Rescue in LKO

[MPDerksen]

12 minutes ago, bewing said:

Ah, you have to make your orbits cross to make it easy to actually get an intercept by only pushing the yellow/green retrograde marker. And you push the retrograde marker around, not the pink antitarget marker. Basically, you waited too long to push your retrograde marker. If you push it around sooner, that will make your orbit cross.

Yes, that orange intercept marker mostly shows the closest approach, but it is not absolutely precise. As you make adjustments to get your closest approach even closer, yes the intercept marker will move farther away from you in time -- but the "separation" number (which is the important one) will decrease to zero.

You can also turn around and point at the target, and pull your prograde marker around in the same way as you push your retrograde marker -- and that will also fix the fact that your orbits don't cross. This is also necessary if your "target" speed gets too low (or goes to zero). Having slightly faster intercepts actually works better. The markers don't have time to drift very far if you are going faster.

 

all this makes sense.  thanks.  Should I back up a few quicksaves and create an orbit where my Ap is above, and my Pe is below the orbit of my target?  I have 3 of these crafts in orbit right now, and want to rescue all 3 as practice (one at a time, clearly).  What is the best option, reboot or go from here?

Edited February 13, 2019 by MPDerksen

[Espatie]

Just to check: You do know that you can use your SAS to align to the Retrograde marker, right?

 

[MPDerksen]

4 minutes ago, Espatie said:

Just to check: You do know that you can use your SAS to align to the Retrograde marker, right?

 

Yes sir.  a reasonable question.  I just got within 500m, did the EVA, and watching splash-down on my other screen.  Success.  I had a lot of fuel leftover (which is a first), and i will modify my craft and now go after the second of three stranded pilots.  

[Tallinu]

On 2/10/2019 at 6:56 PM, bewing said:

As mentioned already, the kerbal's helmet always points north. So you can't adjust that dimension with the camera.

You can actually change which direction they point their helmets by switching camera modes using the V key (pretty sure that's the default).

In "Orbit" mode, "up" is north as bewing said. But in "Free" mode, "up" is away from the planet, and pressing space will orient EVA Kerbals that way instead.

If your target is significantly above or below you in one camera mode, or you're having trouble getting a grip on a ladder because of the target craft's orientation, switching camera mode may make it significantly easier to maneuver to or around your target.