Quick answer
Facilities fee is the hourly charge for station services such as air exchange and airlock access. Dockage is the parking or berthing fee and increases with ship size. Community testing indicates footprint is involved, but the exact current formula has not been verified here.
The two charges
- Facilities fee (/hr): station-service access, including air exchange and airlock use.
- Dockage (Length-Over-All/hr): the ship's hourly berthing charge, scaled by size.
What appears to change dockage
A 2024 Steam support discussion tested a ship before and after expanding its outline and concluded that the ship's footprint affected the fee. The discussion did not establish a reproducible formula, and the wording 'Length-Over-All' leaves open exactly which dimensions the current build uses.
Practical advice while the formula is unknown
- Check the hourly rate before starting a long docked repair session.
- Compare the displayed fee before and after expanding the ship's outer bounds.
- Do not remove useful systems solely to reduce mass; current evidence points to dimensions rather than contents.
- Record the game version when comparing numbers, because economy rules can change.
Sources used