Questioner Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I'm new here, (first post), and wasn't sure where to post this... but I'm confused about why it's so hard to create a docking mod. It only needs 2 parts- a cone and an active piece that goes into the middle of the cone. All you'd then have to do is launch a sort of booster mission into orbit, have it dock in back of a lander/return vehicle, apply thrust, and then you're going (perhaps not turning, unless you add a part that can go around the cone and its housing area). When you run out of fuel, have the kerbenaut in back do an eva and walk to the front vehicle, get in the vacated seat, and disengage from the docked area, flying the next vehicle. This way, you don't even need to have moving parts. In addition, even if you don't want to do all the work to create a cone and active piece to dock with, you could just hollow out a structural fuselage, and add a smaller, pencil-shaped piece just a little smaller than the hollow area, and try to dock (this would be harder to dock with than a cone, however). This came to mind when thinking about the movie, apollo 13, where they use a cone-shaped docking system- a very simple system, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silent_prtoagonist Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 The problem with docking isn't in physically attaching the ships; that's fairly easy, and there have already been a couple of mods that do that, albeit buggily. The problem is that the way that the game internally keeps track of all the parts in a ship makes it difficult to turn two ships into one ship, which is really what you want to do if you're making space stations or interplanetary spacecraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal_vager Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Hi Questioner, the code that would support having two craft as one just isn't in the game yet, plus the physics needed to handle moving two docked craft needs to be sorted out, otherwise they would disintegrate pretty quickly.Many add-on developers have tried to do hat you suggest, and the most that can be achieved is some kind of grappling system, which is fine until you try to warp as then the craft go on rails and the physics that handles craft collisions no longer applies, meaning the craft separate.Also, Squad have no intention of releasing a half baked implementation of docking, they feel it is better to get it right and release it whole, KSP is alpha don't forget and this is the stage where major features are added, it'd make no sense for Squad to make half a docking system when they'd have to go back and change it later.Docking is coming, not in 0.17 but some day, and like with everything else in KSP, it'll be ready when it's done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuulness Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Why would you want to dock at this current build? It would have almost no use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Questioner Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 That makes sense, I guess (I can remember when you could warp 2x while under acceleration that my craft wobbled more than it should have).BTW- I think I submitted my post twice- sorry about that. Other questions- have you considered making a way to zoom out while the ship is being built, so that you can fit more on for faster computers?Have you considered adding nuclear propulsion when the tech tree gets going (I remember a post mentioning a tech tree...)?Will you add other theoretical propulsion systems?Will you add other stars in a few years, or is this just a sol game?How long do I have to wait for the game to be complete (are we talking minecraft since indev-short, or Diablo 3 type-long)?Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Questioner Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 I want to practice now for when it matters, as opposed to practicing when I could be doing something that does matter (like flying to another planet). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal_vager Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Shift+mousescroll to zoom out No idea on nuclear propulsion, it'll probably be an add-on.FTL is coming eventually.There will be other stars.We don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silent_prtoagonist Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Nuclear rockets are already featured in some mods, DownUnder comes to mind (nukes are essentially the same as regular engines, just more efficient). I believe in the flobathon interview some of the devs said that they hope to be "scope-complete" within a year, that is all the features are there, but they still need to be fleshed out, polished, etc. (but don't quote me on that...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkwolfpaw54 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 ive made a few nuclear bombers though i only used the dumb bomb not a nuke :(i wonder if the docking could help......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayneCloud Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Welcome to the forums Questioner! While we welcome and encourage open discussion about the game, this forum isn't the place to do it. So if you don't mind, perhaps make another thread in General asking your questions and I'm sure the team and the regular forum users would love to help answer them as best they can.-DR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt'n Skunky Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Happy Launching!Arrr!Capt'n SkunkyKSP Community Manager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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