Docking

[Elladan]

I think the docking function must be revised as when i tried it today, the 2 ships wouldn't dock properly, constantly changing the view of the ship i was in ( as if i was stuck inside an object that wanted me out ). The ships weren't touching each other.
I think what would be best, would be to prevent any block collision of one ship with another. And also set the docking block as a module ( like weapons ) so that you can allow translations or rotations.
For example, i build a line of docking block, then the core/docking module would be set on it as if we had just put a simple block. The line form would allow translation.
For rotation, we would dock at the docking module entity looking like a pyramid that would allow rotations over 3 directions ( up/down, right/left, and turn around itself )
There are two ways of looking at the docking, either the blocks are within each other ( the block must keep a part inside the other ) or the blocks can't be within another, which is maybe easier for the game but that makes rotations more difficult.

This docking system i came up with might no be the best one, but i think that you'll agree with me that current one isn't working great. The fonctions of docking being : Landing a ship, adding a tower to a space station, having ships assemble into a bigger one or anything you can imagine involving a link between two entities.

Thanks for reading,
Elladan

 

[canadianchuck]

So you could create a line of docking modules that would allow you to move the docked object along that line. Like a rail?
I wouldn't mind that. Actually i can think of a couple neat thinks with that like if you also have the speed the docked object can move adjusted by wether or not it has thrusters then you could make a missle launcher or a ship catapault on planets(fior when gravity is a factor).

If it is possible i wouldn't mind testing several different methods of docking.

 

[asmageddon]

Personally I think that there should be at least three different docking blocks - one that only allows docking and keeps the ship motionless, one that allows rotation and one that allows moving forward/backward on it (with alignment being decided by shape)

• 
  Normal one would require enough area to hold the ship in place, say 1 block for every, say, 50 blocks of ship but wouldn't allow any movement. (and keep the general direction (west/east/north/south/up/down) of the ship)
• 
  The rotation one would only allow smaller vessels, but could be used to make "turret" vessels that can rotate 360° around, say 70° up and maybe a bit down
• 
  The rail one would either drain power of the ship or space station/hangar ship/reactor connected to rails, but allow fast movement forwards and backwards (would be cool to have a ship "launcher" like that)

Related ideas I thought of when writing this:

• 
  Allow docking ships on other ships (maybe even docking ships inside docked ships? :p)
• 
  Add more core modules - small fighter/scout/etc. core with block/power/etc limit that is cheap but can be used to make fairly sized vessels, no docking anything inside it, a big "mothership" core that can have docks, repair modules, etc., a space station core, etc. etc.
• 
  Add a turret core that can only be created on top of rotation-allowing dock blocks, can't move, only aim, mark targets, distance, etc. and allow shooting (for cool and fun multiplayer(or AI) turrets for ships, planets and space stations alike)

 

[Elladan]

Another possibility i had explained some time ago would be to have docking use multiple link.
As the number of link would restrain movement along the chosen path.
For exemple, i use 1 link, then i can move around the docking block which is, in fact, a 3 axe's rotation with collisions restrictions.
If i choose to use 2 links, then i can't move around anymore but i'm still able to rotate around 1 axe.
If i choose to use 3 links, then i'm totally blocked.
Uses :
1 link : Turrets, Side Reactors ( that would orientate correctly due to the movement of the ship )
2 links : Can be used for nice design ( i can think of no way to use it efficiently right now )
3 links : Docking a ship in a hangar, onto another ship or space station.

The pros of this solutions are :
- Same block for all kind of docking
- Simplified gestion of docking
However, rails and rotating rings would need another docking block to work.

 

[S-Guy]

I feel like making a bunch of different cores for different types of ships might be overcomplicating things a bit, although I can definitely appreciate the need for a space station core. If there's any improvement that I can think of right now, it would be that maybe we should be allowed to attach weapon computers to docking blocks like a docked core, so that it would be possible to make independent turrets without having to buy a brand new core for each one.

EDIT: It would also be nice if we could dock using something other than the core, for ships that don't have properly exposed cores. Maybe a docking computer with docking beams, or something simpler using only docking modules?

 

[clearskiesNL]

maybe add like forcefield where ships can pass trough if you accept them so when they exit they wont die of vacuum