Who else hates docking?

[GoodChum]

Personally, docking is my least favorite activity in game. When you think you have it just right, you mess one thing up and the entire operation fails.

[Aerodynamic Kerbal]

Its fun though. My first time docking was from the 2nd try. The only thing that is kinda hard for beginners is rendezvous 

[AlSlea]

I've done several grand tours. Still haven't figured out how to dock. I mean, I know in theory - but never felt it was worth the effort to really learn. I just get close enough to EVA my Kerbals over to the new ship instead.

[Joker58th]

Hmmm...not sure what you mean by the entire operation fails.  If it does not dock right way, you keep trying until you get the alignment right.  Try approaching the docking port slowly and when you get within 5 meters or so, stop and get the alignment right and then move forward slowly.  If you are on PC, there are a few mods that make docking much easier.   The most stock a like one I recommend is Navball Docking Alignment Indicator CE-2.

[Scarecrow71]

If it wasn't for docking, I don't think I'd even be playing any longer.  So much has opened up in this game from this one simple tactic, and it would have killed the game for me if I couldn't do it.

With that said, I always let the computer do it for me.  I use MechJeb for a lot because I'm simply not steady enough to do it myself.  Heck, I even wrote a tutorial on how to use MJ to dock.

I'm not sure if the images in there are valid or not.  But the description should be.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Scarecrow71

[Starwhip]

I find docking really fun (I even wrote a now-ancient guide to it, holy cow, 2014. Most of the images have been lost.)

Highly recommend, if you can mod the game, the mod Docking Port Alignment Indicator. Once you understand how it works docking becomes a cakewalk and far more realistic, I tend to align and approach at <1 m/s and allow timewarp to get me into position.

A short guide I whipped up, I am sure you can find a better one.

[The Aziz]

I prefer navball docking aid or however it's called. Never understood the alignment indicator, too many markers for something that is so simple.

[magnemoe]

On 10/11/2022 at 3:50 PM, Scarecrow71 said:

If it wasn't for docking, I don't think I'd even be playing any longer.  So much has opened up in this game from this one simple tactic, and it would have killed the game for me if I couldn't do it.

With that said, I always let the computer do it for me.  I use MechJeb for a lot because I'm simply not steady enough to do it myself.  Heck, I even wrote a tutorial on how to use MJ to dock.

I'm not sure if the images in there are valid or not.  But the description should be.

Used mechjeb a lot earlier but now I only do it with the more complex stuff like docking large ships to huge space stations, low framerate makes it hard, worse if docking ports are offset from center of mass. 
But mechjeb has an nice feature in the direction control Smart A.S.S. pick control from here from docking port on target, select the ship you will dock with as target and set Smart A.S.S. to point to target. switch to docker and the target docking port will point in your direction. Note that this get problems with huge ships and stations as they tend to vibrate but for smaller stuff its briliant. 
With some practice you don't need rcs just use engine to line up, then use engine to slow down to .6-.3 m/s while centering direction to target, then tell your ship to point to target and you just dock. 

For rendezvous, launching into LKO, I tend to launch a bit early and then raise Ap a bit above 80 km to get an intercept, I then tell mechjeb to adjust encounter from 50-300 meter depending of size of crafts then to match velocity. Same if you rendezvous in say Mun orbit, here you keep Ap higher during insertion so you get an intercept, then match velocity. 
For higher orbits, I found it better to enter an lower orbit then do an second burn to raise Ap to target, move this around so its intercept, again adjust encounter and match velocity. 
 

[jimmymcgoochie]

Docking can be difficult in stock KSP, but there are a variety of ways to make it easier:

• Docking can't be rushed. Take your time, line the two vessels up and then move in slowly. Fine control mode (caps lock key to toggle, it turns the orange pitch/yaw/roll indicators in the bottom left blue) is very useful to get more precise thrust from your RCS.
• Align the vessel that's actively docking with the target with the target docking port in advance, then move so that the target is directly ahead of you and facing you, and then move in to dock. Trying to line the ports up while moving at an angle is much more difficult and thinking about three axes of rotation and three planes of movement all at once is a good way to get really confused and either collide with the target or miss entirely. Having the two vessels point in opposite directions is a good way to take rotation out of the equation and let you focus on moving the docking vessel to where it needs to be.
• If you don't have the fancy SAS modes (specifically pointing at target), you can still make two vessels point in opposite directions using SAS. Control both vessels from the docking ports you want to dock with, set one to normal and the other to anti-normal and they'll point the two docking ports in the right directions to dock and then hold them in that orientation.
• If you do have all the SAS modes, the old point-and-squirt technique can avoid some faff- control from docking ports, set the other port as target on both vessels and set SAS to target+ to point them at each other, then a bit of thrust to make them move closer. It's possible to use this to dock even with no RCS, but the lack of lateral thrust can make it tricky and you can spent a lot of time drifting past the target instead of at it.
• There's also a little mod* that adds two new modes to stock SAS, parallel+/- which will point the two targets in the same or opposite directions respectively; parallel- is what you want for docking. MechJeb's Smart A.S.S. system also has this ability, plus MechJeb comes with a docking autopilot that can do the hard work for you, though at a cost of potential inefficiency and occasional disregard for other parts of the vessels like solar panels.

