Dramatically Increase Docking Distance [No modding needed!]

[technitaur]

Docking distance has given me fits when piloting larger ships in this game, and even smaller ones. I started noticing as I fiddled with it that the distance seems to be based off of 'the closest block of your ship to the docking point'. It didn't seem based on center of mass.

 

So I started bolting a very long, thin antenna made of hull material to the front of my ship. It extended about the length of my ship, and it actually did make docking a lot easier. The only problem was that the stick flailing around on the front of my ship -was- kind of easy to slam into things. It wasn't much of a problem, because it used so little material that fixing it wasn't a big deal.

 

However, user daemonCaptrix on the Avorion discord gave me the idea to use holograms instead, since they have no collision.

 

IT TOTALLY WORKS.

 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/181685917004595200/290731458727772161/unknown.png <-- This is 0km.

 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/181685917004595200/290733589669216258/unknown.png <-- This is also 0km.

 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/262683724511051787/290735896041357312/unknown.png

 

In the above shot, I'm a full 1.61 km away from my other ship.

 

All I did in the next shot is turn in place towards the ship, I didn't move from my spot at all.

 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/262683724511051787/290736196781342720/unknown.png

 

0km!

 

Start slapping hologram antennae on your ships for easier docking! Since holograms have no clipping, all you have to do is literally just move forward until you 'plug in' a hologram to an object and you're sure to be 0km from that object.

 

This may cause the distance to be misleading when you're trying to get in range to use a turret, but I'll happily take a bit of guesswork in exchange for not slamming the back of my ship into a station every time I turn in place. Thank you again, daemonCaptrix, for the hologram suggestion!

[Brigadon]

actually, decent-sized side antennae seem to work well for me... sidling alongside a dock is easy as pie without messing up your targetting ranges.

[NovaRemnant]

actually, decent-sized side antennae seem to work well for me... sidling alongside a dock is easy as pie without messing up your targetting ranges.

 

Not to mention that if you stick it on the side, you can make it decently short since you can actually see the gap between the dock and your holographic docking arm while piloting without having to move the camera.