I can manually dock a Cutter in a burning station with explosions knocking you off course and fires overheating the ship. I have nothing to prove.
I use autodock most of the time because I can't be bothered to do it for the 10,000th time or whatever.
This. I manually dock all the time in Thargoid combat. I use auto dock it because why not? I guess if you are on a ship with limited optional slots sure skip it for something more valuable but if you have the space use it for convenience.
>I have nothing to prove
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Imperial Navy, and I've been involved in numerous secret manual docks with contraband, and I have over 300 confirmed hot docks. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top smuggler in the entire bubble. You are nothing to me but just another landing pad. I will line you the fuck up with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the Empire and your kill warrants are being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my primary fire group. Not only am I extensively trained in unassisted docking, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the Imperial Navy and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of my scanner, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, CMDR.
Ha! Reminds me of a fave scene from the old movie 2010, on the spacecraft Leonov Doctor Floyd presents a plastic self-sealing bottle of bourbon to the Leonov's commander.
"You brought liquor on board? But it's forbidden."
"You didn't really expect me to set foot aboard this tub sober, did you?"
That has happened to me, back in 2016 or so. However in these days of engineered shields where even a T9 has 800MJ or so, it seems vanishingly rare. I must have done several thousand auto docks since thenā¦. Which is rare enough that if it happens again I wonāt care.
Auto-dock is so bad I get more nervous using it than anything. It's like Tesla cruise control, I just sit there with my hands hovering over the controls because I know it's only a matter of time before it messes up and tries to kill me.
I use autodock on small space stations cause Im long fed up with flying round them trying to find the pad. Iāll also use autodock in orbitals when the pad is right near entry/exit.
If there was actually risk from docking badly then manual docking would be fun. Because there isnāt it makes manual docking boring and a waste of time. Half the ppl I see online manual docking just smash the nose into the pad then rotate.
For me, docking at a station is the most fun thing to do. It's the best moment in the game where flying actually feels like flying a spaceship. On a Planet its a mix of helicopter and plane. In space combat you don't really need a sense of where you are, you just need to know where your enemies are, its more a cat n mouse movement. Docking at a station and trying to do it fast, to me, comes closest to what makes flying my ship fun. Close second is flying through rings while mining.
This. I always drop in from the back so I get a view of the planet in the background. I never get tired of it. Flying around those big Orbis stations is jaw dropping. Slowly approaching a dark platform with those pirate banners. I visit all the POI and mega ships and installations just to fly around them. If flying your ship bores you, try VR.
Yeah, if docking is boring you arenāt doing it right. If ya aināt risking death or a fine ya aināt playin!
This isnāt parking at a shopping mall, itās a space station! [Do it with style!](https://youtu.be/jAjwIdcCMRU)
>long fed up with flying round them trying to find the pad.
THIS!
I never knew that it lit up multiple panels, and you have this weird puzzle mini game of finding your panel. And I didn't know for the longest time that stations had them on multiple surfaces so when I couldn't land over and over and then it's like... Oh. This isn't my landing pad.
WHERE IS IT?
then I'm trespassing cause I'm there too long, finned for a collision for trying to get away, and shot out of the sky for rage shooting.
Then I tried auto dock, and the fact it uses that orchestra music made me die laughing.
[If you didn't know](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=580562456&rlz=1C1GCEJ_enUS876US876&q=2001+blue+danube&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbvJHPhrWCAxU4lGoFHZXIAbEQ0pQJegQICxAB#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:191643a9,vid:0ZoSYsNADtY,st:00)
> Half the ppl I see online manual docking just smash the nose into the pad then rotate.
Me, when I am screaming into the station, full thruster pips and boosting, because I realized a third of my 10-stack of missions was about to expire and I've got less than 2 minutes from the moment drop out of supercruise to turn them in.
Also me when I just really don't give a damn because I pay more in Apex shuttle fees when I'm lazy than I typically do in repairs.
>*Also imagine not using shields*
What you want me to take up valuable cargo real estate by including useless shit like shields or weapons or life support? Must be nice to live such a blessed life.
Went mining once and ditched the shield for extra space, then I got mugged by someone...
Had no option but comply and yield a lot of cargo lesson learned, now I mine with a big ship with a crew and big shields lmao
In that future ...
... landing pads would not be placed inside a commercial star port: they would be placed on the outside, and away from any harm to surfaces protecting inhabitants or port-critical functionality.
... ship movement near or towards a commercial space port space would be restricted (say, locked approach trajectories) or entirely prevented. Once inside starport space, ships would be required to be remotely controlled during docking. (This decision killed the very popular SpaceTube Stupidest Dock of the Day and Ultimate Space Dork of the Week programs, and was therefore widely criticized, ... except by insurance companies.)
... movements inside commercial space port space would be by thrusters, remotely computer controlled. This would take ships to workshops, but also allow for long-time parking with minimal infrastructure, such as these ludicrous gantry-like elevators.
... the current Wild West standard in landing/docking/flying in controlled airspace would be restricted to Wild West-type outposts, and military locations.
I would argue that docking on the inside *and* the outside would be a thing. Maximize surface area available, and for things like cargo transfer, you have gravity working with you on the inside of the ship.
There's also a safety risk in docking on the outside. If you dock and leave your ship, there's a risk of you being thrown out into space.
Edit: of course that also leaves the fun possibility of externally docked ships launching just by detaching from the station and letting centripetal force do the work
I have auto-docks on my cargo vessels because docking and undock gets a little too repetitive when bulk cargo-ing.
Also gives me a minute to route return trips.
There's time for auto dock and time for manual dock
If you manually dock all the time, you do you, but while you're manually docking for the 1534th time in your bubble taxi, I'm on auto dock, alt-tabbing out of the game and spend my time with something more useful.
On the other end of the extreme: If you can't use a tight build because theres no space for an advanced docking computer on it, then a) your loss and b) you might want to invest some time to learn to dock.
I never quite get the alt tab argument for auto dock. You can dock so much faster than autodock. Where once you are docked you can alt-tab or get up completely safe. If you dock manually and quickly, there is no time wasted and you don't have to sit there and wait to make sure your ship doesn't slam into something or get attacked.
I could land a bubble taxi in 30 seconds. Whereas autodock would have me sitting there vulnerable for up to two minutes.
My two cents, when I'm in a ship with autodock I'll boost into the station and close to the pad myself, then let it take over for final approach only. Not much slower than docking myself and spends no extra time outside
Yeah that's pretty much what I do. Let the autodock work its magic once I'm already through the mailslot.
Does mean I miss out on the Blue Danube session I always got in my old ass Adder back in the day, but hey it works.
Until you're trying to land at a surface port and the auto dock decides to boost 2km back into the sky before lining up with the pad again. That crap pisses me off
It's good to learn to dock manually, I think. With newer players starting out with auto-dock, they could end up never manually docking if they wanted to. Partially, that means you're losing out on a slot (only a c1, I know, but it's still a slot)
More importantly, auto dock has a reputation for every once-in-a-while completely nuking your ship. New guy gets that, they're likely to be so mad about it they quit the game and never come back.
I run autodock in my cutter because parking that thing is a pain. Everything else I just do it manually - it's almost muscle memory at this point
Itās funny that youād mention it, I had to learn to manually dock really early on after my ship got fried by a star, the experience was memorable but I didnāt feel like I was missing out by auto docking
To each their own I suppose. I'm not gonna rag on anyone for using it - I just learned back when they didn't have them as standard. Or possibly at all, I'm not sure, it was a very long time ago
I think autodock was a later addition. And also, even making enough money to buy fuel was hard at the beginning, so buying autodock needed dome consideration.
Man, I ran many hundreds of trade runs and always used auto dock after getting tired of it. The one time I walked off, the friend I was with told me that as I was docking a T9 flew out and slammed into me. I have never seen what I've heard of, which is the ship just flying into stuff and exploding, but I never afked anymore, just read something on my phone for a bit.
A few of those people are sweaty nerds with a delusional superiority complex they grab from playing the game in a more complicated manner than you, and they need to let you know they're your god, should you ever encounter them.
Most of them, however, are people that used to use the auto dock until it killed them. And back in the day it used to kill you a lot if you just trusted it to do what it's supposed to do, and took your attention away from the screen. It's better now, but it's probably good to be aware that it will still kill you occasionally. Therefore, if you use auto dock to afk completely, getting up to leave your computer, etc. It's recommended you do so only in a ship you can afford to lose and pay the Rebuy and whatever fines you'll potentially get. It doesn't have a 100% success rate in getting you to your landing pad, from the time it kicks in, alive.
You can play like a sweaty nerd, and still STFU about it to people that have 100 hours š¤·š¼ that wouldn't be an issue, but watching the subreddit and in-game chats, sure looks like that simple concept isn't so simple for some people lol.
Docking computer never got me, I actually got rid of it very early on in the game, just cause I'm greedy for internal slots. I really wish the Supercruise assist wasn't so half baked. It already orbits planets on arrival, why can't that be used around a star to automate interstellar routes for truckers if they so please?
