Docking Clamp

[Geeky Meerkat]

So I get that the way docking blocks work is that they line up with the ship core, with the ship core being directly above the docking block. Though that to mee seems rather arbitrary. I get that with a basic ship with only a few blocks that makes sense, but with a more complex ship it seems you might want to have the point docking is based on be somewhere else.

So here's my idea, a block that is sort of like a cockpit in that you can view things from it, but that also changes where and how you dock if you dock from this block. This docking clamp block would be the one that "holds" on to a docking block and it's forward would be the part that faces the docking clamp.

You could then put this on the bottom of your ship and face it downward, and carefully position yourself on the docking platform. From the outside it would look like your ship landed and docked just as normal.

You could also put docking ports on the bottom of a space station or drop ship, and have docking clamps on top of bomber ships so that it would appear as if their roofs are attached to the drop ship (because in this case they would be). I find it a bit strange that if you want bomber ships on the bottom of your station that your bomber ships need to be parked "upside down."

 

[Hodhandr]

From a technical standpoint the would essentially be a rotatable block that works like the core, except it can ONLY do the (un-)docking part.

Would make it -well, possible- to build larger ships in docks without exposing the core.



On a sidenote, I\'d like to be able to set docking blocks in faction-controlled ships/station so that non-factionmembers can dock there, would be quite useful for example if you have a trading station, or to pick up people who\'re lost in space(happens quite often, but just as often it is dangerous to go there without a faction-block protecting your ship.

 

[Alordex]

Ive been wanting something like this for a while, I was about to purpose the idea as well.

I hope this is added.

 

[Pepto]

I currently need this, as I am trying to dock my large ship to a station on a planet

 

[SkyHawk024]

i agree with this because i build ships based on ones in star wars and most of them have docking clamps on the sides and top and bottom. which can make it difficult for a docking block to hand because of shear size!.

 

[jdkxspace]

Nice idea, I wanted to see if there was some sort of block (currently) in game to dock with besides just the ship core. But you could have lots of power generators and shields so that you could still dock but have it protected.

 

[Charlie_]

Aesthetically (is that the word?), it makes a lot of sense.

With a hangar and a docking bay set in a limited, finite space, it makes a lot of sense.

In fact, it\'s a great idea.

The only thing is people saying something about up and down... This is space, it dizzily has no up or down. @_@

 

[Geeky Meerkat]

Heh, space might not have an up or down, but your space ships do, espesually if you put a gravity unit inside.

So ya if you dock your ship on the underside of your mothership, then as is it will be upside down compared to the mothership.