[Beginner] How to dock in 3 easy steps

[Jijonbreaker]

...I have docked a number of times, but I have NEVER thought to use strafing to line the ships up. (Mainly because I didn't know HOW to strafe...)

[Graknils]

I have mechjeb, but All I have unlocked in career is the module that does basic stuff, like point me in different directions, etc. I do not have the full autopilot capabilities yet for docking. Guess I will have to ignore this aspect of the game until I get more science done. Time to start looking past minimus before I look closer to Kerbal.

jedensuscg, With the exception of docking (which is still difficult/impossible to me) it has been WELL worth my time to learn to 1. fly completely manually, and 2. use the early flight tools that MechJeb provides. Have you sent missions to every Kerbin Biome and done science at each location? Doing this will not only gain you science points but is a GREAT way to PLAY the game while learning points 1&2 above. Here's a couple of thing I did to help make the game more playable for me:

1. I went to http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Key_Bindings and printed out the full Key Bindings page so that I would have ALL the controls for reference. (optional)

1. a. Since the full bindings page is rather bulky, I also printed out the one page reference. (links available at the bottom of the Key Bindings page) I use THIS paper most often for reference.

2. Using good rocket design (don't forget to asparagus stage!) I developed a standard launch package that I then saved as a sub-assembly (available in v0.23). I use this sub-assembly for all my launches so I would have predictable results. Then I SAVED a top stage/lander ship and I just customize my science package on the top stage as I gain new science items.

3. Once I had a viable launch program, I started flying missions to EVERY Biome on Kerbin. I found the Biome maps at http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Biomes and it gave me a lot of practice using the manual controls, and as I gained MechJeb capabilities a lot of practice using the MechJeb controls.

4. I completed all the Biomes on Kerbin before going to the Mun and flying missions to those Biomes. The biggest thing I had to remember was to RECOVER my landers so that I would get all the science stored in them AND also recover my Kerbal if he happened to be on an EVA collecting a soil sample or planting a flag. I also found it helpful in recovering or terminating all my debris just to keep the clutter down.

5. Some additional links I found extremely helpful:

- http://wiki.mechjeb.com/index.php?title=MechJeb_1_Manual#Translatron - Even though this is from MechJeb 1 I found it VERY helpful in learning the basic controls.

- http://wiki.mechjeb.com/index.php?title=MechJeb_1_Manual#Smart_A.S.S._--_Smart_Automatic_Space_Steering - I printed out Translatron and SMART A.S.S. on opposite sides of the same paper and have it in front of me while flying missions. That paper and the Pause button have Saved My Bacon numerous times!! LOL - REMEMBER TO QUICKSAVE OFTEN!!

- http://i.imgur.com/Dbz5ZDT.jpg - I used this path to get my "SC-9001 Science Jr" first. This greatly increased the amount of science points I could accrue. REMEMBER TO EVA AND SOIL SAMPLE!

- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=193177293#172877 I used this map to gain MechJeb capabilities at the quickest possible rate. Then I went back and started fleshing out additional parts.

- I only had to fly a couple of missions to the moon during this time, but once I was at this point I had gained enough science points to achieve the docking controls that enabled me to develop a refuel program AND be able to dock to it. This in turn allowed me to send larger missions to Mun Biomes.

There may be smarter/faster steps to this point in the game but this is an Everyman/Casual approach. Hope this helps you and other viewers of this thread. If something was unclear please feel free to ask.

[jedensuscg]

jedensuscg, With the exception of docking (which is still difficult/impossible to me) it has been WELL worth my time to learn to 1. fly completely manually, and 2. use the early flight tools that MechJeb provides. Have you sent missions to every Kerbin Biome and done science at each location? Doing this will not only gain you science points but is a GREAT way to PLAY the game while learning points 1&2 above. Here's a couple of thing I did to help make the game more playable for me:

1. I went to http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Key_Bindings and printed out the full Key Bindings page so that I would have ALL the controls for reference. (optional)

1. a. Since the full bindings page is rather bulky, I also printed out the one page reference. (links available at the bottom of the Key Bindings page) I use THIS paper most often for reference.

