A guiding laser seems fiddly to me. Care to elaborate?
I'm thinking that the plex beacon needs to be replicated to a logic-activate-able flare effect in an invisible block. The flare can be colored by slaving colored lights to it. Then you could set up colored flares (I'm thinking Yellow flares would be nice) in a line, outside the docking area, representing holographic guide lights, to serve as a guide into the docking area. Such colored flares would be useful in a bunch of different scenarios.
If the game were 2D, cruise control would be enough, but in 3D, it's extremely hard to get pointed in the same direction. After a couple of sectors, even the most carefully aimed ship can end up a hundred meters away from its correct place in formation. If impact damage is enabled on the server, this can be disastrous. I think we need some kind of relative-location lock instead of just a constant speed, in order to "lock" the target ship into the correct alignment and position relative to the host ship. It would basically be a remote/long-distance docking mechanic that doesn't have a size limitation. The target ship doesn't even need to "aim" at a spot on the host ship. The host ship just selects the target ship where it is via the nav screen, selects some new join-formation option, and BAM, the target ship immediately lines up with the host ship and then the target ship's position relative to the host ship is "locked in". Both ships need to be on the same faction, to avoid "locking" enemy ships. Then any attempt by the target ship to navigate immediately breaks the formation lock. The target ship needs to be set with the same movement as the host ship, so that there isn't a stuttering or a jarring change in velocity when traveling in formation or breaking formation.
