It’s not a big deal either way, and is certainly no big priority, but it would be very easy to code up, so why not do it? However, I have also laid out some arguments against it.
If you have 1) an armor repairer, and/or 2) a structure repairer fitted to your ship and online (or the ability to online it), and you dock in a station, you should automatically get the appropriate “free” repairs to your ship applied instantly.
RATIONALE
You already have the ability to repair your ship by simply sitting outside the station and running the repairer, so you aren’t getting repaired for “free” (surely ships in station would have the ability to run repair modules while sitting in docking facilities). So what you are gaining “for free” is time and quality of life, not the repair itself.
This would be consistent with the already-existing QoL of getting the shield of a ship repaired “for free” on dock-up, since a shield would naturally repair on it’s own anyway.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST
There could be an argument that a shield is energy-based, and a station could have powerful recharge facilities (basically huge batteries or generators or whatever) which could insta-recharge a shield, where as armor and structure repair is a mechanical process which takes time. If so, I get it.
Also, one could argue that the insta-recharge feature of a shield creates a unique mechanic, and we don’t need to make all the tanking mechanics (shield, armor, hull) the same. If so, I get that too.
True. As long as things make sense and are consistent, I’m not opposed in theory.
Still, I think there’s good reason to think that stations would have shield rechargers available. It isn’t a necessary mechanic, but it’s a possible mechanic that makes sense, and I’m not opposed to the current way of doing things.
Costs money, which isn’t a problem… unless you already have the equipment to make free repairs yourself (armor/hull). So then why have to pay?
Another option - instead of instant repair, if you have the modules, apply repair based on time docked in station. Make it take the same amount of time as if you are undocked. So, if you dock, log off, and go get a sandwich, you will be fully repaired once you log back in.
If you have one in your system, go to any player Citadel that you can dock in and repairs are always free.
Not weighing in on your OP (I’m fine with it), but just wanted to pass that along if you weren’t aware that repairs in player-owned structures are free.
Very much this, and this was the spirit of my reply. Out in sovnull, we have no such thing as stations anymore (and ofc in jspace) - I know that’s only one section of space, but just the same, it does appear to be the direction CCP wants to go (everything player-owned).
I’m not against your idea, OP, mostly just saying that “this is here now”… above caveats being what they are.
I put ‘free’ in quotes (I guess you didn’t see that?), and explained how it actually wasn’t free. Again, learn to reading comprehension.
There’s no risk in undocking as far as I’m concerned. If someone shoots at you, you can just dock back up.
This isn’t about risk. I take more risks in Eve than anyone I know. As I said, it’s just a quality of life request. If you already have the equipment fitted which can repair the ship, I see no reason why that equipment can’t or wouldn’t be run inside the station, the same way shields are assumed to regenerate in station.
I don’t think you can dock under an aggression timer. But if so, this perma-tank you speak of can already be used by shield tanks.
The question is whether the already-existing shield repair mechanic should be extended to armor/hull repair, IF YOU HAVE REPAIR MODULES FITTED (it definitely shouldn’t if you don’t have such repair modules fitted).