2. Using good rocket design (don't forget to asparagus stage!) I developed a standard launch package that I then saved as a sub-assembly (available in v0.23). I use this sub-assembly for all my launches so I would have predictable results. Then I SAVED a top stage/lander ship and I just customize my science package on the top stage as I gain new science items.

3. Once I had a viable launch program, I started flying missions to EVERY Biome on Kerbin. I found the Biome maps at http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Biomes and it gave me a lot of practice using the manual controls, and as I gained MechJeb capabilities a lot of practice using the MechJeb controls.

4. I completed all the Biomes on Kerbin before going to the Mun and flying missions to those Biomes. The biggest thing I had to remember was to RECOVER my landers so that I would get all the science stored in them AND also recover my Kerbal if he happened to be on an EVA collecting a soil sample or planting a flag. I also found it helpful in recovering or terminating all my debris just to keep the clutter down.

5. Some additional links I found extremely helpful:

- http://wiki.mechjeb.com/index.php?title=MechJeb_1_Manual#Translatron - Even though this is from MechJeb 1 I found it VERY helpful in learning the basic controls.

- http://wiki.mechjeb.com/index.php?title=MechJeb_1_Manual#Smart_A.S.S._--_Smart_Automatic_Space_Steering - I printed out Translatron and SMART A.S.S. on opposite sides of the same paper and have it in front of me while flying missions. That paper and the Pause button have Saved My Bacon numerous times!! LOL - REMEMBER TO QUICKSAVE OFTEN!!

- http://i.imgur.com/Dbz5ZDT.jpg - I used this path to get my "SC-9001 Science Jr" first. This greatly increased the amount of science points I could accrue. REMEMBER TO EVA AND SOIL SAMPLE!

- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=193177293#172877 I used this map to gain MechJeb capabilities at the quickest possible rate. Then I went back and started fleshing out additional parts.

- I only had to fly a couple of missions to the moon during this time, but once I was at this point I had gained enough science points to achieve the docking controls that enabled me to develop a refuel program AND be able to dock to it. This in turn allowed me to send larger missions to Mun Biomes.

There may be smarter/faster steps to this point in the game but this is an Everyman/Casual approach. Hope this helps you and other viewers of this thread. If something was unclear please feel free to ask.

I finally did it!!! I docked! Just took it extremely slow. I had my save game from my previous post and just took it real slow. Halted forward relative speed. Point to target, small burn, repeat. Still spent about an hour in hairs breath proximity to my station before I docked, but much of this was because my RCS was not set up properly and I had to line up my approach in staging mode first because I could not translate well.

I used the Smart A.S.S to flip my ship around to the different nodes (+TGT, -REL etc).

Sadly this could have been even easier if I remember to put those extra RCS jets in my rockets KAS storage compartments...all I had in them was a light and a mono-prop tank, lol.

[Ollij93]

Thanks for the guide. I plan to try this out as soon as I get the chance!

[Callisto]

[mart]

Without any question the very best docking tutorial !

Learned that aligning your RCS thrusters the right way, start your initial transfer if you are 'almost' catching up with your target proved golden. Never changed anything in my docking after reading this.

[walia6]

On step one, how close is close enough?

[Sinner_D]

First off, valiant effort here maxwell. but i do believe that you may have over simplified and/or skipped / missed some very important things involving what you are attempting to teach here.

seeing as how this is meant to be a "beginners" tutorial, i believe you missed a crucial step in this tutorial, better yet atleast the explaination of at step you took, but gave no reference to its absolute importance to rendezvous.

Prior to "step 1) get close" you need to add, and explain why your two craft are in separate orbits, especially explaining why they are not matching orbits. and furthermore explain why/what the difference in orbits mean in terms of rendezvous. by doing so, you'll break the binds to which your setting on newbies, I'm sure most ppl who've read this tutorial and attempted, had orbits of 100km vs 80km. personally i think setting up a precedence giving those orbital distances some sort of magic trick on how to perform orbital rendezvous is a knife in the back of a newbies training. also, with the "north / south" alignment, if you simply explained that ones is always opposite the other((given your crafts control module(s) is forward facing)), and gave the obvious to us pros simple way of determining this, than you wouldn't have to do a North / South alignment ever again; and then once an orbital docking requires a non "N/S" alignment, like when your docking to an already aligned space station with a irregularly orientated docking node, your not screwing newbies over by forcing the N/S alignment(I cant remember when the last time was that i performed a N/S aligned dock)

I do my rendezvous / docking slightly different, but for the most part you did a well job of giving a newbie a leg up in orbital rendezvous / docking and i commend you for that. Good Job.

perhaps when im done capturing this asteroid ill setup a tutorial with how to do this kinda stuff.

