What on earth are you meant to do on the Construction Yard mission?

The "cutting droid" you're given does absolutely NOTHING and it is not possible to close into the mission area without being "detected" and setting off all the guards!

It's completely possible. Done it at least three times. Turn off the pilot assist so you're using Newtonian flight with the cutting droid - this will minimize your emissions. Aim for the target and fly really slowly; I think I went at something like 50. Yes, it takes a while to get there. But you will get there, the droid will automatically do its thing once in range, and you then proceed with the rest of the mission.

Actually, I'm a bit ashamed to say that I got it right the very first time, thinking that this mission is a piece of cake. ;-)

There's gonna be some serious griping once people encounter the Kong missions... XD

Unbelievable!

It was all thanks to picking the wrong reply to the ship that comes and quizzes you when you approach the station.

Wrong reply and it's mission broken..... the game gives you no clue to that fact, and lets you aimlessly waste hours wondering why the hell it wont work! More inept mission design!

So, proper mission design would be that different answers all lead to the same result?

FGS! No - proper design would LET YOU KNOW the mission has failed instead of leaving you floundering around wondering why things are not working.

I see. Well, from a realism perspective life doesn't hand us "mission failed" messages, and this is one of the more "realistic" space combat sims out there. I can understand how this would be frustrating given that - for years - games have told us when we have screwed up, so that's what we've come to expect.

Beyond that, not sure what to tell you except that if you're not enjoying the experience then it's probably time to play something else.