Capture Craft Needed.

[Lego_Prodigy]

I need a capture craft, because I need it for capturing a MK1 capsule in orbit, and I wasted an hour trying to use my own design. IF anybody can help me, I would LOVE THAT! 

[linuxgurugamer]

I'm sure there are lots of ships on KerbalX, but it would be better if you persevered with your own design.  Quite often it is the pilot which is at fault,  but either way, you will learn more doing it yourself 

[bewing]

Just make sure that you understand: to grab something with a klaw, it has to be nearly perpendicular to the surface when it touches. If you bounce off once, your target will start to tumble -- you have very little choice except to use momentary timewarp to stop it. Get yourself lined up from less than 10 meters away, come in slow, make sure you know which directions are WASD, and use your eyes -- not the navball.

 

[Gargamel]

Apparently I'm doing it wrong by the book, per @bewing, but if it works, it's not wrong :D.  

I get a simple little rescue craft, either the mk1 or mk1-2 pod, slap a claw on top, heatshield, decoupler, fueltank, engine on bottom, Rcs balanced around, some rcs fuel, and the rest of the neccesities as needed.   I get that within a couple hundred meters, or closer if that's where my rendezvous ends up, zero my velocities, aim at the target, using RCS get to +3.5 m/s, and use the translation rcs to adjust as needed per the navball.  Wham, capture 95%+ of the time.  Transfer kerbal, release hulk (if allowed), return, profit. 

If you can dock, then you can capture.   It's the same thing, just easier IMO, as you don't have to line up square and flush with your target first. 

Yup it will go off spinning on the rare occasion, but if it does, a quick time warp will zero the target's rotation.   Zero your velocity again, and start from the top. 

Like LGG said, this is kinda a basic ship you should be able to build in your sleep.   Getting one of these to fly right is the foundation of almost every other ship you will build. 

Edited May 24, 2018 by Gargamel

[Xd the great]

Do you have control of the capsule? I suggest try to set it to anti target relative to your capture craft before docking.

Or capture the kerbal but not the capsule.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Xd the great

[Gargamel]

36 minutes ago, Xd the great said:

Do you have control of the capsule? I suggest try to set it to anti target relative to your capture craft before docking.

Usually no.  And these are for the rescue contracts, so the target is one part, a control pod or a passenger module, with no ports. 

And while this works, it is a bad habit to get into, once you start having to dock with large cumbersome stations, rotating that station may not be a viable option.

38 minutes ago, Xd the great said:

Or capture the kerbal but not the capsule. 

A very good idea, especially if the contract does not require recovery of the target craft.  Just get close and EVA over to the rescue vehicle.   In this scenario, you don't even need a Klaw. 

But some contracts do require the recovery of the target module, so prepare for a return vehicle that is not really as aerodynamic as you want, the inflatable heatshield comes in handy here. 

[Xd the great]

Hmm, i still havent play career yet. Goddamn capitalism. Anyway, there are mods for docking, so it may not be a bad idea to try these out.

P.S. I think it should not be very different from trying to capture a asteroid.

[Gargamel]

19 hours ago, Xd the great said:

Anyway, there are mods for docking, so it may not be a bad idea to try these out.

What good is a docking mod if you are not docking?  Docking requires 2 docking ports. 

[Daniel Prates]

 Some mods will give you more to 'grab' with, like magnets etc. 

[StrandedonEarth]

For my most recent "recover hardware" mission, I used KAS/KIS to attach a docking port, then docked to it normally... Could even add a probe core/RW/Battery to get control of it if you wanted