P.S. videos are great training tools, especially for this generation, however i agree that written tutorials can be better when your describing specific things required for task, that may be not heard in video(rewind / rebuffers sux when trying to learn)

[zilfondel]

Newbie here. Just go the game last week, and have spent a considerable amount of time flying, testing, designing, reading the forums, reddit, and scott manley's videos.

After landing several small landers on the Mun and Minmus (and even rescuing Jebediah from low Mun orbit after he ran out of fuel), I found out that Docking is Hard!

I really appreciate all the comments and the OP for posting this tutorial. I do also recommend Scott Manley's video tutorial, as he includes a key piece of info - come in from behind and at a lower altitude from the target you are trying to dock with. It helps set you up to gradually decrease the separation from your target.

Another very important thing that I found is to use an asymmetrical orbit from your target. Here's what I'm talking about:

1. Launch your ship when your target is above or almost above your launch site. This will put your ship behind it. Put it in a LOWER ORBIT.

2. Move from a cirular orbit to an elliptical orbit. Have the apoapsis intersect with the target's orbit, so that you can actually dock with it.

3. Have your ship orbit a few times until you close the distance to your target to a reasonable amount. Modify your orbit at your apoapsis (NOT the periapsis) until you get an encounter of ~1km. For my first successful orbit, I waited about 15 orbits until my ships were close enough, using time accelerate.

4. When you get a close encounter, make a prograde burn at your apoapsis to match the orbits of the two ships. They should be extremely close together at this point.

5. Follow the tutorial instructions on page 1 to actually dock!

[jossrack]

Dear Maxwell,

Thank you for putting together this excellent and concise guide! I'm amazed and impressed that people create these helpful tutorials. Reaffirms my faith in humanity.

I was a technical writer and editor for 10 years, and I know even relatively short documents can take considerable time and effort.

Jossrack

Edited May 2, 2014 by jossrack

[draeath]

suggestion: use a maneuver node for phasing your orbits for a close approach, and "slide" it forward/backwards in time until the "closest approach" marker gets where you want it (reminder, you need to have the other vessel set as a target to see that). Removes the guesswork - you'll know exactly when to execute that burn.

(eg when you've the two circular orbits, and you are working out the timing on when to execute the intercept burn)

Also, precision -really- matters for that burn, so if you've got the math chops (or a calculator like the FireMarshal script I've in my signature) you want to work out exactly how long your burn will take and offset your node appropriately. The in-game "burn time" is a big fat liar 95% of the time.

Edited May 3, 2014 by draeath

[dryer_lint]

Nice! I also prefer text tutorials for some reason...

[Hal]

Before reading this tutorial, I didn't dock or post. Now, afterwards, I've docked and posted! Clearly, this is a magnificent piece of writing, and has taught me many things.

I was trying to figure it out myself, but always rushed past my target because I didn't think to kill my relative speed at the encounter (I'm not the brightest knife in the drawer). So thanks!

(I know about the necro, but it's not so long ago and the post was really helpful)

[Zablonski]

I have to agree. This is a very good tutorial on beginner docking. I've been Kerballing for a week now, out to Mun & Minmus and, by using this, I was able to dock on my first(ish - reverts don't count do they?) attempt. The 3 tricks I found most useful that I want to emphasise are:

1. When you put in your maneuver node for a prograde burn to take you from an "under" orbit to a intersecting orbit, you can left click on the middle ring section of it and drag it forwards and backwards on your orbital path looking for that sweet spot where the intersection distance is a minimum. This way you don't need to guess where the burn should be, you just put it somewhere and drag it around till it looks good.

2. Once you get to that intersection point and you are within 1000m, the first thing you should do is use the "[" key to swap to the target vehicle. Then (using WASD) put the heading indicator in the NAV ball on the N line. Press the "]" to go back to your chase ship and spin it around so that the heading indicator in the NAV ball is on the 180 line. That way the two ships are now pointing at each other in one dimension and makes your actual dock less maddening.