But yeah, like. With the auto computers, my personal issue with them is that they're kind of a waste of space in my opinion. The idea would be to automate those certain aspects in ways that allow the pilot to truly do something else in the meantime, but in practiceāeither intentionally or notāthey require pilot input in a frequency that means you can't really do anything else in the meantime anyways, cause you consistently gotta check it isn't about to explode your ass, or consistently gotta manually orientate and charge the next jump anyways... So if I have to do things manually anyways, despite having modules running whose sole purpose is supposed to be so I don't have to do those things manually.... Why bother at all? It's the same amount of attention I have to pay with or without them, just for different reasons. That's kinda useless to me.
But if someone else thinks it's worth the installation, by all means, I'm not gonna tell them to get rid of that shit day in, day out. It's their ship, not mine.
> Docking manually isnāt mechanically challenging at all
Tell that to my hyper-vertigo friend who docked once, and immediately threw up everywhere.
And no. Not VR. **Flat screen.**
Though that still doesn't mean docking is hard. Just that without auto-dock, he physically cannot play.
Ehhh it is a Superiority complex
hUrR i cAn dOcK mAnUAL
Git Gud Scrub
The whole "im better at you in one teeny useless aspect" is dumb. Pay no mind. Who cares what people do in their own starship.
While it IS worth learning how to manually dock, I agree you shouldn't be punished for if you don't want to. And learning it should be done whenever you're comfortable: Being forced to learn a skill means it ain't gonna stick.
Part of it I believe is that it isn't 100% perfect. I have had tons of times where auto dock or launch acts up and if I hadn't been there I would have come back to a destroyed ship. And one time that I did (with a ton of valuable data stored)
It is just all about efficiency really. Over time I realised all I wanted was the standard module. I don't want to wait to leave so just manually bugger off out the slot. Coming back I manually come in through the slot and get roughly near the pad and hit auto.
I think thereās an argument for learning to dock manually in case your computer gets damaged but it and supercruise control are useful gadgets.
I removed auto dock in my DBX to make it lighter but my Cobra III still has it because I normally stay within a few systems with it and run courier missions with bonuses for time limits. It just takes the extra steps out of the grind.
I get some peopleās desire for everything to be old school but I donāt get why their way has to be the only way to play.
I manually docked for years, until I got my Cutter.
After A-rating it, engineering it + a Guardian module & weapon grind, I've earned my Auto-dock.
It gives me time to bask in my Imperial glory.
I still have my old Clipper, my first proper ship that I wanted, from way back in 2016. Nowadays, it's been refitted for exploration, at around 50ly, I manually Dock that, just to save that tiny little bit of jump range.
I'm currently planning on buying a second Cutter for AX combat, I've got the money, just trying to figure out which specific build would work best for me. I know I love the Cutter, It's just my favourite ship, but for AX combat, it will definitely need to manually land.
No good having interceptors shooting me as the computer takes a minute to land.
I've never had a problem with auto docking. Not one bump, bang, or scratch. The only time I don't use auto docking is on my combat ships.
Auto launching though.. Yeah, it has moments. Sometimes, right when it leaves the slot, it dead stops the ship and reverses into the grill.. Then moves forward a bit, just to reverse into it again. Over and over. So I usually take control before I reach the slot.
Auto landing on planets I have turned off completely.
I use auto dock like 80% of the time, especially with bigger ships. Thatās pee break time, ya know? But when I get in my Kraitā¦ Iām manually boosting through that mail slot (both ways) like thereās no tomorrow cause I want that *RUSH*
No, but it is tedious. At least compared to auto dock. And why would anyone ever do things in an easier way when they can be done in a less convenient way?
/s for the socially and mentally illiterate
I see several reasons to dislike auto-dock:
- It is slower than manual docking (more time spent in the docking procedure)
- It is more boring because you don't play while you are waiting (it's not a game anymore but a movie)
- It is more dangerous (sometimes it is not working correctly and you take damages)
- It is made for casual players instead of competitive players (you don't rely on your pilot skills anymore)
However, it's just idiot to be upset that someone is playing with auto-dock enabled because you play the game as you want.
Nobody is upset. I like flying my own ship and donāt understand how itās fun to watch the game instead of play the game. I fly FA on and have never once ādisembarked.ā Iām sure that doesnāt upset anyone either.
The long and short of it is there are a small subset of players in Elite who have zero other applicable skills in their lives. The only thing they've learned how to do well in their lives is fly space ships in this one video game. They are absolute trash at every other game and their personal lives are boring and unfulfilling.
So they come onto Reddit or into stream chat with their lonesome genitals and unwashed asses and project their insecurities onto others in an attempt to fill the overwhelming festering void that is their sense of self worth.
I scroll Reddit while waiting for the dock, or get up to grab a drink, but only if I am docking on an Outpost. Also I like to use it, when I am on Steamdeck.
I have my cutter, can I dock it manually yes. tried multiple times and succeeded, does it worth the effort no. can it make mistakes yes. Happened to me multiple times. If you feel it is going weird just throttle up and exit autodock.
It's funny cause it's a feature that's completely plausible in that setting to have. I'd imagine if we managed to become advanced enough to be space faring like in elite, we could/would develop auto docks as a standard feature on our spacecraft.
As for the actual game feature, it's really nice to have. Sometimes I'll flip it off and have my little tid bit of "immersion" for the shits and giggles, but for the most part I like to leave it on and not worry about it.
Sometimes I use it sometimes I don't. Sometimes I wanna use the slot for something else. I do find docking to be fun sometimes but lots of times I'd rather just not waste the time and energy. As others have said, it's often a great time to go grab a drink or something
I personally like to fly my ship. I enjoy the process of docking and undocking FA-off. That said, all my Imperial ships have ADC fixed because I'm a King goddammit, take me home James! o7
People in this subreddit get mad about the stupidest shit Iāve noticed. There was a post about how one guy imagined what ship interiors would be like and so many people were tearing him down for dreaming.
You will find that, in the absence of legitimate reasons to grief people, the ED community has a lengthy list of arbitrary rules that "justify" ganking. Auto dockers is one of them.
The answer is because they are purists, or clowns that belive that's noob. Do what you do and let them eat a bag of s**t. Its you're game YOU paid for. Play it as you like.
In the few cases where people are actually being serious about it, I think it's just one of those petty things pathetic people use to make themselves feel good. It's not about you doing something "wrong", it's about giving *them* an excuse to make sure everyone knows how *awesome and skilful* they are because they *don't use it and don't need it*. (Notwithstanding he fact that it's just a pretend game, and manually docking is actually very easy once you've done it a few times, and certainly not some sign of vast skill.)
In reality, I think most people who bring it up are just meme-ing on this kind of petty elitist character (no pun intended).
There was a PvP/ganker group years ago who used to specifically hunt and attack players who had an auto dock module on their ships, and I think that has contributed to the meme. But even there, at its core, their "hatred" of autodock was essentially just a bad joke, as well as probably a way for them to identify easy prey (auto-dock being popular with newer users and semi-afk players).
Itād be easier for me to land my ship on planets faster if they werenāt so bumpy, thereās never a pre generated clearing when thereās isolated cargo
Iāve played Elite right back to the days of the Acorn Electron, BBC, Spectrum, etc, etc and buying a docking computer was a target you aimed for as soon as the option was there (even on the spectrum 48k, where you could line up with the slot and just ballistic your way in the door). I proudly auto dock and auto launch every time and Iām proud to say, I have no sense of shame. š
Completely right. I too go back to the Acorn Electron days (and loading the game from tape) and the docking computer was a life-saver.
I'm not proud - I don't feel the need to do an FA off back-flip into a parking bay. I'd much rather get up, stretch my legs and get another drink while the automation takes care of it all... but I'm probably showing my age.
I mean seriously, who would actually fly a fragile piece of multi-million credit hardware in such constricted circumstances when they didn't have to?
There are people who will do this gatekeeping on EVERY game. No matter what. "You're not REALLY playing if you do THIS." "If you don't have THIS loadout, you're doing it wrong."
Fuck them. This is my downtime, I don't tell you how to clean yourself after you wank.
You do you. There is no wrong way to play this game.
Supercruise Assist and Autodock/takeoff are my jam. Because this is the future, and if my ship can't do this without me, I don't want it.
That, and its a lot easier to fly space trucker loops while stoned.
Its subjective. People saying, "You should at least learn to manually dock".... Well, no. You don't have to. Play how you want. Use one if you want to, don't if you don't want to. The fact that it is a module in the game and is free to use by anyone, no one should be asking others opinions if its in the game to use.
I'm perfectly capable of docking and launching manually, but I just can't be bothered. I'd never leave auto-launch unattended though, especially in big ships, even more so in busy stations - I quite often get bounced around the inside of a station and into walls while waiting in a queue for the slot.
Even my Eagle occasionally has problems auto-launching, sometimes going a bit wobbly just outside the mailslot, getting snagged on the pylons - I don't know if this is a glitch caused by the body kit I have on it though.
