Dev Blog : March 30th 2015

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Okay, let's get a few things straight:
#1: Yes the old docking will be removed...but not as you think. It will be a gradual phase-out like the old weapons system.
#2: Old docking never actually worked very well for anything. I tried to dock everything from fighters to capital ships, and it never worked right. What's more, it was finiky, and if the core wasn't placed "Just so", it was impossible to dock period!
#3: The magnet allows the removal of the finicky docking system entirely, while also allowing an easier to use system to be implemented.
#4: Please don't swear, as some people will get offended.

I really don't understand how people couldn't get the old docking system? It wasn't that complicated. Your core was the center of your ship, as long as your ship fit in the dock, it docked. No problems ever. If you built your ships with docking in mine it was never a problem. This new system will be better, yes, but it does currently have some gaps that the old system did not. How exactly am I going to dock this ship on a flat landing pad?

Spoiler: Micro Fighter

This ship is a micro fighter designed to land anywhere with the old docking system. The lower hatch allows you to enter the core from below. With the current proposed system there is no way to dock this ship onto a flat surface. Does this ship really matter? No, it's a useless show-horse I built to see what I could do with the 7x7x7 space but it does represent an entire design class of ships that are going to be harder to dock with the new system. Any ship with a raised body will be much harder to create standard docks for. All of your docks will have to be built to either dock it from the side or one of the winglets. This makes those docks unable to dock any type of ship that docks from the center.

Say what you will about the old system, it was EASY to create a universal docking system for all your ships.

 

[RoyalWolfe]

mite I suggest a fix for, the docking thing is ugly and gonna be viable on my ship, and the it's not flat it won't dock problems.

both have one simple solution. doors have the answer already. so why not make a type of these magnets that dissappear via toggle the same way doors do. that way in flight I can make em appear as though they retracted and are out of site, small set of landing gear that are compact and no moving parts needed.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Sven_The_Slayer , you could dock it to the top of a hangar. Then it would be dropped down once released. Keep in mind you are no longer limited to docking from the center. Any side, and any place, will do.

 

[Snk]

Activate in what way?

I mean, activate objects on non docked entities. If you wanted a remotely detonated torpedo, for example, could you launch it and activate the warheads with the wireless receiver?

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Sven_The_Slayer , you could dock it to the top of a hangar. Then it would be dropped down once released. Keep in mind you are no longer limited to docking from the center. Any side, and any place, will do.

That would require specific docks for this ship, the point of my hanger was to dock as many different types of ships as it could. This also doesn't help it dock to external landing pads that have no structure around it. I know I am no longer limited to docking to the center, the problem is I think it should still be an option when no others are present. A fallback if you will. You attempt to dock your ship, no docking ports are available so it docks central to the core. This way we can build all the complex docking systems we want and we can still use the old system if it is preferred. Some logistics would have to be worked out but why not have the best of both worlds without the downsides of the old?

If you are required to have a docking port on a ship to dock then in order to dock on the future planned shipyards you will need to manually repair your docking structure before you can automatically repair your ship.

 

[Blodge]

That would require specific docks for this ship, the point of my hanger was to dock as many different types of ships as it could. This also doesn't help it dock to external landing pads that have no structure around it. I know I am no longer limited to docking to the center, the problem is I think it should still be an option when no others are present. A fallback if you will. You attempt to dock your ship, no docking ports are available so it docks central to the core. This way we can build all the complex docking systems we want and we can still use the old system if it is preferred. Some logistics would have to be worked out but why not have the best of both worlds without the downsides of the old?

I agree this change appears to make generic Hangars or Landing Pads harder to make. However, this also makes it more realistic. While I like the convenience of being able to land any of my small craft on the flat surface of a Hangar, having it stick to the floor automatically (without the aid of artificial gravity) actually makes no sense. Docking clamps to hold in place does make sense. If the Rail system also allows moving parts then it should be possible to make hangars more adaptable to different ship designs by having the docking clamps able to extend to different lengths.

I hope...

If you are required to have a docking port on a ship to dock then in order to dock on the future planned shipyards you will need to manually repair your docking structure before you can automatically repair your ship.

Good point, hadn't thought of this...

 

[Sunkin351]

Sorry If someone has already asked this question, but when is this update going to be released?

 

[Bench]

Sorry If someone has already asked this question, but when is this update going to be released?

There's no set date, but it's currently in development as the primary focus so it will be the next major release.

 

[Sunkin351]

Could you give an educated guess?

 

[Blodge]

Could you give an educated guess?

I'm sure he already would have if he could.

 

[Insane Randomness]

GET THIS MAN AN INTERNET! HES EARNED IT!

I just have some concerns of the way we'll be docking. Will we be able to align to an entity with "C"? the only good thing about the old system was that we didn't have to deal with properly positioning our ships with the mothership if the mothership was facing some odd direction. We could just hit the docking port with the docking beam and boom, were docked and in alignment with the mothership.

If we can't quickly align ourselves to our target then then i can definitely see the "experience" of docking becoming more frustrating than awesome. especially if the magnet aspect isn't particularly good.

We'll probably have to build visual ques for docking bays. I imagine the caution tape black and yellow decoration blocks are going to come in much more handy now.

It's also going to be nice to get rid of the darn bounding boxes. I can't tell you how many times I've had to design a ship AROUND a docking bay just to have the docking bay work after the ship was finished...

