Advanced grabbing unit speed? (also, once an asteroid starts spinning, game over)

[XOIIO]

Alright so I just spend around 20 minutes trying to hook a second ship up to an asteroid I had already docked with (mechjeb got me close enough, but manual piloting is needed), however, this second ship made me give up. Why? Well, when I first tried, I hit it a bit to hard, and it started spinning at probably 3 or 4 meters per second, and the next 20 minutes were me trying to dock, looking perfect, them hitting it even at 2 m/s and it bouncing away, followed by a crapton on repositioning and painful maneuvering only to do it time and time again, so I have given up on this asteroid (was going to try and land it on kerbal).

So, what is the max docking speed you can actually connect with this thing? Have you been successful hooking on once the asteroid has started to spin? I'd love to see little harpoons to grab onto it.

Also, why is the KSP logo on all the new parts and on some of the cockpits/lander cans? It kind of ruins it to see that logo all over stuff, I do know what game I'm playing

(and yes I had to use debug fuel, otherwise I would have ran out of RCS fuel way, way before the 5 minute mark)

Edited May 20, 2014 by XOIIO

[jembley]

I have had no succesfull docking with more than 1m/s, but then again, I've only played for 7 months and i did my first succesfull dock 2 months ago (made some really huge spacestations now though)

[Pursuedtank]

For the asteroid spinning problem , did you try to use time warp to halt it's rotation? It's a bit cheaty but it should work.

For your point about the flags on the cockpits, you can right click on the part in the VAB/SPH then click the toggle flag option which will remove the flag.

[HazelPine]

From experience, you must be slower than 2m/s to claw stuff. Also with the cockpit flags, it will show whatever flag you chose for the save, and you can toggle it off.

[XOIIO]

Ah, didn't think of time acceleration, I will probably just gab another asteroid though, or do that once I upgrade the ship with more RCS. Thanks for the tip on the flags, does that work for the grabbing unit and engines as well?

Thinking about it more I would love another claw that would let you fire it at the target to grab it and winch it in, that would be awesome. I do know that I am going to have to put "derelict" satellites in orbit and make a ship to bring them down , the claw is fun as heck.

I also love the new engines, I thought the mainsail was impressive but the new ones made it a piece of cake to get rockomax tanks into orbit, took 30 seconds to make one that worked flawlessly.

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

Alright so I just spend around 20 minutes trying to hook a second ship up to an asteroid I had already docked with (mechjeb got me close enough, but manual piloting is needed), however, this second ship made me give up. Why? Well, when I first tried, I hit it a bit to hard, and it started spinning at probably 3 or 4 meters per second, and the next 20 minutes were me trying to dock, looking perfect, them hitting it even at 2 m/s and it bouncing away, followed by a crapton on repositioning and painful maneuvering only to do it time and time again, so I have given up on this asteroid (was going to try and land it on kerbal).

So, what is the max docking speed you can actually connect with this thing? Have you been successful hooking on once the asteroid has started to spin? I'd love to see little harpoons to grab onto it.

I usually manage it by slowing to points of a meter a second... 0.2-0.5...

Also, why is the KSP logo on all the new parts and on some of the cockpits/lander cans? It kind of ruins it to see that logo all over stuff, I do know what game I'm playing

This is the flag you have chosen for your save game! you can change it (or even turn it off entirely) by right-clicking the part with the flag on.

[Captain Sierra]

For the asteroid spinning problem , did you try to use time warp to halt it's rotation? It's a bit cheaty but it should work.

For your point about the flags on the cockpits, you can right click on the part in the VAB/SPH then click the toggle flag option which will remove the flag.

Or just use your own flag, which is much more appealing to look at.

On topic, Docking ports won't connect if you impact over 2m/s. Perhaps the grabber code has the same limitation.

[Tex]

The "Crash Tolerance" readout in the VAB parts list shows how fast of an impact a part can withstand. As for the asteroid spinning, I've never had a problem with this myself, yet I hear it's a big issue... Look at the ARM provided in the Scenarios. It was a heavy sonofagun, but I never went out of control.

[Sirrobert]

I never dock faster than .5m/s

[problemecium]

In my experiences it's not about how fast you hit the thing, it's actually about how much time you spend with your Klaw in contact with the surface. I suggest sidling up to it at a comfortable pace and then using RCS or engines on low throttle to push against it just as you start to touch.

My guess is that the game needs more than one physics frame to complete a Klawing maneuver.

[Superfluous J]

Also find a flat spot perpendicular to your approach toward the center of mass. You can't come in on the side of a hill and get a grab. Aim for the top of that hill.

[Tripzter]

Not sure why people insist on docking with 2ms or even higher. .5ms is plenty fast. If your asteroid is spinning find the side where the asteroid is not spinning (north/south pole) and dock there. Then you can slow it down and redock again.

Also keep in mind you will not be able to dock if the angle of the claw is too high. You need to have a fairly perpendicular surface to dock to.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Tripzter

[Pwnstarr]

RCS, lots of it

[Vanamonde]

This gameplay/how-to question has been moved to the Gameplay Questions sub-forum.