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[BFEL]

That is less a trick and more a "absolute necessity to even begin to rendezvous with something, let alone try and attach something to it"

[BigD145]

There are other ways to do it, but it's still a trick. It's as much a trick as memorizing a multiplication table over doing the math longhand.

[nogoodnames]

For large stations, one way to make docking easier is to align the station along the normal and anti-normal (North/South for an equatorial orbit) with a docking port at either end. This way, the docking ports remain pointed in one direction while the station orbits. Then for docking, all you need to do is align yourself with the (anti-)normal and use the RCS controls to shift your ship into the right position. You'll know it's directly aligned with the station's docking port when the target marker is right under your orientation marker on the navball.

[FArgHalfnr]

AUGH. Having my two parts meet is so hard . I can't get them to be close enough at a correct speed to perform docking. My problem is that whenever I try to slow down, I get moved away from the station, and whenever I try to correct that by moving towards it, I start going too fast, forcing me to restart this over and over until it is too late. I think I'll try watching some tutorials on youtube before I try again.

[puke]

AUGH. Having my two parts meet is so hard . I can't get them to be close enough at a correct speed to perform docking.

Lol. Try posting on the lower boards for help.  Maybe the Life Advice section or whatever its called

Edits: more seriously though, close the final distance with RCS not your main engines.  and make sure you're targeting the docking part, not just the ship in general.

[The13thRonin]

AUGH. Having my two parts meet is so hard . I can't get them to be close enough at a correct speed to perform docking.

Lol. Try posting on the lower boards for help.  Maybe the Life Advice section or whatever its called

Careful with the amount of thrust .

[FArgHalfnr]

Spoiler: xpxpxpxpxpxpxpxpxpxpxp (click to show/hide)

why

[flabort]

So I've scienced the shores, the landing strip, launch-pad, ocean, grasslands, highlands, and mountains. Also the atmosphere.

I even have the Science Lab Canister now, but still can't get into orbit or escape the planet. This... is frustrating.

Edit: Do structural struts... do I need to attach them to decouplers like I've been doing if the parts I'm connecting are connected via decouplers?

[Aseaheru]

Nope.

[flabort]

Well, that saves me some weight.

[RedKing]

Manged to perform the "split station in half, insert new module in between the two and pull off TWO docking manuevers" bit, despite making several terrible design choices.

One, the command module for the station is aligned more or less 90 degrees to the rest of the station, meaning that I can't really use the navball for docking.
Two, I only put enough RCS blocks on it to account for two axes, leaving me no lateral control.
Three, I *still* don't have an open docking port for the final module (fuel storage), so I'm going to have to split the damn thing again and insert another module.
Four, despite putting a crapton of solar panels and about 2100 units of battery storage, because the orbit is so low (~87km) it spends way too much time in Kerbin's shadow. The science lab runs the batteries down just an hour or two into nighttime.

[BigD145]

You should still be able to "control from" docking port.

[BigFatStupidHead]

There are other ways to do it, but it's still a trick. It's as much a trick as memorizing a multiplication table over doing the math longhand.

Hey! I was there before they invented memorizing! No, no... wait. That's not right. I was there before SAS could track targets! :p (It still seems like quite a new trick to me)

[FArgHalfnr]

How do you guys manage that docking thing XP? I can't seem to stabilize during the final maneuvers. It seems that as I go closer the minimum speed I can reach increase, forcing me to go faster and faster as I'm nearing my target. I think I really need help. Tutorials on youtube don't seem to help much.

[RedKing]

How do you guys manage that docking thing XP? I can't seem to stabilize during the final maneuvers. It seems that as I go closer the minimum speed I can reach increase, forcing me to go faster and faster as I'm nearing my target. I think I really need help. Tutorials on youtube don't seem to help much.

As other people have said, use RCS not thrusters. Which means making sure you have RCS laid out so that you have a pair of nozzles pointing along each axis.


The built-in tutorial was pretty helpful for me. Once you get close, switch to Target mode and use the RCS to try and line your ship and the target up so that the target marker is aligned with your prograde marker. Once that's done, thrust forward gently with RCS (default keybind is H) and coast toward your target. Keep your prograde indicator lined up with the target indicator, and keep your relative speed low. If you're coming in a bit too fast, RCS back (default keybind -- N).

The main thing is to get relative speed very low before you start manuevering. If you're still at >10 m/s, it's easy to go flying right back your target (or have it fly by you). Ideally, you want it at or under 1 m/s until you get your prograde/target aligned. Then you can increase speed a bit.