 

[Vakna]

Bench Any chance in the future of being able to have things like portable jump drives/hyperdrives you can latch onto a ship at will? Kinda like the hyperspace ring Obi-Wan uses with his starfighter (in the 2nd movie i think?).

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Bench Any chance in the future of being able to have things like portable jump drives/hyperdrives you can latch onto a ship at will? Kinda like the hyperspace ring Obi-Wan uses with his starfighter (in the 2nd movie i think?).

I thought this was already a thing. I know Raiben made one.

Spoiler: EFSF DreamCatcher

Of course if you mean being able to dock a jump drive to your ship and being able to control it... probably not. I doubt the slave will control the master in that fashion (docked ship getting control over the mother-ship). It would be cool though.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

Sven_The_Slayer, Vakna don't forget my Augury jump ship

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Sven_The_Slayer, Vakna don't forget my Augury jump ship

I took a different approach myself. My Lark MK1 has an efficient jump drive on it, but the craft is not big enough to power it, so I made a dock-able reactor that can power it. I will have to rebuild this reactor once the new docking mechanic comes out as before it was just kind of an ugly thing that fit in a 7x7x7 so I can now build it to better hug my ship.

Great job on the video, as always! Makes me want to play X2... but then I will end up doing nothing but trading for a month... I actually forgot where I was supposed to go to continue the main story line... so I just worked on building my factory empire.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I took a different approach myself. My Lark MK1 has an efficient jump drive on it, but the craft is not big enough to power it, so I made a dock-able reactor that can power it. I will have to rebuild this reactor once the new docking mechanic comes out as before it was just kind of an ugly thing that fit in a 7x7x7 so I can now build it to better hug my ship.

Great job on the video, as always! Makes me want to play X2... but then I will end up doing nothing but trading for a month... I actually forgot where I was supposed to go to continue the main story line... so I just worked on building my factory empire.

Thx I love the x series and would love for Starmade to learn from it.

I originally wanted to design the augury without the central platform so the fighter is docked to one of the sides but of course the old docking system wouldn't allow ships to dock sideways and remain upright but now it might be possible.

I always thought that something as simple as letting people change the direction of docked entities would open up all kinds of possibilities. I can't wait to see what people come up with

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I always thought that something as simple as letting people change the direction of docked entities would open up all kinds of possibilities. I can't wait to see what people come up with

Yeah I am really looking forward to the new docking and logic capabilities. The cobra bays from Babylon 5 are amazing and I will love to see creations like that. Of course I am still pushing for the "old style" of central core docking to be a thing still. I know there are some ships out there where creating specific docks for is not viable and a lot of hangers/landing pads that were designed to be universal that just can't afford to build to a specific docking receiver in mind.

 

[Blodge]

I know there are some ships out there where creating specific docks for is not viable and a lot of hangers/landing pads that were designed to be universal that just can't afford to build to a specific docking receiver in mind.

Hmmm. Just a thought but, how about some kind of Gravity Dock?

The mechanics would be exactly the same as the current docking block (draws an invisible cube which can be enlarged by enhancers) except instead of defining a docking area, it defines an artificial gravity field. Anything moving into the field (i.e. both Players and ships) get caught in it and pulled towards the Dock. Basically, this would allow you create a region of artificial gravity which could be scaled to fit the interior of a hanger.

I imagine this is how the shuttle bays on the USS Enterprise work as I've never seen the Federation use docking clamps...

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Hmmm. Just a thought but, how about some kind of Gravity Dock?

The mechanics would be exactly the same as the current docking block (draws an invisible cube which can be enlarged by enhancers) except instead of defining a docking area, it defines an artificial gravity field. Anything moving into the field (i.e. both Players and ships) get caught in it and pulled towards the Dock. Basically, this would allow you create a region of artificial gravity which could be scaled to fit the interior of a hanger.

I imagine this is how the shuttle bays on the USS Enterprise work as I've never seen the Federation use docking clamps...

... and those ships shake every time they get shot, you would think the shuttles would get tossed like the crew...

I don't know about gravity docking. Honestly I think that it should require any special blocks. When you use the cores docking beam as apposed to one of the docking receivers the game acts as if you have a docking receiver directly below the core, at the very bottom of the ship, with the arrow facing forward and allows you to dock to that. It could force you to get the imaginary block close to the docking port as if it was a normal receiver so it also wouldn't need the defined area and would use all the other settings from the docking port.

 

[Blodge]

... and those ships shake every time they get shot, you would think the shuttles would get tossed like the crew...

Ah but, this is Starmade not Star Trek. Players in a Ship's gravity get much better Inertia Dampers. Why not shuttles too? :D

I don't know about gravity docking. Honestly I think that it should require any special blocks. When you use the cores docking beam as apposed to one of the docking receivers the game acts as if you have a docking receiver directly below the core, at the very bottom of the ship, with the arrow facing forward and allows you to dock to that. It could force you to get the imaginary block close to the docking port as if it was a normal receiver so it also wouldn't need the defined area and would use all the other settings from the docking port.

So, basically keep the existing Core docking mechanics working with the new Rail Blocks? I'm game for that as I think in practice it would only be relatively small ships which would still need to use it. However I presume Schema wants to move away from those kinds of mechanics so this may not be a choice.

I like the idea of being able to define a gravity zone. I'm sure there would be applications outside of Hangars, such as Asteroid Landing Pads, or creating a working Ringworld or Halo.