Final Docking port in a ring possible?

[Gryphorim]

So I went and saw interstellar, decided to make the Endurance, launched all modules in the ring, assembled most, but the very last docking port in the ring will not connect. Is this a known problem?

Pic for reference:

Thanks everyone for the replies. Alternate designs under investigation.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Gryphorim

[DrMonte]

Docking port would not connect to the same ship. There is no way to overcome this.

Nevertheless it is possible to build a ring. This requires some imagination and workarounds.

Something like this:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/62130-Tutorial-Circular-station-building

Edited November 11, 2014 by DrMonte

[Padishar]

Docking port would not connect to the same ship. There is no way to overcome this.

Nevertheless it is possible to build a ring. This requires some imagination and workarounds.

Something like this:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/62130-Tutorial-Circular-station-building

You say it isn't possible to connect a docking port to the same ship and then link a thread which is doing exactly that...

Docking ports will connect to another port on the same ship if the ports are close enough (e.g. if the ship can flex enough so that the ports can pull themselves together).

It is definitely possible to create a ring of docking ports (as the thread linked above shows), you just have to be very accurate, both when creating the parts you are going to dock together and when doing the actual docking, so that the ports align correctly. Small errors can still work if the pull of the ports can flex the ship to bring the ports together but they will spring back apart whenever the ship goes on rails (e.g. save/load or non-physics timewarp) and this can cause spontaneous disassembly if things collide...

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<shameless plug>My Part Angle Display mod allows part rotation down to 0.01 degrees which can make it much easier to set up the angles required to get decent alignment.</shameless plug>

[psyper]

I haven't done this myself but personally I would create two halves of the ship and join them with docking ports on either end - I've managed to dock 4 pairs of ports on to one ship a fair few times but these ports were pretty close together so I'm not sure how it will fair further apart. The docking port alignment tool mod would help a great deal.

[cantab]

While I believe there are cases when a ship will dock to itself, it seems that more reliable is to close the ring by making two docking connections simultaneously. Whether that's bringing in a single "keystone" piece or docking two half-rings together is up to you, either should work. It requires precise construction and flying of course.

In your case OP there's an obvious misalignment. Check in the VAB first that things can fit together precisely - hopefully you have each module as a subassembly rooted at a docking port to do this. If the design is sound then you have a connection rotated somewhere on the station in orbit, and you will have to partially dismantle and reassemble the station to cure this.

[Red Iron Crown]

Docking port would not connect to the same ship. There is no way to overcome this.

That is false. Docking port connections in the same ship work, even if they're a bit fiddly.

Edit: A recent example.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Red Iron Crown

[Padishar]

While I believe there are cases when a ship will dock to itself, it seems that more reliable is to close the ring by making two docking connections simultaneously. Whether that's bringing in a single "keystone" piece or docking two half-rings together is up to you, either should work. It requires precise construction and flying of course.

To be pedantic, you can't actually dock more than one port at a time, whichever one hits first docks and turns the two vessels into a single vessel and then the other pair of ports dock to each other...

But, given that stock doesn't have any movable joints (except for the somewhat flexible nature of some), it is far easier to move multiple sets of ports into docking range simultaneously, exactly what I did when building the platonic stations in post #3. Trying to slot an edge into place between two vertices would be rather tricky, but docking a vertex to multiple edges is much easier (even when then ports are at odd angles and the RCS isn't very well balanced).