to be more geared toward players with less precision controls, it could be more useful to the rest of us as well if we could target an object and engage the tractor to pluck it from a pile of other goods, vs picking everything up and jettisoning the unwanted stuff, particularly when theres little to no space available

have the tractor automatically disengage (temporarily) while your holds are full

It actually does that already. So, if that isn't working properly, that needs to be fixed.

More of a Bug report than a Suggestion, we'll take a look. Thanks for the heads-up.

i wasnt aware.

perhaps it does shut off but the stack already has momentum/inertia or something to that effect. the instant i see people dragging drops i tell them to disable or i wont continue our deal until they do.. as its very common.

..and come to think of it, all the players ive seen do it in recent history were overseas, so perhaps related to latency

We've been unable to reproduce this problem using the current production version.

Could you give more details or a reproduction case, please?

sure, for example transfering materials. i come out of a station in an xc.. drop some stuff.. someone comes out in a smaller ship and attempts to scoop.. in/out/in/out.. (were basically doing laps of a station)

as they scoop and turn toward the door the stack drags and slingshots very much like it has inertia. i can certainly catch it on video for you if you want

its not the only scenario but thats when i see it the most as thats something i do a lot

many of the times they are newer players from overseas.

i suppose a person could search my chat history for "/cargotractor" and see me telling people constantly to turn it off cos they are dragging items around, i just assumed the tractor stayed engaged but now that you told me its not supposed to.. its very possible the latency is to blame.. perhaps the ship doesnt realize its full yet and that tiny window would be enough to sling the stack

I don't think we're on the same page here: Using the current, production version we have been unable to reproduce this problem, so far.

The cargo tractor updates have been fast-moving and frequent, and some additional client changes were released only a few hours before you created this thread, last Thursday (We originally thought you were reporting issues with that "latest" patch).

So, what I'm asking is:

Do you have a current reproduction case? Not something from two weeks ago.

Because all of the "historical" stuff you're mentioning is not meaningful, as the game has been patched and updated several times since then.

Thanks to an up-to-date report from Evil T.C. on Discord this week, we were able to track down and resolve this issue (as of tonight's patch, 1.8.714).

The tractor beam should be stable and beneficial for everyone now. If you have it disabled, please consider re-enabling it. All in all, it would be better to find and fix any remaining issues, if they exist.