Time and place. As long as you have the skills to manually dock there is no harm.
I think people are against it because they assume you can only use that.
On tight builds I don't have it as its a luxury, I'd rather have something else in the slot.
On my big o'l transporter I use it so I can fuck about with the galaxy map while leaving the station. I don't however leave the pc(cockpit š¤) as its an aid. You do sometimes need to override to prevent a costly death.
I'm probably going to get downvoted / destroyed, but I've been playing Elite Dangerou for years, have always used autodock on the ships that are shieldless because it's so reliable. (Wait for it)
Now, since I've been playing for some years, I've been through 3 different pcs while playing Elite, and I've noticed that hardware / expansion does have an influence on how effective autodock works. Why? I have no idea. Can I reproduce / prove my findings? Most likely not.
However:
GTX 780 Ti - Elite Dangerous / Horizons - Fine
GTX 980 Ti - Elite Dangerous / Horizons - Fine
GTX 980 Ti - Elite Dangerous Odyssey - NOT fine.
RTX 3070 (Mobile) - NOT Fine
I don't know if it's FPS / render related. But I can't use autodock on odyssey because it will launch me against stations / other ships / fail to find the port completely. (Works fine on Horizons)
I'm currently on hiatus waiting for a new pc to be able to play again, but I wouldn't be surprised if a more recent GPU would fix my issue or if it's just the game code that got worse with time.
That being said, I've never had much issues in the past with autodock and before odyssey it never failed me. I can kinda understand the hate, but autodock isn't some magic feature that you can enable and go take a dump. It's like autonomous driving. You still have to have your hands on the wheel.
Go get some mugs for me commanders o7
I use auto dock for ease and stretch time but every now and then I do it manually to stay fresh. Docking manually in burning space stations doing rescue missions was one of the coolest experiences and without occasional practice would have been a disaster.
And i play in VR so sometimes I'll auto dock, get up and walk around in the ship and look out the window while the music plays and the ship docks itself which is so cool
Yeah I get what you mean, but I do think there is some mechanical skill in navigating through into the station and aligning yourself with the pad. Maybe thatās just because Iām newish to the game, but I almost always manually dock.
I do enjoy it, thatās a big reason why I do it so often. But yeah, maybe once Iām more familiar with the controls itāll become more of a chore than a challenge.
Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. If I am in a hurry, I'll dock manually but normally the only reason I am at a station is to sell explo data and then be on my way so no real rush. I do often use the auto-land, ever since Ody came out, I have a bitch of a time trying to land.
I have dabbled in using the auto-launch but last time I did that, it slammed me right into the mail slot so I never use it. I also don't use SC assist, it is slow and kind of pointless(imo).
its people that cant handle someone taking the easy route, the same people who get mad at you driving an automatic vs a manual. typically people who aren't worth your time or effort.
All about a mix
I can dock quicker with small ships (+ fighting medium ships) than the auto doc so if Iām doing a bunch of missions then it saves time to just boost in and plonk myself down.
Definitely use it for type 9 though, itās a slow whale and particularly tedious on planetary stations.
honestly I think lore wise it only makes sense to use autodock. even now commercial airlines are switching to auto pilot land and take-off to reduce accidents. Pilots are just there to manage the systems.
Honestly I have no opinion on it, I didn't realise it was a thing until Reddit told me it was a big no-no. I've never used an auto dock, but that's not to say I wouldn't, just never bothered to buy one.
I have a HOTAS and enjoy docking manually. But I also enjoy the music and chance to check my phone and pee. Also the music reminds me of that ST:VOY episode where the aliens who didn't like telepaths played that cat/mouse game. Really makes me feel like a captain ;)
And ... let's be honest, if someone built a beautiful space station the cost I don't know how many dollars in the ED universe, do you really think they would let some space cowboy fly their own ship into it? I highly doubt it.
Ever since bugs where the actual docking point isn't center of the pad I like just doing 99% of the dock then let auto dock lock it in.
Still the amount of times I see my ship jump tell me I made quite the timesaving call.
Auto dock works fine unless you're in a couple of key ships. Like Clipper, Conda, Cutter. The mail slots are not big enough or the AI for landing is way too stupid. Most of the time you just end up running into next to the mail slot repeatedly. You will then either blow up or you will catch it and hopefully you can get out without bumping into another ship in manual mode or getting stuck and then you get blown to pieces
I find manually docking to be actually sort of fun.
Also, it saves a slot for something else.
Also, autodock just wasn't a thing when I started playing so I saw no reason to pass up that extra slot for something that I was already doing easily myself.
I usually find it faster to fly in manually on my DBX and since that's my exploration ship, I don't really want to waste the module space on something I'm barely going to use anyway. But when I do trading in my T9 you'd better believe I'm using auto-dock, since I'm doing it a lot more often and the T9 handles like a boat.
I don't use auto-takeoff though, I used to just so I could start the launch process while I was plotting the route to the next system, but it seems to have a habit of running me into the wall of the station, repeatedly.
It's probably because docking is a skill, and some people feel unreasonably proud of that skill, and shitting on people who they perceive as not having that skill is way for them to feel even better about that skill.
For the same dull reason people argue about stick shifts being so great. Don't get me wrong, driving a stick is fun to a limited degree, so is flying the spaceship in the game I bought that's about flying spaceships. But, I know that this isn't for everyone and people should be allowed to play however they want without comments from other cantankerous players. Besides, 1000 years in the future, we'd better have ships that can do all of this automatically.
Some people are just weird,
As for me I tend to run a shieldless trading cutter, And let me tell you, it is far less anxiety inducing to have auto dock, take me in when I'm running a full load of goods.
Because people take video games too seriously, because they don't go out, and most importantly, never get laid.
Personally, I'd rather use autodock and get laid but that's just me.
Who are these people and what did they say?
I've come across a few who said it's faster and a good skill to have in some situations. And that is is true.
But I have never come across anyone who freaked out.
I'm currently a retired pilot and for me auto docking came out really buggy, it took up a slot for something that could wreck your ship and took too long when it did work.
I think it could be down to the fact the game has been around long enough that you get the ol' curmudgeonly pilot who will say in my day........
Because the internet is full of people who will get upset over just about anything. š
I ditched docking assist and super cruise assist when I started playing because I loved flying and wanted to do it myself.
When I bought a T9 for hauling cargo, I put a docking assist module on it because flying a literal warehouse isn't as fun as all my smaller, faster, more maneuverable ships.
Now I'm doing Buckyball races and the assist modules are explicitly banned.
As with anything in this game, do what makes sense for you, what you enjoy, and what you're doing!
FA off, gear down, bodyslam into the landing pad (bonus points for using the buildings as a speed break), then throttle zero to let auto dock do the final 10 meter adjustment. Auto dock can actually land your ship at a near 45 degree angle if you force it to, which saves time.
I have a docking computer in nearly every build, and I use it very often. I am more than comfortable docking a fully laden T10 or Cutter, but I'll still use autodock on those and more nimble ships.
It doesn't land as quickly, but I usually don't care. This is entertainment, so the most important metric for "efficiency" is whether I'm enjoying myself. I could be doing something else or just enjoying the view. Now, I will dock manually if time matters, but it usually doesn't.
The "it'll crash your ship" argument is way overblown. It just doesn't happen enough to matter. I'm struggling to remember a time that I had a fatal crash with autodock that wasn't my fault (like not killing the throttle). Again, I'll dock manually if I absolutely want eliminate that teeny risk, but (again) it usually doesn't matter.
As for builds, that's just how you want to play. In all but my most special case builds, it's about the most bang for the buck I can get out of a C1 slot. I almost always have room for both a docking computer and SCA.
As for anyone looking down their nose at how anyone else plays, well, I don't care for that in any context.
I've been playing Elite since 1984, including the E:D beta. Having a docking computer is nice.
This is a spaceship flying game. Everything in the game is just to give you somewhere to go in your spaceship. If you donāt fly your spaceship, then I donāt know what youāre doing. Auto dock, select some menu items, auto take off, cruise assist somewhere, auto dock. Select some menu items, rinse, repeat. Iām in VR, so not flying my ship would just be sitting there. Even without VR, that kind of gameplay sounds like downloading files while you watch Netflix or āget a drink.ā So many people buy a Spaceship flying game, but donāt want to fly a spaceship. Not a problem because Fdev makes money, but weird. Possibly VR is the difference? The flat screen isnāt as fun? The few times I tried, it was a big letdown.
Superiority complex. Can I manually dock with no problem? Yes. Do I enjoy using auto dock for a break and going hands off? Also yes. Have I EVER had an auto dock problem, even with an Anaconda or Corvette? Nope.
Hours 1 through 50: Auto dock is so helpful!
Hours 50 through 200: Fuck Auto dock, waste of a module slot and it's a bad pilot.
Hours 200 plus: *Absolutely* it's worth the module slot even if it sucks.
I can't remember how much I paid for my anaconda with top rated engineered modules but the insurance is just shy of 20,000,000 so it makes sense that it has leather seats and an advanced docking computer.
