Docking

To use a Station's services, the player must first dock. Docking is a two stage process:

File:31c3644eea8fadc88e930978e8280e6c large.jpg

A Cobra Mk III entering the airlock of a space station.

request docking permission then move to and land on the designated landing pad.

Request Permission

File:DockingRequest.jpg

Requesting docking clearance at Azeban City

Before entering a station, the player must first ask for permission from the station. Without docking permission the station will grant the player ninety seconds to exit the station otherwise it will destroy their ship; the player will only receive a fine if you transfer the station door.

Docking permission can be requested via the Contacts tab in the left menu of your ship: enter the Target menu ("1" by default), move to the Contacts tab ('q' or 'e' to switch tabs), select the station (select by using the space bar), and highlight/select the "Request Docking Permission" (using the w, s, and spacebar keys).

Request Accepted

If the station acknowledges the docking request it will provide a landing pad number for the player to land at along with a ten minute landing timer.

Request Denied

There are multiple reasons why a docking request gets denied.

Distance

If the player requested docking permission too far from the station then the request will be denied. Make sure to request docking within 7.5 km of a starport or 2.5 km of an outpost.

Request from within the station

If the player aborted their landing for some reason they cannot make another docking request from within the station - they will need to exit the docking port and make another docking request.

Landing pads are full

This will quite often occur at popular stations. Either wait for someone to leave and resubmit a docking request, or travel to another station.

If in open mode a temporary fix is to switch to solo mode to dock.

Ship is too large

If the player's ship is too large for the available landing pads the request will be denied. Note that Outposts do not appear to have large landing pads so any requests from ships that require a large pad will always be denied.

Entering Station

It is recommended to keep landing gear deployed at all times when attempting to dock and when inside a starport to help prevent accidents.

Stations

All stations rotate to generate centrifugal force, which acts as gravity for its crew and citizens and as a hazard for docking pilots. As the player approaches the station's entry port, focus on centering the ship with the port first, so as not to crash into the starport's walls. Once the ship has been centered on the port, start rotating the ship to match that of the station's rotation - alternatively this can be accomplished by turning "rotational assistance" to "on" in the functions tab in the right menu. Keep in mind that most ships are wider than they are tall.

The entry ports can be a congested location with ships passing in both directions. There is currently no traffic control and players should stay alert to avoid crashing into other ships. Some ship captains have adopted the protocol of turning on ship lights when docking to make themselves more visible as well as always traversing the side of the entry port marked by the green lights. Although, this is not always possible for some of the bigger ships as they can have a hard time fitting through the entrance slot.

Outposts

Outposts do not rotate and do not require pilots to enter a docking area - instead they have structures with landing pads exposed to space - and thus are much easier to land at.

Landing Ship

Aligning and landing on a docking pad

Landing gear should be deployed at this point. Slowly approach the designated pad - the pad should have a holographic number displayed above it and the compass also helps navigate to the appropriate pad. Once the ship is close enough to the landing pad the radar will be replaced with a diagram showing the ship's position relative to the landing pad. Make sure that the ship is facing forward like in the image on the right (cockpit far and engines close to the pilot). In the diagram there will be a line extending from the ship to the pad (ending in a dot) - to dock the player must maneuver the ship so that the dot is centered in the pad's inner circle. Side thrusters (Q and E by default) as well as forward thrust (W and S by default) can be used to fine tune the ship's orientation and positioning. Once the dot is centered within the ship's inner circle slowly thrust down (F key by default) to complete the landing. If everything in the diagram has turned blue and the ship has "touched down", the docking is complete (generally the AI will notify the player).

Rules

If station rules are not followed the player will be fined and potentially destroyed (assuming they don't comply with the rules in time). If a violation occurs (and the ship wasn't destroyed) the station will deny docking for a period of time (depends on the length of the violation, generally up to thirty seconds or so).

Violations include:

• entering the docking bay without permission
  • fine then ship destruction
• being in the airlock without permission
  • fine then ship destruction
• airlock loitering
  • ship destruction
• being over a landing pad that is not designated to you
  • fine then ship destruction
• failing to dock within the allotted time
  • fine
• failing to exit the docking bay within the allotted time
  • fine then ship destruction
• firing weapons within the docking bay
  • ship destruction
• firing weapons within the fire zone
  • fine if shooting a wanted target
  • ship destruction if shooting a clean target
• transporting illegal or stolen goods
  • fine

Demonstration

Elite Dangerous- Do you dock like I do?

A short clip that demonstrates a practiced docking technique.

Tips

• The docking port on a Coriolis Station is always positioned on the 'end' that is spinning anti-clockwise. Looking for the advertising holograms often helps.
• The ship's compass (to the right of the scanner) points towards the docking pad currently allocated to your ship. The indicator will be an outline if the target is behind you.
• When landing, you can't see the landing pad, because it has to be below your ship. However, while approaching the landing pad, you can fly on the back or head straight for the pad, so you can keep the pad in sight. You can then rotate when you are close enough.
• Enabling the landing gear decreases your velocity. To speedup landing, you can keep it disabled until you are directly over the pad. However, enabling the landing gear will also make your ship more maneuverable at lower speed.