docking ports won't connect

[Cannon]

i'm trying to make a mun base but i just can't connect these 2 parts

[Dfthu]

the docking ports are misaligned. The fuel tank in the bottom right corner needs to be higher or the tall one be lower. Or you can RCS to lit it instead. The surface can get a little bumpy sometimes.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Dfthu

[ForScience6686]

One thing I found that my help is putting more force in when you dock. I built a fuel truck that docked to the plane from above with a boom, and had to slap the ports together to get or to work.

[Snark]

Docking things together while parked on the surface is notoriously difficult in KSP. It's technically possible to do in stock, and folks out there have worked out some clever techniques (and published well-written tutorials), but I've always found it unbearably tedious and frustrating. I don't mind "hard" (challenges are fun), but I get frustrated with things that seem gratuitously hard for no good reason other than a lack of game features to support them.

I recommend Kerbal Attachment System as a great mod for connecting things on the surface. You build your ships with little connection ports on them. As long as they're parked within a dozen meters or so, you just send out a kerbal on EVA and connect the ports with a pipe, with just a couple of mouse clicks. Problem solved. Something like that really oughta be part of the stock game, IMHO.

[StrandedonEarth]

If you quickly raise/lower the landing gear on the lab section (lower it before they finish raising, I think it lets you do that, IIRC) that should bring it into alignment, at least briefly.