Docking

[jebidiah34]

Hello, I am able to get into orbit, land on the mun and minmus, and wanted to try to dock 2 ships above Kerbin. I am able to get them within 3 meters of each other but can't seem to figure out the RCS and docking portion of the docking. I have watched several youtube tutorials including Scott Manley's but can't get the docking down. Does anyone have any helpful tips for a somewhat beginner?

[Snark]

Hello, and welcome to the forums! 

Moving to Gameplay Questions.

On 3/27/2017 at 1:59 PM, jebidiah34 said:

I am able to get them within 3 meters of each other

Congratulations, you've done the hard part!  Now you just need to bring 'em home.

On 3/27/2017 at 1:59 PM, jebidiah34 said:

can't seem to figure out the RCS and docking portion of the docking.

If you're already parked just a few meters away at zero relative velocity, there are just a few steps remaining:

1. Get them pointed at each other
2. Turn on RCS by hitting the "R" key.
3. Set the one ship drifting towards the other by using RCS
   • Only works if you actually have RCS thrusters on your ship.
   • And monopropellant. 
   • And your RCS thrusters are at least somewhat "reasonably placed" relative to your ship's CoM.
   • H thrusts forward, N thrusts back, IJKL thrust in the four lateral directions.

Could you post a screenshot?  Would make it easier to offer helpful advice.    To make a screenshot, just hit F1 and it'll save a screenshot image to the "screenshots" sub-folder of your KSP directory.  Then, to post it, just go to imgur.com (you don't have to have an account or anything), click the green "new post" button up top, and drag-drop yours screenshot file to the indicated location.  When it brings up the imgur page with your picture, just right-click on the image and choose "copy image location", then paste that URL into a forum post here.  The forum will automagically convert your image URL into an in-line image.

Here's an illustrated docking tutorial I put together a while ago, in case you may find it useful.  You've already done most of the steps. 

 

[jebidiah34]

12 minutes ago, Snark said:

Hello, and welcome to the forums! 

Moving to Gameplay Questions.

Congratulations, you've done the hard part!  Now you just need to bring 'em home.  If you're already parked just a few meters away at zero relative velocity, there are just a few steps remaining:

1. Get them pointed at each other
2. Turn on RCS by hitting the "R" key.
3. Set the one ship drifting towards the other by using RCS
   • Only works if you actually have RCS thrusters on your ship.
   • And monopropellant. 
   • And your RCS thrusters are at least somewhat "reasonably placed" relative to your ship's CoM.
   • H thrusts forward, N thrusts back, IJKL thrust in the four lateral directions.

Could you post a screenshot?  Would make it easier to offer helpful advice.    To make a screenshot, just hit F1 and it'll save a screenshot image to the "screenshots" sub-folder of your KSP directory.  Then, to post it, just go to imgur.com (you don't have to have an account or anything), click the green "new post" button up top, and drag-drop yours screenshot file to the indicated location.  When it brings up the imgur page with your picture, just right-click on the image and choose "copy image location", then paste that URL into a forum post here.  The forum will automagically convert your image URL into an in-line image.

Here's an illustrated docking tutorial I put together a while ago, in case you may find it useful.  You've already done most of the steps. 

Thanks so much for the help, I will try to get a screenshot on here as soon as I can.

[jebidiah34]

Having trouble getting the screenshot on here, once I take it I can't seem to find it in my files. Sorry, I'm kind of new to the game and this sort of stuff.

[jebidiah34]

Your docking tutorial is amazing, I am going to try to launch 2 ships and start over following that and see if I can get it to work. I will let you know thanks for your help!

[FullMetalMachinist]

30 minutes ago, jebidiah34 said:

Does anyone have any helpful tips for a somewhat beginner?

To add to @Snark's excellent advice, there's a handy trick you can do with the camera. First right click on your docking port and select 'control from here'. Then right click on the target vessel's docking port and select 'set as target'. Now press 'v' to cycle the view type until you get to 'locked'. The forces the camera to have the same orientation as the control point. Then right click and drag to rotate the view so you're behind and slightly above your ship. 

Now when you press 's' to pitch up, it actually corresponds to 'up' as you look at the screen. Same thing for translation controls. This will also match up with the icons that are on the Navball. 

[CoreI]

So, you appear to be having issues with navigating using RCS. One of your problems is probably what view you are in. Hit 'V' until you see 'locked' at the top of the screen. Now all the directions from your PoV will be correct for how your RCS is firing. This makes navigation infinitely easier.

10 minutes ago, Snark said:

Set the one ship drifting towards the other by using RCS

• Only works if you actually have RCS thrusters on your ship.
• And monopropellant. 
• And your RCS thrusters are at least somewhat "reasonably placed" relative to your ship's CoM.
• H thrusts forward, N thrusts back, IJKL thrust in the four lateral directions.

 

And that's how you steer. I'm too lazy to write it all.

 

Another tip: Right click on the docking port on the vessel you are controlling, and click control from here. Then, right click the docking port on the other ship you are trying to dock with, and click set as target. This will make the navball show the  and  markers correctly.

 

[Snark]

4 minutes ago, jebidiah34 said:

Having trouble getting the screenshot on here, once I take it I can't seem to find it in my files. Sorry, I'm kind of new to the game and this sort of stuff.

Heh, no problem-- we were all new here once! 

Somewhere on your computer, you have KSP installed.  Find where that is (it's wherever the .exe lives.  That folder has a sub-folder in it called Screenshots.  That's where the screenshots are put whenever you hit F1.

[jebidiah34]

@corel When thrusting toward the target markers on the navball, I don't have a way to make sure the ship stays on the target marker, I move towards the target ship but end up missing it because the target ship moves in its own direction. Not sure if that's clear enough sorry.

