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When a Starmade pilot has maneuvered their ship within a slightly-extended bounding box around an entity (other ship, station, planet, asteroid, whatever), and the relative speeds are within 5 blocks/s, present the pilot with a message (maybe a simple message box on the HUD), with a character that corresponds with the mapped control for landing.
Pressing the button is entirely optional, but once pressed, the ship ("lander") is automatically aligned with the "landee" entity's grid over time, so that the two grids are perfectly lined up and velocities are matched. Then once lined up, the lander is slowly brought along one axis to the landee over a short time until at least one block is touching, then the lander is considered "docked" to the landee, even without dockers, rails, rotors, or turret docks.
This relatively-slow landing "animation" where the pilot temporarily loses control of his ship will be over relatively quickly, because the two entities will already be relatively close, and a "landing" speed of 2 blocks/sec (server-configurable?) should move them together quickly, while still having a certain majestic feel to the landing, depending on the size of the lander.
Bonus: When particles are introduced, spawn dust between the lander and landee and swirl around like a small dust storm, like we see in movies.
Media examples:
This suggestion is a complete replacement for magnetic blocks, and allows the builder to have anything as the "landing gear", such as dark grey standard armor in the shape of landing wheels, landing feet made out of hull, force fields like the "legs" on the invading land-hover-craft of the original "War of the Worlds" 1953 movie, or even invisible blocks, to simulate a static hover.
This should allow the lander to land in any orientation (on the tail, upside down, etc.), and the pilot should have almost complete control, except for the final landing animation/approach, which they will have activated themselves.
To lift off again, since there are no docks to "activate" to undock, thrusting away from the landee should allow the lander to immediately "undock" and maneuver normally. The short loss-of-control during the final landing animation will give the pilot enough time to stop controlling thrust, so that the lander "sticks" without an immediate liftoff, although the pilot can immediately lift-off again if desired.
This type of landing does not override or replace docking-based landing systems.
It will provide a relatively easy way to land on planets without crashing, and will allow landing on other surfaces that don't have dockers. It will also allow landing in orientations or on surfaces that don't have dockers. Smaller ships will no longer need to spend a block on a docker, opting instead to dock by "landing".
Landing can once again become a piloting skill instead of a building skill. (Landing vs. Docking)
Pressing the button is entirely optional, but once pressed, the ship ("lander") is automatically aligned with the "landee" entity's grid over time, so that the two grids are perfectly lined up and velocities are matched. Then once lined up, the lander is slowly brought along one axis to the landee over a short time until at least one block is touching, then the lander is considered "docked" to the landee, even without dockers, rails, rotors, or turret docks.
This relatively-slow landing "animation" where the pilot temporarily loses control of his ship will be over relatively quickly, because the two entities will already be relatively close, and a "landing" speed of 2 blocks/sec (server-configurable?) should move them together quickly, while still having a certain majestic feel to the landing, depending on the size of the lander.
Bonus: When particles are introduced, spawn dust between the lander and landee and swirl around like a small dust storm, like we see in movies.
Media examples:
This suggestion is a complete replacement for magnetic blocks, and allows the builder to have anything as the "landing gear", such as dark grey standard armor in the shape of landing wheels, landing feet made out of hull, force fields like the "legs" on the invading land-hover-craft of the original "War of the Worlds" 1953 movie, or even invisible blocks, to simulate a static hover.
This should allow the lander to land in any orientation (on the tail, upside down, etc.), and the pilot should have almost complete control, except for the final landing animation/approach, which they will have activated themselves.
To lift off again, since there are no docks to "activate" to undock, thrusting away from the landee should allow the lander to immediately "undock" and maneuver normally. The short loss-of-control during the final landing animation will give the pilot enough time to stop controlling thrust, so that the lander "sticks" without an immediate liftoff, although the pilot can immediately lift-off again if desired.
This type of landing does not override or replace docking-based landing systems.
It will provide a relatively easy way to land on planets without crashing, and will allow landing on other surfaces that don't have dockers. It will also allow landing in orientations or on surfaces that don't have dockers. Smaller ships will no longer need to spend a block on a docker, opting instead to dock by "landing".
Landing can once again become a piloting skill instead of a building skill. (Landing vs. Docking)