Jeb needs rescue! How do I intercept another spacecraft?

[ApexAZ]

So my previous experience with KSP1 is very limited and I'm basically new to the game.

I managed to land Jebediah on Mun with a make-shift lander that I cobbled together, collected the science, and launched him back to Kerbin.  The problem is each design I built lacked enough fuel to slow the craft down for a safe re-entry.  I probably spent 2-3 hours just trying different things, different ships, and different angles to minimize my fuel consumption and just couldn''t get it.  So long story short, Jeb is stuck in orbit and needs rescue!

Instead of going back to the drawing board for the umpteenth time to try and find a more fuel efficient design, I decided to spend my science points on medium parts and a 3 person pod.  I'm thinking no biggie, I could just EVA Jeb to the new module. Except, it's not so easy in practice.  Once I got into orbit and saw Jeb's craft whizzing around Kerbin, I realized intercepting him is going to take some work.  So the first thing I did was just create a maneuver to get my spacecraft on the same plane as his.  This wasn't so bad.

Next, I set the target to Jeb's craft and attempted to create a maneuver that would intersect his orbit, which is super easy to do except for the fact I have no idea how to factor in the speed and timing so that we each reach the same point at the same time.  So I spent about an hour on various game speeds to see if I was even closing the gap to where a window of opportunity to intercept his craft would open up.  That didn't work out all that well.

So I adjusted my orbit so that it matched his as much as possible, but with a slightly smaller radius so that I could "catch up" with him, and that actually worked out alright.  I eventually started getting close to pacing him.  The problems from there really stemmed from lack of fine movement control and I have some questions:

1. The navigation in map is really clunky and slow.  For some reason it slows down and eventually reaches a point where I can hardly pan or rotate with middle and right mouse, because it barely moves.  I also wish zoom had more steps, or finer control.  I looked around in settings and didn't see any sensitivity or speed settings regarding map controls.  Mouse movement speed seems to be random, but I always end up having to reset camera after a bit, else it becomes too unresponsive.

2.  The pro/retro grade movements were too course when trying to line up my orbit with the other after getting them fairly close.  The shift/ctrl default (I think 10%) was too much and I'd easily overshoot the line overlap.  Trying to use the throttle slide  control with mouse is even worse and nearly impossible to get an exact throttle %.  Is there a way to start the engine at only 1-2%?  Or perhaps I need a smaller engine with less thrust that may help?

3.  Is there a standard procedure for doing this, and if so, does anyone have a guide they can share?  Is there an interface tool similar to SOI orbital transfer that I should be using instead that I haven't seen?  I did some google searching, but didn't have a lot of luck.  Found a couple videos of people struggling in similar ways lol.

I feel like I had the right idea, but the UI and lack of fine control (or too much fine control at the wrong times) made me frustrated.  But maybe there's a better way?

Thanks in advance for any help to rescue Jebediah!

 

[18Watt]

The guide is for KSP1, but the concepts are the same in KSP2.

Moved to Gameplay Questions.

[Vanamonde]

From what you're describing I think you're doing as well as any beginner and just need practice.

[ApexAZ]

25 minutes ago, 18Watt said:

The guide is for KSP1, but the concepts are the same in KSP2.

Moved to Gameplay Questions.

Thank you!  I'll give this a read.

[RoninFrog]

35 minutes ago, ApexAZ said:

2.  The pro/retro grade movements were too course when trying to line up my orbit with the other after getting them fairly close.  The shift/ctrl default (I think 10%) was too much and I'd easily overshoot the line overlap.  Trying to use the throttle slide  control with mouse is even worse and nearly impossible to get an exact throttle %.  Is there a way to start the engine at only 1-2%?  Or perhaps I need a smaller engine with less thrust that may help?

 

I don't know if the tutorial mentions this but this is pretty easy to fix with the thrust limiter.

P.S. If you want to make the intercept more exciting, forget to put the thrust back to 100. 

Edited December 23, 2023 by RoninFrog