Station Facing

[Voldrath]

I've noticed that randomly generated AI stations, and player created stations do not face the same direction. AI stations face +Z or "galactic north", the direction your ship lines up with when you press C. Player created stations face -X (east). Visually this is nearly meaningless as stations do not move, but it does affect the direction ships face when they dock on a upward or downward facing pad.

This can be confirmed by parking a ship next to said station and aligning it with C then going into build mode on the station and comparing the facing arrow at the top with the direction the nearby ship is pointing. I suspect this is related to the fact that new ship cores are placed facing -X by default, creating new stations may use some of the same subroutines as new ships.

 

[Cybertooth]

I've noticed this aswell, i allways wondered why they were differnt. It would be nice to know if it was intended or not.

 

[AndyP]

It a minor bug,
this happens when you are creating the station while NOT being sector aligned,
it looks indeed like the same mechanic is used as on spawning the cores, this leads to the station 'facing' with its north in the direction you are looking while creating it.

Most noticeable thing is when pressing and holding C while maneuvering into a dock DOES NOT match the final dock position.
This is the most noticeable drawback and bonuspoint.
With this you can turn your docked ship position to the 'usual way' you come in, or fly out.

Its planned to fix this to have all 'new' stations be sector aligned regardless of your orientation while spawning it, as its hard to predict the actual needed orientation before starting your base. (And you cannot change it later too..)

- Andy

[Edit]
Added:
Bug #648 - Station alignment - depends on player position/facing
to the tracker.
Feel free to 'watch' it there to get updates on its status
[/Edit]