How to align Wheels with landing struts ?

[Stigy]

I'm building my third surface base. I always have had a problem to align wheels of my construction vehicles witch struts of the buildings. It's necessary to align these two - otherwise docking ports on vehicles and buildings will not align. The main problem is suspension of vehicles working differently under various loads. Buildings usually keep their height when I lock suspension (unless the suspension is overloaded). So do You have any idea or trick how to measure these stuff in VAB without hours of tests ?

Thx in advance.

[Highguard]

No, the routine of base design goes like this:

1) Spend hours getting ports aligned.

2) Spend more hours getting ports aligned because of suspension differences.

3) Fail to dock ports because the landing zone is not perfectly flat (co-planar).

4) Use the claw instead of ports.

5) Suffer Kraken attacks.

Which means I have a much lower level of patience than many people, who do build wonderful bases. My view is that they are much more trouble than they are ever worth without ...

6) Give up and install KIS/KAS so you can connect parts without docking.

[SpeedDaemon]

No, the routine of base design goes like this:

6) Give up and install KIS/KAS so you can connect parts without docking.

^--- Best option

Otherwise, you can try adding landing struts to your rovers, placed the same relative to the docking port as those on the station. Then drive up and align the ports, then extend the struts to bring the rover up to the proper level.

You still have the "it isn't totally flat" problem, though.

[Stigy]

Ok then. I must admit it's not easy, but it was some kind of challenge for me. I've constructed rovers with struts, landing wheels and more than one fuel tanks - I've balanced them with fuel pumped, from rear tank to front one and back - this way i can align any ports in reasonably non flat surface... For balance the best are Ore tanks because they are heavy - and affects your rover really noticeably. But still - you have to do some tests on your "playground". Without "revert flight" and "recover vessel" options my base would look like a junkyard.

[cerberusti]

If you really have trouble, put a small engine under the docking port. This will let you take weight off the suspension to get to the height you need (especially effective on low gravity worlds, where you can get away with a very small engine for the mass).