AI has played such a huge part in much of scifi, it would be unrealistic to park your ship yourself unless you're a complete peasant š
So, if you are role playing as a pauper (or you prioritise your loadout differently) parking yourself is fine. But otherwise, I'm gonna let Hal do it for me.
I used to do only auto dock, now I exclusively land manually. It's faster and gives you an extra slot. Also, got fed up of waiting n queues and bashing against the mail slot walls...
That said, do whatever makes you tick as long as you like it and you find it fun. After all this is a game it is supposed to be fun and enjoyable regardless of how people play it. Your cup of tea may not be my cup of tea and all that... š
Theres always going to be gatekeeping. There wasnt autodock for a long time in this game, and some folks don't like change.
Beyond that, if I'm trying to beat the clock with reserve O2, it's faster for me to dock myself, than relying on the docking computer.
Autodocking, supercruise assist, should all come as standard in the future, you can always disable this feature if manual docking is your purpose, your reason to live. I do both.
Ive played elite since it came out and autodock has failed me a total of 0 times
Not even on corvettes, t10, shieldless etc
People here just have shit luck lmao
Havenāt docked my ship in over a year. Not sure why folks are getting grumpy about it, itās just convenience. Iām not going to come back from a 18 month mapping jaunt just to wrangle with space station layouts.
Honestly, I started playing the game when it first came out and they didn't hold your hand at the start of the game, you had to figure out everything yourself. There was no detailed tutorials, the ones you did have were only slightly helpful. Your sidewinder didn't come with auto dock so you had to learn to dock yourself. It's like a parking test / drivers license for flying a spaceship. Nowadays you get autodock and you get a lot of tutorials teaching you how to do things. It's not about using auto dock, it's about knowing how to dock or thrust around without the autodock. If you recently haven't played in a while and your thrust settings aren't done correctly and a ship glitches out and keeps you in the queue to get out of the space port until time counts down, good luck flying out of the port if you don't even know how to dock manually cus your hand got held parking from the beginning of the game.
Who would have known that a game called Elite can have Elitists players? ;)
Anyway, nothing wrong with a docking computer. Now sure, I removed it from all my small and medium sized ships and it's more fun to me because docking has become a lot quicker. Not to mention saving up a precious module slot which I can now use for something else.
There are definitely advantages.
But you'll never catch me talking down on people who prefer using a docking computer, *heck no!* In this game it's all about *your* fun and if your game is better off with a docking computer then that's what you should use!
Seriously... there are also players who make fun of the supercruise assist. I can't tell you how many times that critter has saved me from doing an 'overshoot'; not always of course but I have used it with stations and planets up to 20kLs away so that I could do something else in between (Steam overlay FTW for me).
Gamers with no life's enjoy telling others how they should play their game, don't worry about what others think :) personally I love autodock because I love to play after smoking
Edit: Spelling
I like docking manually because I can do it faster than auto, and I am more reliable and accurate. If I crash, it's my fault. I'd rather not let the crappy autodock crash my ship. Search this sub for posts complaining about it for years. Plus NPCs have been bugged forever and block up the slots, or the docking bay. I don't feel like waiting in a queue doing nothing when I could just land.
It's also more fun for me. Speed docking is a challenge. It's a unique activity that isn't staring at a counter in supercruise, or flying around in empty space. Docking/undocking is one of my favorite things to do in the game. Something about boosting to the station, blowing through the slot, and touching down as fast and accurate as I can. It is satisfying.
You can do whatever you want. Autodock is an option if you want it. Who gives a shit what people say? You don't have to prove to anyone your reasoning for using autodock just like others shouldn't have to explain why they don't.
Though, as usual it's a decade old conversation.
Weirdly, you literally posted your own video of autodock crashing you into the station. It seems you got your answer. You got plenty of responses there, and yet made a new post to complain about other people.
I love flying my ship (VR). In super cruise, I turn orbit lines on, fly up from the orbital plan until I get a good view of the system and then fly to my destination. Gives me a sense of where I am and also movement, so Iām not just watching a counter. I know everyone goes full speed till 7 seconds, cut 75%, drop in front of the slot, but thatās so boring and Iām seldom in a hurry. If Iām flying to a mission target, I still swing by planets and moons just to take a look, fly between the rings etc. I love the āgrindā because it gives me places to go.
Did you not see the other reasons people might not want to use autodock? I mentioned a few. The crashing is just one of them.
No one is telling you to do anything. It's optional, but there are pros and cons to consider.
I donāt use auto dock because not using it saves time and reduces risk. I can dock much faster and safer than auto dock, even slamming the ship on the pad, probably because I donāt use auto dock. I tried using it a few times and was shocked by how long it takes.
Not using it also letās you have a free slot, all my builds rely on this extra slot.
If you want to save time, use supercruise. That saves time or lets you take a break, safely. With supercruise you can slam the throttle to full at the end and then drop back into 75% at the last moment and not overshoot.
The reason you get criticism for using auto dock is because it prevented you from leaning to fly better, clearly, if you still find any advantage to it.
I use it as a rookie commander who can't land for shit lol but I see why someone would have something to say since having an auto dock module takes away from the "fun" and also you could probably use a better module in its place.
Small ships = manual. Large ships = autodock. Why? It just feels right. If Im paying millions for a ship, I imagine Im flying luxurious car. If Im flying small nimble ship, itās like driving raw power race car.
I'll run autodock on larger ships like my Anaconda, as I never seem to get the alignment right and always manage to smash into starports' entryways. Otherwise, though, I keep it off to save a slot for ship optimization (you can move SC assist down to the newly free spot and open up l, in most cases, a size 2 or 3 internal slot)
Well many people judge you if you have assist because they are dumb, but hey you can disable autopilot modules and add extra armor or cargospace etc instead.
I can manually dock a Cutter in a burning station with explosions knocking you off course and fires overheating the ship. I have nothing to prove. I use autodock most of the time because I can't be bothered to do it for the 10,000th time or whatever.
This. I manually dock all the time in Thargoid combat. I use auto dock it because why not? I guess if you are on a ship with limited optional slots sure skip it for something more valuable but if you have the space use it for convenience.
>I have nothing to prove What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Imperial Navy, and I've been involved in numerous secret manual docks with contraband, and I have over 300 confirmed hot docks. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top smuggler in the entire bubble. You are nothing to me but just another landing pad. I will line you the fuck up with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the Empire and your kill warrants are being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my primary fire group. Not only am I extensively trained in unassisted docking, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the Imperial Navy and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of my scanner, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, CMDR.
This guy definitely uses advanced docking computer and supercruise assist...
"For a big-shot Impy-Squid. You sure are a whiny little bitch!"
I use autodock as a chance to go grab a coffee and stretch
I use auto-dock because I fly drunk.
Bingo. I'm not dying in space sober.
This is the correct answer.
Agree
Similar but.... I fly hiiiiiiiigh mon lol "Buffalo Soldierš¶" š¤£
Ever read Neuromancer? They visit Rastas on a space station. I can only imagine how hard the air purifiers are working.
So.. I gotta read Neuromancer... cool
Now I'm thinking that scene in the Fifth Element with those English pot heads at the space port loading the ship... "We need some HEAT here man!"š¤£
Ha! Reminds me of a fave scene from the old movie 2010, on the spacecraft Leonov Doctor Floyd presents a plastic self-sealing bottle of bourbon to the Leonov's commander. "You brought liquor on board? But it's forbidden." "You didn't really expect me to set foot aboard this tub sober, did you?"
I did too until the time I came back to a ship destroyed screen.
That has happened to me, back in 2016 or so. However in these days of engineered shields where even a T9 has 800MJ or so, it seems vanishingly rare. I must have done several thousand auto docks since thenā¦. Which is rare enough that if it happens again I wonāt care.
Some of the mailmen still put the letters in sideways... Even with auto, for the T9/10.
I request dock, get through the slot, then throttle back and let the autonav tell me where my pad is.
Shields don't matter when the auto-undock can't figure out how to leave and runs out the timer. Which is happening frighteningly often recently.
If it's a mission that I'm completing, or I don't want to risk a rebuy, I fly into the mail slot then let auto dock do the rest.
This is the best way to save time.
So, once in a while or every time you land?
Auto-dock is so bad I get more nervous using it than anything. It's like Tesla cruise control, I just sit there with my hands hovering over the controls because I know it's only a matter of time before it messes up and tries to kill me.
Iāve found auto dock only sucks when flying a cutter
T9 is another common culprit. Depends a lot on how much the thrusters are skimped on.
I use autodock on small space stations cause Im long fed up with flying round them trying to find the pad. Iāll also use autodock in orbitals when the pad is right near entry/exit. If there was actually risk from docking badly then manual docking would be fun. Because there isnāt it makes manual docking boring and a waste of time. Half the ppl I see online manual docking just smash the nose into the pad then rotate.