3. Once out of Map view and into Stage view, put the camera in Chase Mode ("v" key). Saves an awful lot of screw-arsing about trying to guess what key press is going to fire what RCS thruster.

Note: I left my bottom left info doohicky in "Stage" mode. I tried occasionally flicking to "Docking" but it never seemed to do anything other than make my I, J, K, L keys not really work. Anyone explain where I'm going wrong with that?

[Pecan]

In docking mode you just use WASD - spacebar toggles them between rotation and translation. Most people stay in staging like you do, I think, so we can use WASD and IJKL at the same time.

[THX1138]

I, J, K and L don't do anything unless you stay in staging mode. In docking mode, press space to toggle W, A, S, D between rotation and translation per previous post. First post should say this though.

Edited December 20, 2014 by THX1138

[Superfluous J]

I hate to reply to a necropost, but there is no need to switch to docking mode to dock.

All docking mode does is remove functionality from your ship and cause you to accidentally stage if you think you're in it when you're not.

[John FX]

As some people will be looking at the thread like me to see docking info I thought I would post the really easy way to dock now that 0.90.0 has been released.

Step one, get close and match speed (as shown above)

step 2, target docking port on other craft, select your docking port and 'control from here' tell the pilot to use SAS and aim for the target.

step 3 switch to other craft without clicking the mouse, you will find the 'control from here' turns into 'select as target' so do this then get pilot 2 to aim for the target as well.

step 3 use RCS to head for the other craft (press 'h' a couple of times), use i,j,k,l to refine your trajectory. keep speed under 2m/s if closer than 30m.

step 4 wait. When within 10-20m turn off SAS and RCS and wait some more. Your craft will dock. Even if your craft drift slightly off course they will stay facing the docking port.

simples.

[Kerba Fett]

I find the rendezvous method described by Zilfondel to be much easier. By using an elliptical orbit on the ship you're piloting you get intercept markers that move closer each orbit. When it looks like they'll go too far on the next orbit you add a node at the intercept point and add prograde till you get a very close intercept.

Once I get a very close intercept, I set up a node to match orbits at that point.

This gives you a countdown to your closest approach next to the navball. (but I still use the relative velocity marker to kill the velocity. It's more accurate than the node)

[Chowderpat]

This is really helpful! All of the tutorials Scott Manley does and a lot of other people do confuse me. But this is simple!

[noorm]

I got a quick tip that may seem obvious, but rarely mentioned in tutorials.

If the SAS "Target" mode is available to you, you can let it control all rotations. Only translations are required.

Here's a little demonstration where I "dance" around the docking port, never using WASD in the whole video. Mostly IJKL and a little bit of HN to control distance:

[tbreimer]

I can get within a half kilometer of the other ship, I even got within .1 kilometers once. I just can't kill my velocity relative to the second ship without drastically altering my orbit so it doesn't even come close to the second ship. I've watched some video tutorials and people seem to be able to magically kill their velocity without changing their orbit, while I'm whizzing by the second ship at 100 m/s. Any help would be appreciated.

[tbreimer]

Well I was able to dock, but I'm not 100% sure how.

[HorusKol]

On 2/20/2016 at 0:14 AM, tbreimer said:

I can get within a half kilometer of the other ship, I even got within .1 kilometers once. I just can't kill my velocity relative to the second ship without drastically altering my orbit so it doesn't even come close to the second ship. I've watched some video tutorials and people seem to be able to magically kill their velocity without changing their orbit, while I'm whizzing by the second ship at 100 m/s. Any help would be appreciated.

I would do this, too - the first trick I learnt was not to just fire right at the target.

The second trick was to use the map mode to get almost exactly the same orbit.

The last trick was patience - when you get to less than a kilometer, try and get your relative velocity down to about 10 m/s - and slow down a bit as you keep getting closer.

[warlock31415]

So I tried the in game tutorial and I looked up yours, here's my problem to get close to the other vessel I need to throttle up (or use RCS) but in doing so I increase my speed, to decrease it I burn anti-target which increases the separation. what am I doing wrong?