Alright, here's an idea about docking.
The current docking system is, as we all know, broken and flawed. When you go to dock a shuttle to your mothership, it docks, and ends up facing backwards, forcing you to change to a turret docking unit to make the thing face the right way. When trying to dock a turret, you have to CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK all friggin' day long in hopes that it will eventually not give you a "target not compatible!" message. The system needs improvement.
The idea I have is this:
Scrap the idea of a "docking area" altogether, and have a block which can be attached to any point on a ship (And face any direction) that can essentially "tether" itself to another like block on a station, or another ship. This block could be universal across ships and turrets, and simply allow any ship docked to it to pivot freely, much like a Turret Docking Unit does currently. When a ship is docked, it can fly away, say, two blocks before being pulled right back. This "tether" system could be universal for both ships and turrets.
To make it a bit more interesting, you could make a ship of, say, over 2000 mass able to break the tether, and require a second unit. It could go up in 2000-mass increments as such, so that a 10k mass ship requires 5 docking units, and a 50k mass ship requires 25. If desired, docking units could also consume a fixed amount of power per second when active.
I think most people would agree that this system would be MUCH better than the current one...
The current docking system is, as we all know, broken and flawed. When you go to dock a shuttle to your mothership, it docks, and ends up facing backwards, forcing you to change to a turret docking unit to make the thing face the right way. When trying to dock a turret, you have to CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK all friggin' day long in hopes that it will eventually not give you a "target not compatible!" message. The system needs improvement.
The idea I have is this:
Scrap the idea of a "docking area" altogether, and have a block which can be attached to any point on a ship (And face any direction) that can essentially "tether" itself to another like block on a station, or another ship. This block could be universal across ships and turrets, and simply allow any ship docked to it to pivot freely, much like a Turret Docking Unit does currently. When a ship is docked, it can fly away, say, two blocks before being pulled right back. This "tether" system could be universal for both ships and turrets.
To make it a bit more interesting, you could make a ship of, say, over 2000 mass able to break the tether, and require a second unit. It could go up in 2000-mass increments as such, so that a 10k mass ship requires 5 docking units, and a 50k mass ship requires 25. If desired, docking units could also consume a fixed amount of power per second when active.
I think most people would agree that this system would be MUCH better than the current one...