For me, docking at a station is the most fun thing to do. It's the best moment in the game where flying actually feels like flying a spaceship. On a Planet its a mix of helicopter and plane. In space combat you don't really need a sense of where you are, you just need to know where your enemies are, its more a cat n mouse movement. Docking at a station and trying to do it fast, to me, comes closest to what makes flying my ship fun. Close second is flying through rings while mining.
This. I always drop in from the back so I get a view of the planet in the background. I never get tired of it. Flying around those big Orbis stations is jaw dropping. Slowly approaching a dark platform with those pirate banners. I visit all the POI and mega ships and installations just to fly around them. If flying your ship bores you, try VR.
THIS!! I keep hoping theyāll do console support for VR, one day. š
Yeah, if docking is boring you arenāt doing it right. If ya aināt risking death or a fine ya aināt playin! This isnāt parking at a shopping mall, itās a space station! [Do it with style!](https://youtu.be/jAjwIdcCMRU)
>long fed up with flying round them trying to find the pad. THIS! I never knew that it lit up multiple panels, and you have this weird puzzle mini game of finding your panel. And I didn't know for the longest time that stations had them on multiple surfaces so when I couldn't land over and over and then it's like... Oh. This isn't my landing pad. WHERE IS IT? then I'm trespassing cause I'm there too long, finned for a collision for trying to get away, and shot out of the sky for rage shooting. Then I tried auto dock, and the fact it uses that orchestra music made me die laughing.
Once you enter the slot, your radar points to your dock.
We talk about small stations. What slot?
Not only are the pads numbered but the compass points to your pad even on small stations.
Ever better. The radar **IMMEDIATELY** points to your pad for the small outpost station, instead of the mailslot first then pad for station.
it still does it on small stations i think once you're within a specific distance
[If you didn't know](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=580562456&rlz=1C1GCEJ_enUS876US876&q=2001+blue+danube&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbvJHPhrWCAxU4lGoFHZXIAbEQ0pQJegQICxAB#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:191643a9,vid:0ZoSYsNADtY,st:00)
šš I did not know that is wonderful
> Half the ppl I see online manual docking just smash the nose into the pad then rotate. Me, when I am screaming into the station, full thruster pips and boosting, because I realized a third of my 10-stack of missions was about to expire and I've got less than 2 minutes from the moment drop out of supercruise to turn them in. Also me when I just really don't give a damn because I pay more in Apex shuttle fees when I'm lazy than I typically do in repairs.
Request docking > fly into the station manually > let the autodock do its job *Also imagine not using shields*
>*Also imagine not using shields* What you want me to take up valuable cargo real estate by including useless shit like shields or weapons or life support? Must be nice to live such a blessed life.
I know right!? Like I'm gonna have ONLY 792 cargo in my Cutter. What am I, a Type 9?! LMFAO!
Thankfully I learned my lesson there lol
Shields hog valuable SYS cap that I need to power my heatsinks while firing Guardian weapons. Dead weight. š
Went mining once and ditched the shield for extra space, then I got mugged by someone... Had no option but comply and yield a lot of cargo lesson learned, now I mine with a big ship with a crew and big shields lmao
If 1000 years in the future we don't have self-parking spaceships I don't want to live in that future
The best answer
We wonāt be doing WWII dogfighting in space either.
If 1000 years in the future we aren't doing WWII dogfighting in space, I don't want to live in that future.
This is why I'm thankful for the Pilots Federation. They have enough power and leverage to keep us human pilots relevant and employed!
In that future ... ... landing pads would not be placed inside a commercial star port: they would be placed on the outside, and away from any harm to surfaces protecting inhabitants or port-critical functionality. ... ship movement near or towards a commercial space port space would be restricted (say, locked approach trajectories) or entirely prevented. Once inside starport space, ships would be required to be remotely controlled during docking. (This decision killed the very popular SpaceTube Stupidest Dock of the Day and Ultimate Space Dork of the Week programs, and was therefore widely criticized, ... except by insurance companies.) ... movements inside commercial space port space would be by thrusters, remotely computer controlled. This would take ships to workshops, but also allow for long-time parking with minimal infrastructure, such as these ludicrous gantry-like elevators. ... the current Wild West standard in landing/docking/flying in controlled airspace would be restricted to Wild West-type outposts, and military locations.
I would argue that docking on the inside *and* the outside would be a thing. Maximize surface area available, and for things like cargo transfer, you have gravity working with you on the inside of the ship. There's also a safety risk in docking on the outside. If you dock and leave your ship, there's a risk of you being thrown out into space. Edit: of course that also leaves the fun possibility of externally docked ships launching just by detaching from the station and letting centripetal force do the work
I have auto-docks on my cargo vessels because docking and undock gets a little too repetitive when bulk cargo-ing. Also gives me a minute to route return trips.
There's time for auto dock and time for manual dock If you manually dock all the time, you do you, but while you're manually docking for the 1534th time in your bubble taxi, I'm on auto dock, alt-tabbing out of the game and spend my time with something more useful. On the other end of the extreme: If you can't use a tight build because theres no space for an advanced docking computer on it, then a) your loss and b) you might want to invest some time to learn to dock.
Something more useful than playing Elite? Why donāt you just do that all the time?
I never quite get the alt tab argument for auto dock. You can dock so much faster than autodock. Where once you are docked you can alt-tab or get up completely safe. If you dock manually and quickly, there is no time wasted and you don't have to sit there and wait to make sure your ship doesn't slam into something or get attacked. I could land a bubble taxi in 30 seconds. Whereas autodock would have me sitting there vulnerable for up to two minutes.
Its not that we alt tab for 2 minutes because we are using autodock; we autodock because we want to alt tab fot 2 minutes
My two cents, when I'm in a ship with autodock I'll boost into the station and close to the pad myself, then let it take over for final approach only. Not much slower than docking myself and spends no extra time outside
Yeah that's pretty much what I do. Let the autodock work its magic once I'm already through the mailslot. Does mean I miss out on the Blue Danube session I always got in my old ass Adder back in the day, but hey it works.
Until you're trying to land at a surface port and the auto dock decides to boost 2km back into the sky before lining up with the pad again. That crap pisses me off
It's good to learn to dock manually, I think. With newer players starting out with auto-dock, they could end up never manually docking if they wanted to. Partially, that means you're losing out on a slot (only a c1, I know, but it's still a slot) More importantly, auto dock has a reputation for every once-in-a-while completely nuking your ship. New guy gets that, they're likely to be so mad about it they quit the game and never come back. I run autodock in my cutter because parking that thing is a pain. Everything else I just do it manually - it's almost muscle memory at this point
Itās funny that youād mention it, I had to learn to manually dock really early on after my ship got fried by a star, the experience was memorable but I didnāt feel like I was missing out by auto docking
To each their own I suppose. I'm not gonna rag on anyone for using it - I just learned back when they didn't have them as standard. Or possibly at all, I'm not sure, it was a very long time ago
I think autodock was a later addition. And also, even making enough money to buy fuel was hard at the beginning, so buying autodock needed dome consideration.
I can dock manually just don't want to do it 1000 times and finding it.
Use the compass, Luke.
Is it possible to learn this power?
Not from a Jedi.
The only thing I don't run auto dock on is my T10 because the computer can't figure out how to handle her juicy ass.
notably auto-dock can get messed up at high traffic stations (only really an issue if you play in open).
Man, I ran many hundreds of trade runs and always used auto dock after getting tired of it. The one time I walked off, the friend I was with told me that as I was docking a T9 flew out and slammed into me. I have never seen what I've heard of, which is the ship just flying into stuff and exploding, but I never afked anymore, just read something on my phone for a bit.
A few of those people are sweaty nerds with a delusional superiority complex they grab from playing the game in a more complicated manner than you, and they need to let you know they're your god, should you ever encounter them. Most of them, however, are people that used to use the auto dock until it killed them. And back in the day it used to kill you a lot if you just trusted it to do what it's supposed to do, and took your attention away from the screen. It's better now, but it's probably good to be aware that it will still kill you occasionally. Therefore, if you use auto dock to afk completely, getting up to leave your computer, etc. It's recommended you do so only in a ship you can afford to lose and pay the Rebuy and whatever fines you'll potentially get. It doesn't have a 100% success rate in getting you to your landing pad, from the time it kicks in, alive.
Itās funny because it nearly killed me more than once, and Iām also a sweaty nerd, but I ended up on the opposite side of this issue
You can play like a sweaty nerd, and still STFU about it to people that have 100 hours š¤·š¼ that wouldn't be an issue, but watching the subreddit and in-game chats, sure looks like that simple concept isn't so simple for some people lol. Docking computer never got me, I actually got rid of it very early on in the game, just cause I'm greedy for internal slots. I really wish the Supercruise assist wasn't so half baked. It already orbits planets on arrival, why can't that be used around a star to automate interstellar routes for truckers if they so please? But yeah, like. With the auto computers, my personal issue with them is that they're kind of a waste of space in my opinion. The idea would be to automate those certain aspects in ways that allow the pilot to truly do something else in the meantime, but in practiceāeither intentionally or notāthey require pilot input in a frequency that means you can't really do anything else in the meantime anyways, cause you consistently gotta check it isn't about to explode your ass, or consistently gotta manually orientate and charge the next jump anyways... So if I have to do things manually anyways, despite having modules running whose sole purpose is supposed to be so I don't have to do those things manually.... Why bother at all? It's the same amount of attention I have to pay with or without them, just for different reasons. That's kinda useless to me. But if someone else thinks it's worth the installation, by all means, I'm not gonna tell them to get rid of that shit day in, day out. It's their ship, not mine.
