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Can Docking Ports "Grab" within a ship?


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I'm, foolishly I think, trying to make a circular station.  I've been able to get one into orbit that was fully built on the ground and then launched in a fairing with a massive engine under it.  I also tried to build on in the VAB, had it aligned right (I think) and sent it up in parts.  After some assembly I'm finding that the Over-sized Docking Ports aren't grabbing, they're just clipping through each other I think because the other ports are lining up first.  For this one, I did the the station in 4 parts so that each section is 1/4 of the ring and has docking ports on the end of the second, plus one that grabs onto the axle (for a total of 3 ports to align).  When I dock it, I seem to only get the axle one to line up, the others are "just there".  It looks good-ish,  but I'm not sure.

I also wanted to try something where I used robotic parts to just "unfold" the station.  But here's my question:  Do docking ports grab each other when they're both attached to the same vessel?  So if I swing the rings out on the end of a robotic arm, will they actually grab on?  Or do I just have to "lock" the servos with them "Close"?  I'm trying to avoid using mods though maybe I should just break down at get KAS so that I can get the parts in "position" and then let my kerbals lock things down.

 

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3 minutes ago, MrOsterman said:

Do docking ports grab each other when they're both attached to the same vessel?

Normally no. I haven't tested it myself, but I think if you set on both docking ports "Same Vessel Interaction" to yes, then they may dock to each other.

Same for two docking ports that were moved to each other with robotic parts.

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Just now, AHHans said:

Normally no. I haven't tested it myself, but I think if you set on both docking ports "Same Vessel Interaction" to yes, then they may dock to each other.

Same for two docking ports that were moved to each other with robotic parts.

Oh?!?  Okay so that feels like I can use that. I didn't know that was a thing.  :)

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Just now, MrOsterman said:

Okay so that feels like I can use that. I didn't know that was a thing.

If you don't see that option in the PAW, then you may need to activate "Advanced Tweakables" in the settings.

Also: please let me know if that does work, I don't know if it will. ;)

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24 minutes ago, MrOsterman said:

I'm, foolishly I think, trying to make a circular station.

That's the problem here. Parts are internaly connected in a tree structure (parent - child), so circles are not possible. There are of course some exceptions in form of fuel lines and struts, but other parts must stick to the parent-child rule.

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6 minutes ago, maja said:

That's the problem here. Parts are internaly connected in a tree structure (parent - child), so circles are not possible. There are of course some exceptions in form of fuel lines and struts, but other parts must stick to the parent-child rule.

Does this include using docking ports though?  I've seen a few people show examples of circles by locking together multiple docking ports but I think the trick is that I have to successfully "lock" two ports at the same time and that may be beyond my patience....

KAS is looking better and better every day.

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I tested exactly this when Breaking Ground first dropped, and without same vessel interaction it was possible but not very easy to do.

With Same Vessel Interaction and the robotic parts, I could pretty much get it to work every time.

So yes, it's a thing and it's very doable.

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Okay I had a break here to get in and try and yes, same vessel interaction did the trick.  I had to enable "advance tweekables" first and that gave me the option to turn that on and that then lead to me being able to get the ports to dock inside a single vessel.  And THAT Should make the whole "build a space ring" a little more do-able in space rather than relying on it just looking "good enough".  Of course the trick will be in pushing and pulling to get the ports to line up and touch at the right time/ angle, but do-able.

 

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