Attaching rails to docked entity

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    Is there a way to connect
    rails on 2 different ships so when the ships (or ship and station)dock together they auto connect and what ever is attached to the rail transfers to the other rail?
     
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    Is there a way to connect
    rails on 2 different ships so when the ships (or ship and station)dock together they auto connect and what ever is attached to the rail transfers to the other rail?
    I personally have no idea, but I have used an alternative to that involving pickup and shootout rails. What's great about them is that when a ship leaves a shootout rail there is no 4 second delay before it is able to dock again, resulting in the possibility for an instant docking transfer.
     
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    when a ship leaves a shootout rail there is no 4 second delay before it is able to dock again, resulting in the possibility for an instant docking transfer.
    I didn't know that. Man that's really usefull to know.
     
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    I personally have no idea, but I have used an alternative to that involving pickup and shootout rails. What's great about them is that when a ship leaves a shootout rail there is no 4 second delay before it is able to dock again, resulting in the possibility for an instant docking transfer.
    Could you post a picture of how you've got that configured please? I also would like to try this out for myself.
     
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    Great info thanks!
    So you have the shootout blocks and at the end of it pickup blocks:?
     
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    It does work, but the problem is there needs to be a minimum distance between the shootout point and the pickup point, otherwise the pickup point won't pick up the entity. Additionally, there is this one really weird bug that makes shootout rails spit out the entity in the wrong direction for some reason. I'm currently trying to reproduce the setup in a simpler form as a bunch of parts of my original setup are hidden within the build and there is also another weird bug that twists around docked entities on ships when summoned from blueprints.
     
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    After some testing I've been able to confirm this does work. I've found you have to get out of the entity when you're sending it over, or it won't stick. Seems like the 4 second docking delay is only applied when you are inside the entity. I'm not sure if it's a bug or deliberate though, so I'm afraid to spend a great deal on time on it. But I think this could be useful. I would want to use this to switch weapons on my mech.


     

    Endal

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    Quite a few versions ago I had confirmed that unmanned entities have a ~2s instead of the manned 4s cooldown to dock, regardless of undocking method. It might have changed since then but I haven't checked.
     
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    Seems like the 4 second docking delay is only applied when you are inside the entity.
    I am just wondering, why that never gets mentioned, when people suggest this entity to entity movement in the suggestions forums.
     
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    ⚓ T2372 Shootout rail launching at 45 degrees has been fixed.
    The twisting docked entities has been reported but there has been no reply.
    The bug was fixed, but it has resurfaced again. Although yesterday when I was testing it out all of my entities were consistently being shot out backwards (rail points left, ship goes right). In the dev builds before this recent release, I was also having issues with entities on single shootout rails going in all kinds of crazy directions, from 90 degrees to the left, to straight up, to some really odd angles. AndyP has been made aware of the resurfaced bug, but hasn't done anything about it as of yet.
     
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    What's the best way to ask a dev about the unmanned docking cooldown thing? Should I report it as a bug? I want to use that but I don't want to have to scrap a bunch of stuff later if it's not working as intended.
     
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    What's the best way to ask a dev about the unmanned docking cooldown thing? Should I report it as a bug? I want to use that but I don't want to have to scrap a bunch of stuff later if it's not working as intended.
    The best way would be to message them yourself on some platform. Although, I could ask for you if you'd like.
     
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    Okay. Turns out the instant transfer is actually a bug. I do, however, think this should become a real thing. The devs' concern is shootout rail clocks that can exploit physics, which I agree should be prevented. I think a good way to prevent such an exploit would be to put the docking cool down which is meant to happen upon undocking at the occasion of docking, so after docking your ship, you have to wait 4 seconds before it is allowed to dock again (although the logic behind that explanation is a bit weird). This way you can have an instant transfer of a cargo pod and then move the cargo pod out of the way, exchanging it with another one, and putting in the first pod's original location on your freighter.

    Any other suggestions are welcome.
     
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    Okay. Turns out the instant transfer is actually a bug. I do, however, think this should become a real thing. The devs' concern is shootout rail clocks that can exploit physics, which I agree should be prevented. I think a good way to prevent such an exploit would be to put the docking cool down which is meant to happen upon undocking at the occasion of docking, so after docking your ship, you have to wait 4 seconds before it is allowed to dock again (although the logic behind that explanation is a bit weird). This way you can have an instant transfer of a cargo pod and then move the cargo pod out of the way, exchanging it with another one, and putting in the first pod's original location on your freighter.

    Any other suggestions are welcome.
    So you mean that there is no re-dock delay of 4 seconds, but an undock delay of 4 seconds after I docked?
     
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    So you mean that there is no re-dock delay of 4 seconds, but an undock delay of 4 seconds after I docked?
    No, there is a re-dock delay of 4 seconds after you dock. You can undock instantly after docking, but it still has a delay before you could re-dock after initially docking.
     
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    No, there is a re-dock delay of 4 seconds after you dock. You can undock instantly after docking, but it still has a delay before you could re-dock after initially docking.
    I think the only way would be a new "transfer to other entity" undock rail, that only works, if there is a pickup point of the other entity near it, and instantly transfers the undocked entity onto that pickup point.
     
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    Thanks for inquiring about this with the devs. I do agree that instant transfer is really useful, should have a place in the game. Since it is a bug, and thus not safe to rely on, does anyone know a reliable alternative to moving an entity from one dock to another? Perhaps Endal's crane mechanism? I need to pull that apart and see how it works.
     
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