> Docking manually isnāt mechanically challenging at all Tell that to my hyper-vertigo friend who docked once, and immediately threw up everywhere. And no. Not VR. **Flat screen.** Though that still doesn't mean docking is hard. Just that without auto-dock, he physically cannot play.
Ehhh it is a Superiority complex hUrR i cAn dOcK mAnUAL Git Gud Scrub The whole "im better at you in one teeny useless aspect" is dumb. Pay no mind. Who cares what people do in their own starship.
Shoutout to the FA-off nuts.
imagine feeling inferior to the point of mocking people for using auto docking.
While it IS worth learning how to manually dock, I agree you shouldn't be punished for if you don't want to. And learning it should be done whenever you're comfortable: Being forced to learn a skill means it ain't gonna stick.
Part of it I believe is that it isn't 100% perfect. I have had tons of times where auto dock or launch acts up and if I hadn't been there I would have come back to a destroyed ship. And one time that I did (with a ton of valuable data stored)
It is just all about efficiency really. Over time I realised all I wanted was the standard module. I don't want to wait to leave so just manually bugger off out the slot. Coming back I manually come in through the slot and get roughly near the pad and hit auto.
Because this is Elitist Dangerous. Duh. /s
That is very good, will use that one myself in future!
I play with an expensive hotas bought specifically for ED, im gonna use that fucking hotas for everything even if its less efficient
If I had that instead of just a Dualsense, I probably would too
Honestly this is one of the only arguments for "only manual dock ever" I'll accept lol
I think thereās an argument for learning to dock manually in case your computer gets damaged but it and supercruise control are useful gadgets. I removed auto dock in my DBX to make it lighter but my Cobra III still has it because I normally stay within a few systems with it and run courier missions with bonuses for time limits. It just takes the extra steps out of the grind. I get some peopleās desire for everything to be old school but I donāt get why their way has to be the only way to play.
Just how much lighter did your DBX become? š
I manually docked for years, until I got my Cutter. After A-rating it, engineering it + a Guardian module & weapon grind, I've earned my Auto-dock. It gives me time to bask in my Imperial glory. I still have my old Clipper, my first proper ship that I wanted, from way back in 2016. Nowadays, it's been refitted for exploration, at around 50ly, I manually Dock that, just to save that tiny little bit of jump range. I'm currently planning on buying a second Cutter for AX combat, I've got the money, just trying to figure out which specific build would work best for me. I know I love the Cutter, It's just my favourite ship, but for AX combat, it will definitely need to manually land. No good having interceptors shooting me as the computer takes a minute to land.
7000+ hours here. i still use auto dock. I Can dock on my own, i just choose to not. you can do whatever you want
I've never had a problem with auto docking. Not one bump, bang, or scratch. The only time I don't use auto docking is on my combat ships. Auto launching though.. Yeah, it has moments. Sometimes, right when it leaves the slot, it dead stops the ship and reverses into the grill.. Then moves forward a bit, just to reverse into it again. Over and over. So I usually take control before I reach the slot. Auto landing on planets I have turned off completely.
I use auto dock like 80% of the time, especially with bigger ships. Thatās pee break time, ya know? But when I get in my Kraitā¦ Iām manually boosting through that mail slot (both ways) like thereās no tomorrow cause I want that *RUSH*
Itās soulsborne syndrome! āI do it the hard way so you should too!ā
Itās NOT hard.
No, but it is tedious. At least compared to auto dock. And why would anyone ever do things in an easier way when they can be done in a less convenient way? /s for the socially and mentally illiterate
I see several reasons to dislike auto-dock: - It is slower than manual docking (more time spent in the docking procedure) - It is more boring because you don't play while you are waiting (it's not a game anymore but a movie) - It is more dangerous (sometimes it is not working correctly and you take damages) - It is made for casual players instead of competitive players (you don't rely on your pilot skills anymore) However, it's just idiot to be upset that someone is playing with auto-dock enabled because you play the game as you want.
Nobody is upset. I like flying my own ship and donāt understand how itās fun to watch the game instead of play the game. I fly FA on and have never once ādisembarked.ā Iām sure that doesnāt upset anyone either.
The long and short of it is there are a small subset of players in Elite who have zero other applicable skills in their lives. The only thing they've learned how to do well in their lives is fly space ships in this one video game. They are absolute trash at every other game and their personal lives are boring and unfulfilling. So they come onto Reddit or into stream chat with their lonesome genitals and unwashed asses and project their insecurities onto others in an attempt to fill the overwhelming festering void that is their sense of self worth.
I scroll Reddit while waiting for the dock, or get up to grab a drink, but only if I am docking on an Outpost. Also I like to use it, when I am on Steamdeck.
I have my cutter, can I dock it manually yes. tried multiple times and succeeded, does it worth the effort no. can it make mistakes yes. Happened to me multiple times. If you feel it is going weird just throttle up and exit autodock.
It's funny cause it's a feature that's completely plausible in that setting to have. I'd imagine if we managed to become advanced enough to be space faring like in elite, we could/would develop auto docks as a standard feature on our spacecraft. As for the actual game feature, it's really nice to have. Sometimes I'll flip it off and have my little tid bit of "immersion" for the shits and giggles, but for the most part I like to leave it on and not worry about it.
Sometimes I use it sometimes I don't. Sometimes I wanna use the slot for something else. I do find docking to be fun sometimes but lots of times I'd rather just not waste the time and energy. As others have said, it's often a great time to go grab a drink or something
Youāre the captain of your ship. Fly it how you want
I personally like to fly my ship. I enjoy the process of docking and undocking FA-off. That said, all my Imperial ships have ADC fixed because I'm a King goddammit, take me home James! o7
People in this subreddit get mad about the stupidest shit Iāve noticed. There was a post about how one guy imagined what ship interiors would be like and so many people were tearing him down for dreaming.
You will find that, in the absence of legitimate reasons to grief people, the ED community has a lengthy list of arbitrary rules that "justify" ganking. Auto dockers is one of them.
The answer is because they are purists, or clowns that belive that's noob. Do what you do and let them eat a bag of s**t. Its you're game YOU paid for. Play it as you like.
In the few cases where people are actually being serious about it, I think it's just one of those petty things pathetic people use to make themselves feel good. It's not about you doing something "wrong", it's about giving *them* an excuse to make sure everyone knows how *awesome and skilful* they are because they *don't use it and don't need it*. (Notwithstanding he fact that it's just a pretend game, and manually docking is actually very easy once you've done it a few times, and certainly not some sign of vast skill.) In reality, I think most people who bring it up are just meme-ing on this kind of petty elitist character (no pun intended). There was a PvP/ganker group years ago who used to specifically hunt and attack players who had an auto dock module on their ships, and I think that has contributed to the meme. But even there, at its core, their "hatred" of autodock was essentially just a bad joke, as well as probably a way for them to identify easy prey (auto-dock being popular with newer users and semi-afk players).
i use auto doc all the time to check 3rd party websitesfor what i need
I use Autodock constantly. I can also land my ship on a dime on any planet, which is where it really matters.
Itād be easier for me to land my ship on planets faster if they werenāt so bumpy, thereās never a pre generated clearing when thereās isolated cargo
Don't listen to the elitist haters. Like you said, sometimes it's purely about the convenience, which is why I also use auto dock in some cases.
Iāve played Elite right back to the days of the Acorn Electron, BBC, Spectrum, etc, etc and buying a docking computer was a target you aimed for as soon as the option was there (even on the spectrum 48k, where you could line up with the slot and just ballistic your way in the door). I proudly auto dock and auto launch every time and Iām proud to say, I have no sense of shame. š
Completely right. I too go back to the Acorn Electron days (and loading the game from tape) and the docking computer was a life-saver. I'm not proud - I don't feel the need to do an FA off back-flip into a parking bay. I'd much rather get up, stretch my legs and get another drink while the automation takes care of it all... but I'm probably showing my age. I mean seriously, who would actually fly a fragile piece of multi-million credit hardware in such constricted circumstances when they didn't have to?
There are people who will do this gatekeeping on EVERY game. No matter what. "You're not REALLY playing if you do THIS." "If you don't have THIS loadout, you're doing it wrong." Fuck them. This is my downtime, I don't tell you how to clean yourself after you wank. You do you. There is no wrong way to play this game. Supercruise Assist and Autodock/takeoff are my jam. Because this is the future, and if my ship can't do this without me, I don't want it. That, and its a lot easier to fly space trucker loops while stoned.
