Orbital Rendezvous & Docking on Xbox

[TomJonesius]

Hey there I am trying to dock in orbit of kerbin and other celestial bodies to build my space stations etc. but I'm having trouble figuring out the rcs controls in order to effectively do it. Is there anybody else playing KSP Enhanced Edition on Xbox One/PS4 that could provide me some insight? Is there any specific location you'd recommend I practice this, assuming Kerbin is not the best option? Any assistance would be appreciated happy orbiting

[Vanamonde]

Question moved to Gameplay, since it is seeking help rather than offering it. 

And sorry, I'm on PC, but a console player should be along soon.

[bewing]

Yeah, I can give you some tips. What preset are you using? Radial? Do you know how to turn off some of the control axes on your RCS thrusters? It's very useful to turn off Roll, Pitch, and Yaw.

Docking is easiest in a very high orbit where the speeds are slow, and the orbital angles don't change very much. But it doesn't matter where.

Are you familiar with using the Set Orbit command in the Debug menu to put two vessels close to each other? That's really the whole point of having that feature is so that you can practice docking -- or at least completely skip doing rendezvous.

 

 

[Zhetaan]

@TomJonesius:

@bewing is going to save the day twice on this one, because here's an earlier question that is similar to yours.

One critical difference between PC and console versions is that PC has both rotational (roll, pitch, yaw) and translational (forward, back, up, down, side-to-side; also called linear) controls available as separate key bindings, so a PC player can use both at the same time.  On consoles, you have to choose between one and the other by using docking mode.  For docking mode, you hold either the left or right bumper and tap Y, and then you can switch between rotational and translational controls by tapping A, though I have not done this for myself to know for certain (I'm not actually a console player; I'm just trying to help).  Since apparently tapping A is also how you stage in flight mode, be careful--though I suppose you'll figure out very quickly whether you successfully got into docking mode when you try it.

If you want to practise docking, then I suggest that you build a set of docking drones.  A docking drone is literally a flying RCS fuel tank with a probe core, thrusters, docking port, and whatever electrical and communication equipment you need to operate it.  They're compact and responsive, so they're easy to fly if you use a light touch; they're cheap and expendable, so you don't need to worry about losing Kerbals or anything terribly expensive if you make a mistake; and they're lightweight, so you can stack two and send them up on the same lifter, which is how we solved the rendezvous issue before the Debug-Menu 'Set Orbit' command existed.  They also have a second life:  if you like, you can use them as assembly tugs to build a space station after you're good at docking, though for that you probably ought to include a reaction wheel in the design.

If you're asking how to accomplish docking, then please let us know because that is practically its own topic.

However, I will say that while high orbit is easy for learning how to dock, I recommend that you work on low-orbit docking as soon as you think you can do it.  Most orbital docking is going to occur in low orbit, so understanding the high speeds and shifting angles is important.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Zhetaan

[Kryxal]

Making your approach along the normal axis can also help with the shifting angles.

[Mahnarch]

I only ever dock in 'normal/anti-normal' angles.

That's why I still have all my hair!

 

Usually, I'll have the 'dockee' (ship/tanker to be docked to) in anti-normal (facing directly South) and sneak up from the bottom just because that seems the most natural angle for me.

[PrvDancer85]

I dont know if this is true for all presets but in cursor u dont need to go in dockingmode for translate x,y,z.

On ps4 u hold r1

r1+l2/r2 forward/backwards 

r1+leftstick up/down/left/right

Have to be the same buttons on the xbox Controller, sorry i dont have the buttonlayout in my head for xbox