[jebidiah34]

Alright so I have the 2 ships pointed at each other at the same velocity (0 m/s) do I use the engine to burn slowly towards the target vessel? I am afraid I might mess up my orbit or velocity or something just wanted to make sure I'm doing it right.

[Vanamonde]

I made a training ship to practice docking with. It brings a couple of small ships up with it, which you can then turn loose and practice re-docking with the mothership. That way, you can concentrate on practicing the final steps of docking without having to fly a rendezvous first. You can get it here.

[bewing]

7 hours ago, jebidiah34 said:

Alright so I have the 2 ships pointed at each other at the same velocity (0 m/s) do I use the engine to burn slowly towards the target vessel? I am afraid I might mess up my orbit or velocity or something just wanted to make sure I'm doing it right.

Yes, you are doing it right.

When you thrust a little, it does indeed mess up your orbit. But then you dock and come to a stop, and your orbit goes back to what it is supposed to be. And yes, when you thrust and move toward your target, your target will start to move relative to you. And you have to make up for that. But when you are within 30 meters of your target, the effect is small, so you will only miss your pinpoint target by a little bit. That is part of what the game is trying to teach you. It's something called coriolis forces, and it makes you not move in a straight line when you thrust. So you have to get very close, and constantly adjust for the curve.

 

 

[Kryxal]

Do note that instead of docking by eye, you can dock by the navball once you have your control point and target set.  These days I tend not to worry too much about what the ships look like, just get the one heading at the other relatively head-on so you can see your target near the navball's center.  It makes correcting for lateral motion pretty easy.

[Warzouz]

Rendez-vous are hard : if you are able to close to 3m of your target, you did the hard part.

Docking is quite easy. The easiest way to do it is the following:

• On both shops "control from here" both docking ports.
• On each ship target each other ports
• On each ship, orient toward target using SAS
• On your moving ship, simply move forward. you shoudn't need any RCS.

To ease your docking, you can use mods. The best one for beginner is the "docking port indicator"

Remember that you need very LITTLE RCS to dock. Don't add additional tanks. To dock a 10t ship, you should need less than 5 RCS units. Just be gentle on the commands and take your time.

On my current game, I forgot the RCS refuel tank on my space station. No problem, I docked 4 times with my 10 units of RCS I had in the landing can.

Final words : Tweaking docking

• Add one spot lights on your ship/tug. This will help you see where you go, especially if there is no sunlight
• Don't forget to check and recheck you "translation" command keys.
• To save RCS, disable RCS thrusters for torque rolls. Use only reaction wheels
• Don't put too much RCS thrusters. 2 4ways on 2 inline are enough for all translations. If you have mods that have 5 ways RCS packs, you can only use 2 !
• Finally, don't get too bothered with centring your RCS pack. I docked a 60T payload using a 5T tug where only the tug had RCS thrusters. That was heavily unbalanced, but I docked it without difficulty. A powerful reaction wheel and gentle thrust will work perfectly
• If it too slow, use timewarp x5 instead of thrusting more.

 

[Urses]

@jebidiah34

I Think you use Steam? And for getting Screens you have to use F12 and Upload the Screens in the Steam Cloud.

You got many good advises but i Think i have  the docking problem more fresh XD.

You need to know 3 main problems as newt.

1. RCS has 2 movement planes One around your CoM (WS pitch up/down, AD yaw left right, QE rotate clockwise or anti)) second a Translate around your midline of the ship (IK up/down, JL Right/left, HN for/back) and you can use Both at the Same time.

2. As newt main engine is your fearest enemy at Short Ranges. One sec to long on burn and you slam through the other ship and get a new debris ring. Best advice deaktivate it through dropdown Menü and Lock staging per Alt+L.

3. You have Time and Navball is your best friend.

Your main target for docking is to alline both docking rings and bring them near enough to get Magnetic forces to Finish the Job.

If you set Both rings as target(him) and controll(you) points. You have 3 Markers. Target. Prograde and ship orientation "Bird". Your chalenge is to bring all 3 to overlap. And you controll direktly the Prograde per Translation and the "Bird" with normal RCS input.

The Chummers above explained the most up here. But the biggest struggle for me was to understand i direktly controll 2 of the markers and if i don't go to fast i have Time to get the markers One by One.

And last you will See 2 things :

1 if your RCS is misplaced you get a Rotation Moment in translates and have to correct. Be slow and Patient.

2. A slitest push of a Button Let you mostly overshoot and there CapsLock is your best friend => precise control. Your markers left under becomes blue. And Controls can be used more harder. 

I Hope this might help.

Funny Kabooms 

Urses

 

 

[jebidiah34]

Thank you guys so much I will let you know how it goes!

[tomf]

I recommend spending some time learning how RCS pushes your prograde marker around. Developing an intuitive feel for the navball is one of the most important things in the game.

• Get close to your target ship and select it's docking port as target
• In target mode reduce your relative velocity to close to 0
• point at the target ( in the center)
• get the target to point at your docking port
• enable fine control mode (caps lock and the little tick marks on the gauges bottom right will turn blue)
• experiment pressing the translation keys j, k, i, l
• watch how the prograde marker  moves around the navball
• When prograde is directly over the target marker then you are moving straight towards the target
• Keep it there and use h and n to keep your speed <1m/s and eventually you will hit the target

Edited March 28, 2017 by tomf

[Noobton]

17 hours ago, jebidiah34 said:

@corel When thrusting toward the target markers on the navball, I don't have a way to make sure the ship stays on the target marker, I move towards the target ship but end up missing it because the target ship moves in its own direction. Not sure if that's clear enough sorry.

does the target ship has sas enabled? if the target ship is rotating it increases the difficulty to a new level.