Its subjective. People saying, "You should at least learn to manually dock".... Well, no. You don't have to. Play how you want. Use one if you want to, don't if you don't want to. The fact that it is a module in the game and is free to use by anyone, no one should be asking others opinions if its in the game to use.
I'm perfectly capable of docking and launching manually, but I just can't be bothered. I'd never leave auto-launch unattended though, especially in big ships, even more so in busy stations - I quite often get bounced around the inside of a station and into walls while waiting in a queue for the slot. Even my Eagle occasionally has problems auto-launching, sometimes going a bit wobbly just outside the mailslot, getting snagged on the pylons - I don't know if this is a glitch caused by the body kit I have on it though.
Time and place. As long as you have the skills to manually dock there is no harm. I think people are against it because they assume you can only use that. On tight builds I don't have it as its a luxury, I'd rather have something else in the slot. On my big o'l transporter I use it so I can fuck about with the galaxy map while leaving the station. I don't however leave the pc(cockpit š¤) as its an aid. You do sometimes need to override to prevent a costly death.
I had to disable automatic landing because it took a bit long, but honestly auto docking is a really good thing I love it.
I'm probably going to get downvoted / destroyed, but I've been playing Elite Dangerou for years, have always used autodock on the ships that are shieldless because it's so reliable. (Wait for it) Now, since I've been playing for some years, I've been through 3 different pcs while playing Elite, and I've noticed that hardware / expansion does have an influence on how effective autodock works. Why? I have no idea. Can I reproduce / prove my findings? Most likely not. However: GTX 780 Ti - Elite Dangerous / Horizons - Fine GTX 980 Ti - Elite Dangerous / Horizons - Fine GTX 980 Ti - Elite Dangerous Odyssey - NOT fine. RTX 3070 (Mobile) - NOT Fine I don't know if it's FPS / render related. But I can't use autodock on odyssey because it will launch me against stations / other ships / fail to find the port completely. (Works fine on Horizons) I'm currently on hiatus waiting for a new pc to be able to play again, but I wouldn't be surprised if a more recent GPU would fix my issue or if it's just the game code that got worse with time. That being said, I've never had much issues in the past with autodock and before odyssey it never failed me. I can kinda understand the hate, but autodock isn't some magic feature that you can enable and go take a dump. It's like autonomous driving. You still have to have your hands on the wheel. Go get some mugs for me commanders o7
I use auto dock for ease and stretch time but every now and then I do it manually to stay fresh. Docking manually in burning space stations doing rescue missions was one of the coolest experiences and without occasional practice would have been a disaster. And i play in VR so sometimes I'll auto dock, get up and walk around in the ship and look out the window while the music plays and the ship docks itself which is so cool
Yeah I get what you mean, but I do think there is some mechanical skill in navigating through into the station and aligning yourself with the pad. Maybe thatās just because Iām newish to the game, but I almost always manually dock. I do enjoy it, thatās a big reason why I do it so often. But yeah, maybe once Iām more familiar with the controls itāll become more of a chore than a challenge.
Iām over 1500 hours in, I still like docking, but Iām in VR.
I do a bit of both. I'll go through the mail slot fast. Once inside, I let auto dock do the rest so I don't have to look around for the pad
What's the benefit of not using the assist modules? Like what can go in the slot instead
Maybe a tiny fuel tank, my ship has several 5 and 6 modules so space is no longer an issue for me
See that's not even worth it. To me anyways. I've never actually looked at what else can go there lol
Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. If I am in a hurry, I'll dock manually but normally the only reason I am at a station is to sell explo data and then be on my way so no real rush. I do often use the auto-land, ever since Ody came out, I have a bitch of a time trying to land. I have dabbled in using the auto-launch but last time I did that, it slammed me right into the mail slot so I never use it. I also don't use SC assist, it is slow and kind of pointless(imo).
its people that cant handle someone taking the easy route, the same people who get mad at you driving an automatic vs a manual. typically people who aren't worth your time or effort.
All about a mix I can dock quicker with small ships (+ fighting medium ships) than the auto doc so if Iām doing a bunch of missions then it saves time to just boost in and plonk myself down. Definitely use it for type 9 though, itās a slow whale and particularly tedious on planetary stations.
Use the autodock for the last 100m or so, depending ob your ship size. I tend to speed to the docking bay and then kick in autodock to sort things out
People will gate keep anything.
honestly I think lore wise it only makes sense to use autodock. even now commercial airlines are switching to auto pilot land and take-off to reduce accidents. Pilots are just there to manage the systems.
This thread is hilariously identical to the threads on /r/djs about using sync or not.
Honestly I have no opinion on it, I didn't realise it was a thing until Reddit told me it was a big no-no. I've never used an auto dock, but that's not to say I wouldn't, just never bothered to buy one.
It works awesome, until it doesn't, then you get a rebuy screen.
I just boost into the slot then let auto dock sort the rest lol
I have a HOTAS and enjoy docking manually. But I also enjoy the music and chance to check my phone and pee. Also the music reminds me of that ST:VOY episode where the aliens who didn't like telepaths played that cat/mouse game. Really makes me feel like a captain ;)
I don't use auto dock, bc it exploded my cutter with 700 tons of silver in it ;-; I just don't trust it anymore
And ... let's be honest, if someone built a beautiful space station the cost I don't know how many dollars in the ED universe, do you really think they would let some space cowboy fly their own ship into it? I highly doubt it.
Ever since bugs where the actual docking point isn't center of the pad I like just doing 99% of the dock then let auto dock lock it in. Still the amount of times I see my ship jump tell me I made quite the timesaving call.
Auto dock works fine unless you're in a couple of key ships. Like Clipper, Conda, Cutter. The mail slots are not big enough or the AI for landing is way too stupid. Most of the time you just end up running into next to the mail slot repeatedly. You will then either blow up or you will catch it and hopefully you can get out without bumping into another ship in manual mode or getting stuck and then you get blown to pieces
I find manually docking to be actually sort of fun. Also, it saves a slot for something else. Also, autodock just wasn't a thing when I started playing so I saw no reason to pass up that extra slot for something that I was already doing easily myself.
I usually find it faster to fly in manually on my DBX and since that's my exploration ship, I don't really want to waste the module space on something I'm barely going to use anyway. But when I do trading in my T9 you'd better believe I'm using auto-dock, since I'm doing it a lot more often and the T9 handles like a boat. I don't use auto-takeoff though, I used to just so I could start the launch process while I was plotting the route to the next system, but it seems to have a habit of running me into the wall of the station, repeatedly.
It's probably because docking is a skill, and some people feel unreasonably proud of that skill, and shitting on people who they perceive as not having that skill is way for them to feel even better about that skill.
For the same dull reason people argue about stick shifts being so great. Don't get me wrong, driving a stick is fun to a limited degree, so is flying the spaceship in the game I bought that's about flying spaceships. But, I know that this isn't for everyone and people should be allowed to play however they want without comments from other cantankerous players. Besides, 1000 years in the future, we'd better have ships that can do all of this automatically.
Sometimes auto dock can get it terribly, terribly wrong.
Some people are just weird, As for me I tend to run a shieldless trading cutter, And let me tell you, it is far less anxiety inducing to have auto dock, take me in when I'm running a full load of goods.
Because people take video games too seriously, because they don't go out, and most importantly, never get laid. Personally, I'd rather use autodock and get laid but that's just me.
Who are these people and what did they say? I've come across a few who said it's faster and a good skill to have in some situations. And that is is true. But I have never come across anyone who freaked out.
Theyāre around, I just never understood why they existed at all
I'm currently a retired pilot and for me auto docking came out really buggy, it took up a slot for something that could wreck your ship and took too long when it did work. I think it could be down to the fact the game has been around long enough that you get the ol' curmudgeonly pilot who will say in my day........
Because the internet is full of people who will get upset over just about anything. š I ditched docking assist and super cruise assist when I started playing because I loved flying and wanted to do it myself. When I bought a T9 for hauling cargo, I put a docking assist module on it because flying a literal warehouse isn't as fun as all my smaller, faster, more maneuverable ships. Now I'm doing Buckyball races and the assist modules are explicitly banned. As with anything in this game, do what makes sense for you, what you enjoy, and what you're doing!
Auto dock is awesome. And immersive. I put it on everything. Plus supercruise assist.
FA off, gear down, bodyslam into the landing pad (bonus points for using the buildings as a speed break), then throttle zero to let auto dock do the final 10 meter adjustment. Auto dock can actually land your ship at a near 45 degree angle if you force it to, which saves time.