* See:

 

[Richmountain112]

I hate rendezvous and docking. Such a pain in the a$$ when you overshoot and have to redo it. Sometimes I end up cheating to rendezvous instead.

[darthgently]

kOS ftw!

I love docking now.  After 2 years of slogging through my own coding errors that is

[Caerfinon]

After I studied this guide for a bit I found rendezvous and docking less intimidating.  Slow and steady and resist the urge to overcorrect. 
 

 

[Dinlink]

I like docking... But I have never used RCS...

Just point each ship to each other and make a nose-to-nose dock... It's even easier when you have SAS target tracking on both ships... Lateral docking could be done without RCS too, just correctly aligning the ships with a nice reference... For example one aligned normal/antinormal and the other prograde/retrograde.

Rendez-vous is what makes me impatient... I'm still experimenting on which would be the shortest fastest way to get a rendez-vous (in less than a full orbit), that does not require infinite DV xD...

[Richy teh space man]

It takes practice to get it right, but unlocks so many possibilities.

[IllicitMedic]

Not I!!!

Rendezvous & docking are one of my fav things to do, I enjoy the finesse.

[miklkit]

Don't even try anymore as it isn't worth the aggravation and time.  Mostly the long time needed to do it.  Used MechJeb to rescue Kerbals for a while but now just don't bother. 

[tajwo]

14 hours ago, Caerfinon said:

After I studied this guide for a bit I found rendezvous and docking less intimidating.

My main problem with rendezvous was knowing when to launch. The rest I could do almost completely fine. After reading through this guide a bit, I found a section "Tools for Optimizing Efficiency" that showed the two +orbit and -orbit buttons. That cracked it open for me and I stopped caring about launch windows for rendezvous. Of course in real life it's not entirely practical to sit an entire day in orbit because you were launched into space at the wrong time, but it's KSP and Kerbals live forever, who cares?

[Caerfinon]

26 minutes ago, tajwo said:

That cracked it open for me and I stopped caring about launch windows for rendezvous.

You could also try the MOD Throttle Controlled Avionics to launch rockets to orbit. It has an automated rendezvous timer that will wait till the optimal time, launch to orbit, match planes, rendezvous and plant you 50-60 meters from your target (as long as you have the deltaV to perform all the maneuvering). It's a big time saver if you're doing routine missions like launching station parts into orbit for assembly.  

[Rakete]

Docking is great !

[NexustheNinja19]

I recently had to dock together 4 parts of a space station to duna so i could make a base/colony and I can say it can be annoying. It wasnt even good so I just ended up making a monolithic space station and docking only the landers. Main issue I have is just how finichy the ports can be.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by NexustheNinja19
Grammar issues

[Superfluous J]

I have 2 words for you:

Eff

Five

And that's not just for docking, do it right before anything difficult and/or dangerous. For docking in particular, I do it once I've got my two ships near each other with their docking ports facing each other, right before I start final approach.

Eff is too a word!

15 minutes ago, NexustheNinja19 said:

I recently had to dock together 4 parts of a space station to duna

That must have been tough getting them docked to Duna.

Ba dum, ching!

 

 

 

I'll see myself out.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Superfluous J

[darthgently]

There is also the patented Matt Lowne method:

Get docking ports mostly lined up and within a meter or so with "acquire force" bumped up perhaps, *momentarily* rails warp to stop any rotations, go eat lunch.

When you get back craft will be docked

Edited October 25, 2022 by darthgently

[stephensmat]

I always use Mechjeb now. I managed docking twice, just to see that I could do it, and then I took the shortcut, because doing it manually was a chore. It had me pulling my hair out; and a game is meant to be fun.  It felt less like cheating once I succeeded manually, but people are right about how it opens up the game in a major way.

I'm hoping KSP2 has something like Mechjeb as an in-game option. Even as an optional difficult setting. I wouldn't mind if you had to unlock it, function by function. Do it twice, and the game will give you an auto-repeat.

[Bej Kerman]

4 hours ago, stephensmat said:

I always use Mechjeb now. I managed docking twice, just to see that I could do it, and then I took the shortcut, because doing it manually was a chore. It had me pulling my hair out; and a game is meant to be fun.  It felt less like cheating once I succeeded manually, but people are right about how it opens up the game in a major way.

Have you considered the fact that it's a hair-pulling task because you only did it two times without ever bothering to become good at it? Docking is just as easy as getting to orbit.

4 hours ago, stephensmat said:

I'm hoping KSP2 has something like Mechjeb as an in-game option. Even as an optional difficult setting. I wouldn't mind if you had to unlock it, function by function. Do it twice, and the game will give you an auto-repeat.

Why don't we just automate literally everything then, instead of encouraging the player to know how to do things?

[Vanamonde]

Let's please not do the pro/anti MechJeb thing again. Neither side ever convinces the other of anything, everybody gets mad, and no good comes out of it.