Should warn about dock that only undocks one way

[Not a Cylon]

After hours of painstaking maneuvering, it turns out my brand-new Mun station is useless because I put the !@#%!@$ dock on the bottom of the cupola module and attached it to the nose of another pod. Now when I undock them, the dock stays on the wrong ship :-( I'm mad enough to throw things.

Did seriously no-one make this mistake during testing? There was testing, right??

[steve_v]

Heh, this kind of mistake (upside-down docking port) is both very common and  very kerbal... and that's what preflight / kerbin orbit testing is for no?

'Tis kinda like installing the ion engine upside-down, putting the parachutes in the wrong stage or forgetting the solar panels - I'm sure we've all done it once, learn from the experience and move on. It'd be a boring game if you couldn't make mistakes.

Of course one could put a big "this way up" on the parts... NASA does

 

You have of course realised that you need a docking port on both vessels if you intend to re-dock, right?

Edited December 31, 2015 by steve_v

[Red Iron Crown]

How was the game to know which side you intended the docking port to be on? There are valid uses for either orientation.

[Not a Cylon]

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

Heh, this kind of mistake (upside-down docking port) is both very common and  very kerbal... and that's what preflight / kerbin orbit testing is for no?

'Tis kinda like installing the ion engine upside-down, putting the parachutes in the wrong stage or forgetting the solar panels - I'm sure we've all done it once, learn from the experience and move on. It'd be a boring game if you couldn't make mistakes

Fair enough. I guess I've been spoiled by the warnings. Also, this didn't feel like a parachute issue, which comes from information I had but overlooked (which chute is on which stage); this is the game being unclear about how the parts work.

Quote

You have of course realised that you need a docking port on both vessels if you intend to re-dock, right?

 

 

Yes; one of them was just a launch vehicle that I wasn't going to use again. So it didn't need to keep the dock.

 

49 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

How was the game to know which side you intended the docking port to be on? There are valid uses for either orientation.

That's true, but the warnings are often spurious for this sort of reason.

[Hcube]

3 hours ago, steve_v said:

Heh, this kind of mistake (upside-down docking port) is both very common and  very kerbal... and that's what preflight / kerbin orbit testing is for no?

'Tis kinda like installing the ion engine upside-down, putting the parachutes in the wrong stage or forgetting the solar panels - I'm sure we've all done it once, learn from the experience and move on. It'd be a boring game if you couldn't make mistakes.

Of course one could put a big "this way up" on the parts... NASA does

 

You have of course realised that you need a docking port on both vessels if you intend to re-dock, right?

Haha where is this picture from ? What is it exactly ?

[Red Iron Crown]

It's from the 747 modified to carry a shuttle in a piggyback configuration.

[Raptor9]

34 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

It's from the 747 modified to carry a shuttle in a piggyback configuration.

I would almost venture a guess to say that was a joke...I mean, who would think the Shuttle should be upside down on the 747, or maybe the crew didn't know what side was the top of the orbiter?

Who knows, better safe than sorry I guess.  The engineers probably painted that on there to cover their butts during the accident investigation to determine how the Shuttle ended up dropped upside down on the 747.

[AlamoVampire]

@Not a Cylon The game does indicate. Look closely at the docking ports. The reg and jr's have literal docking ring looking lips that look kinda pouty and the sr has it too but more flush.

[MKI]

14 hours ago, Not a Cylon said:

Did seriously no-one make this mistake during testing? There was testing, right??

Yes people made the mistake I'm sure. But protecting users from users error isn't necessarily the programs job. Especially if the User themselves can protect against such designs. Namely by testing their own designs...... so don't blame the game for your own lack of testing. 

[Temstar]

40 minutes ago, MKI said:

Yes people made the mistake I'm sure. But protecting users from users error isn't necessarily the programs job. Especially if the User themselves can protect against such designs. Namely by testing their own designs...... so don't blame the game for your own lack of testing. 

This, you cannot make a game that allow player the freedom to do almost anything, without also giving players the freedom to make mistakes.

[Reactordrone]

Looks like time for a repair mission to fit a new docking port to the station with a claw.

[Kerbart]

6 minutes ago, Reactordrone said:

Looks like time for a repair mission to fit a new docking port to the station with a claw.

Aah! The Krakenport!

 

[pincushionman]

2 hours ago, Reactordrone said:

Looks like time for a repair mission to fit a new docking port to the station with a claw.

 

2 hours ago, Kerbart said:

Aah! The Krakenport!

 

Yeah…don't do that.

[pandaman]

4 hours ago, Kerbart said:

Aah! The Krakenport!

 

IIRC weren't the issues with the claw fixed in 1.0.5?  It certainly seemed a lot better when it tried it.

[Hobbes Novakoff]

On January 1, 2016 at 8:26 PM, Kerbart said:

Aah! The Krakenport!

That would make a great name for a Kerbal news show. Hi, I'm Anderson Kerman, with Krakenport! This just in: KSIS flag spotted at Kay Pride parade in Kengland!

(I don't know what a "Kay pride" parade would be. Maybe it's a parade where Kerbals express their love for jewelry kompanies.)

[Starwaster]

On December 31, 2015 at 6:04 AM, Not a Cylon said:

After hours of painstaking maneuvering, it turns out my brand-new Mun station is useless because I put the !@#%!@$ dock on the bottom of the cupola module and attached it to the nose of another pod. Now when I undock them, the dock stays on the wrong ship :-( I'm mad enough to throw things.

Did seriously no-one make this mistake during testing? There was testing, right??

Attaching things the wrong way and the consequences of same are your sole responsibility. 

Not bailing you out for dumb mistakes is not a bug. 

[pandaman]

On 31/12/2015 at 11:04 AM, Not a Cylon said:

Did seriously no-one make this mistake during testing? There was testing, right??

Did YOU test it (in orbit) before sending it all the way to the Mun? 

I've done that kind of stuff myself too, several times, annoying as hell,  but all my own fault.

There are many reasons why there were multiple Apollo missions before the 'big one', and that is an example of an obvious one - to make sure stuff works as intended.

Success is great, but failure is a much better teacher.

Edited January 2, 2016 by pandaman

[Kerbart]

On 1/1/2016 at 4:12 AM, pandaman said:

IIRC weren't the issues with the claw fixed in 1.0.5?  It certainly seemed a lot better when it tried it.

Time to quote Clint Eastwood: “Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?”

2 hours ago, Hobbes Novakoff said:

(I don't know what a "Kay pride" parade would be. Maybe it's a parade where Kerbals express their love for jewelry kompanies.)

You fool! Don't you know why Val always has a smile on her face? Oooh, he went to Kared!