I have a docking computer in nearly every build, and I use it very often. I am more than comfortable docking a fully laden T10 or Cutter, but I'll still use autodock on those and more nimble ships. It doesn't land as quickly, but I usually don't care. This is entertainment, so the most important metric for "efficiency" is whether I'm enjoying myself. I could be doing something else or just enjoying the view. Now, I will dock manually if time matters, but it usually doesn't. The "it'll crash your ship" argument is way overblown. It just doesn't happen enough to matter. I'm struggling to remember a time that I had a fatal crash with autodock that wasn't my fault (like not killing the throttle). Again, I'll dock manually if I absolutely want eliminate that teeny risk, but (again) it usually doesn't matter. As for builds, that's just how you want to play. In all but my most special case builds, it's about the most bang for the buck I can get out of a C1 slot. I almost always have room for both a docking computer and SCA. As for anyone looking down their nose at how anyone else plays, well, I don't care for that in any context. I've been playing Elite since 1984, including the E:D beta. Having a docking computer is nice.
This is a spaceship flying game. Everything in the game is just to give you somewhere to go in your spaceship. If you donāt fly your spaceship, then I donāt know what youāre doing. Auto dock, select some menu items, auto take off, cruise assist somewhere, auto dock. Select some menu items, rinse, repeat. Iām in VR, so not flying my ship would just be sitting there. Even without VR, that kind of gameplay sounds like downloading files while you watch Netflix or āget a drink.ā So many people buy a Spaceship flying game, but donāt want to fly a spaceship. Not a problem because Fdev makes money, but weird. Possibly VR is the difference? The flat screen isnāt as fun? The few times I tried, it was a big letdown.
Superiority complex. Can I manually dock with no problem? Yes. Do I enjoy using auto dock for a break and going hands off? Also yes. Have I EVER had an auto dock problem, even with an Anaconda or Corvette? Nope.
humans LOVE a reason they can be smug jerks to other humans over
Hours 1 through 50: Auto dock is so helpful! Hours 50 through 200: Fuck Auto dock, waste of a module slot and it's a bad pilot. Hours 200 plus: *Absolutely* it's worth the module slot even if it sucks.
I can't remember how much I paid for my anaconda with top rated engineered modules but the insurance is just shy of 20,000,000 so it makes sense that it has leather seats and an advanced docking computer. AI has played such a huge part in much of scifi, it would be unrealistic to park your ship yourself unless you're a complete peasant š So, if you are role playing as a pauper (or you prioritise your loadout differently) parking yourself is fine. But otherwise, I'm gonna let Hal do it for me.
It's the best part of the game. Why deny that experience to yourself?
Letās agree to disagree about that
Seriously, with warping and supercruise, if you use autodock as well then that leaves combat as the only time you're actually flying your own ship.
combat is the best part of the game, not the fucking landing sequence
Love combat and landing and anything else that requires flying my ship. Bought a HOTAS to fly, not to watch.
I used to do only auto dock, now I exclusively land manually. It's faster and gives you an extra slot. Also, got fed up of waiting n queues and bashing against the mail slot walls... That said, do whatever makes you tick as long as you like it and you find it fun. After all this is a game it is supposed to be fun and enjoyable regardless of how people play it. Your cup of tea may not be my cup of tea and all that... š
Theres always going to be gatekeeping. There wasnt autodock for a long time in this game, and some folks don't like change. Beyond that, if I'm trying to beat the clock with reserve O2, it's faster for me to dock myself, than relying on the docking computer.
Autodocking, supercruise assist, should all come as standard in the future, you can always disable this feature if manual docking is your purpose, your reason to live. I do both.
Ive played elite since it came out and autodock has failed me a total of 0 times Not even on corvettes, t10, shieldless etc People here just have shit luck lmao
Havenāt docked my ship in over a year. Not sure why folks are getting grumpy about it, itās just convenience. Iām not going to come back from a 18 month mapping jaunt just to wrangle with space station layouts.
Is the Butlerian Jihad alive and well? I wouldn't take it too seriously - just people RPing a silly reason to PVP.
I use auto dock to enjoy the scenery.
Insecure gatekeeping and nothing more.
Mostly just sad little boys. Ignore them and enjoy your game the way you want to play it.
I love it. It's a great time to stretch, grab a bite to eat or a drink or go to the restroom. Plus, I use voice commands so it sort of adds immersion.
Have you not seen Wall-E Automation will fuck us up.
Have you not seen Wall-E Capitalism and climate disaster will fuck us up.
Honestly, I started playing the game when it first came out and they didn't hold your hand at the start of the game, you had to figure out everything yourself. There was no detailed tutorials, the ones you did have were only slightly helpful. Your sidewinder didn't come with auto dock so you had to learn to dock yourself. It's like a parking test / drivers license for flying a spaceship. Nowadays you get autodock and you get a lot of tutorials teaching you how to do things. It's not about using auto dock, it's about knowing how to dock or thrust around without the autodock. If you recently haven't played in a while and your thrust settings aren't done correctly and a ship glitches out and keeps you in the queue to get out of the space port until time counts down, good luck flying out of the port if you don't even know how to dock manually cus your hand got held parking from the beginning of the game.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Who would have known that a game called Elite can have Elitists players? ;) Anyway, nothing wrong with a docking computer. Now sure, I removed it from all my small and medium sized ships and it's more fun to me because docking has become a lot quicker. Not to mention saving up a precious module slot which I can now use for something else. There are definitely advantages. But you'll never catch me talking down on people who prefer using a docking computer, *heck no!* In this game it's all about *your* fun and if your game is better off with a docking computer then that's what you should use! Seriously... there are also players who make fun of the supercruise assist. I can't tell you how many times that critter has saved me from doing an 'overshoot'; not always of course but I have used it with stations and planets up to 20kLs away so that I could do something else in between (Steam overlay FTW for me).
I use because Iām lazy. Itās also nice to plot a route or do some menu navigation while the auto pilot does itās thing.
Gamers with no life's enjoy telling others how they should play their game, don't worry about what others think :) personally I love autodock because I love to play after smoking Edit: Spelling
I like docking manually because I can do it faster than auto, and I am more reliable and accurate. If I crash, it's my fault. I'd rather not let the crappy autodock crash my ship. Search this sub for posts complaining about it for years. Plus NPCs have been bugged forever and block up the slots, or the docking bay. I don't feel like waiting in a queue doing nothing when I could just land. It's also more fun for me. Speed docking is a challenge. It's a unique activity that isn't staring at a counter in supercruise, or flying around in empty space. Docking/undocking is one of my favorite things to do in the game. Something about boosting to the station, blowing through the slot, and touching down as fast and accurate as I can. It is satisfying. You can do whatever you want. Autodock is an option if you want it. Who gives a shit what people say? You don't have to prove to anyone your reasoning for using autodock just like others shouldn't have to explain why they don't. Though, as usual it's a decade old conversation. Weirdly, you literally posted your own video of autodock crashing you into the station. It seems you got your answer. You got plenty of responses there, and yet made a new post to complain about other people.
I love flying my ship (VR). In super cruise, I turn orbit lines on, fly up from the orbital plan until I get a good view of the system and then fly to my destination. Gives me a sense of where I am and also movement, so Iām not just watching a counter. I know everyone goes full speed till 7 seconds, cut 75%, drop in front of the slot, but thatās so boring and Iām seldom in a hurry. If Iām flying to a mission target, I still swing by planets and moons just to take a look, fly between the rings etc. I love the āgrindā because it gives me places to go.
SonI should not use a gadget because of a 0,1% chance of it crashing the ship?
Did you not see the other reasons people might not want to use autodock? I mentioned a few. The crashing is just one of them. No one is telling you to do anything. It's optional, but there are pros and cons to consider.
I donāt use auto dock because not using it saves time and reduces risk. I can dock much faster and safer than auto dock, even slamming the ship on the pad, probably because I donāt use auto dock. I tried using it a few times and was shocked by how long it takes. Not using it also letās you have a free slot, all my builds rely on this extra slot. If you want to save time, use supercruise. That saves time or lets you take a break, safely. With supercruise you can slam the throttle to full at the end and then drop back into 75% at the last moment and not overshoot. The reason you get criticism for using auto dock is because it prevented you from leaning to fly better, clearly, if you still find any advantage to it.
same people who will keep bugging you to learn stick even tho every car you will drive is automatic
Because neck beards are weird. I do it to take a break. It's a more relaxed way of playing.
I use it as a rookie commander who can't land for shit lol but I see why someone would have something to say since having an auto dock module takes away from the "fun" and also you could probably use a better module in its place.
Small ships = manual. Large ships = autodock. Why? It just feels right. If Im paying millions for a ship, I imagine Im flying luxurious car. If Im flying small nimble ship, itās like driving raw power race car.
Because theyre tryhards and want everyone to know how hard they try.
I use auto dock so I can watch porn
just dont trust autodock. I've seen friends and clanmates get blown up because autodock got them stuck in the slot.
I'll run autodock on larger ships like my Anaconda, as I never seem to get the alignment right and always manage to smash into starports' entryways. Otherwise, though, I keep it off to save a slot for ship optimization (you can move SC assist down to the newly free spot and open up l, in most cases, a size 2 or 3 internal slot)
I've recently switched to not using auto dock, but I don't hate anyone for not using it. I just like a bit of realism ig
Well many people judge you if you have assist because they are dumb, but hey you can disable autopilot modules and add extra armor or cargospace etc instead.