Just finished my 8 hour trial. Absolutely LOVE it so far, but I do have a minor suggestion: it would seem to be way cool, since we already need to have skill to pilot into the right docking area to be allowed to dock, why not just automatically dock with a station once you get to that point? Just seems a bit extraneous to have the extra keypress in that case.

I understand it's probably implemented the same way as all the other "action" points in the game, eg. wormholes, jumping out of a sector, etc, but having that one particular action point be automatically engaged when you get in range would seem to be a good thing.

Like I said, a tiny suggestion for an otherwise amazing game, particularly given that it was only made by four people! This is the kind of effort I always want to start myself but never seem to be able to :) It's great to see that it can be done!

Oh, and I *hate* Guardians. But I think that's to be expected :)

Cheers,
--mcn

If your an excelent pilot, docking shouldn't be to much trouble. Also its a way of telling the skill level of people you see entering the station. I pulled off a very smooth docking once. The secret is to occasionally using your brake while your accelerating in the direction your changing.

I think mburrack is saying that once you have pilotted yourself into the docking bay, it would be nice if the station automajically initiated bringing you inside to the station menu, rather than you having to hit enter.

Dragon, he doesnt mean he wants his ship piloted to the dock for him, he means that he wants the "activate" key to be automatically pressed when he is in range.

Personally, I dont see the need for it, one extra keystroke isnt that big of a deal. Besides, occasionally i want to sit in the dock and wait for someone else to arrive before i enter the station. (it just looks cooler when 4 people deliver their convoy cargo at the same time.)

lol I haven't witnessed the convoy, so I wouldn't know, and yes it's only one keystroke, which is why I classified it a tiny suggestion :) But on the flipside, as a student of user interface arts, the idea is to automate the boring/easy/robotic tasks and leave the user to pour their effort into the more fun stuff, like actually navigating themselves into position to dock, or blowing up bots :)

But then, it's just my opinion. YMMV.

--mcn

Actually, theres a nice and a bad thing here.

the current system sends you a notice when the server has told you you're in the dock. This means that you cannot hit the activate key until your lag is recovered. Implementing auto-dock will make lag a killer in the docks, as you will bounce around suddenly without notice of things. :-/

I dont mind it, could be worth implementing. Just -don't- fall for the temptation of making it a option :P

Bounce around? Wouldn't it just suddenly send you into the station screen? Just a guess. But yeah, I can see what you mean. And yes, certainly don't make it an option for players--give them options where it counts :)

--mcn