Aligned Docking

[SierraKhaar]

Is there any way to make two crafts with docking ports, dock perfectly aligned (0°, 45°, 90° etc) with each other?

[KasperVld]

Dock the craft, then undock them, move them a few meters apart and roll until you're happy with the alignment and redock.

Thread also moved to How To

[brusura]

Doing a perfect angle is hard, to be sure without using any mod, you can put more than one docking port to make sure the two ships dock at some defined angle.

[Noticeably FAT]

You can eyeball it, use multiple docking ports, or install a mod. If you go the mod route, I'd suggest the Lazor Docking Cam.

[IsaacHeron]

What Kasper said. Dock as near to perfect as possible, quick save, undock and start iterating until you're happy.

I usually need no more than two tries on maybe one third of my dockings.

Or use multiple docking ports. Clamp-O-Tron Jr.s on Bi-Couplers is what I've used to align and dock my fuel tanks to the KSS (Kerbin Space Station). The fuel tank lock is obviously a custom design and has four normal docking ports on the station facing side. All ports docked on the first try.

You can build a large "docking structure" and re-use it with the subassembly loader if precise alignment is critical and the Bi- and Tri-Couplers with ports are too boring

Edit: Spoiler tags don't work?

[SierraKhaar]

You can eyeball it, use multiple docking ports, or install a mod. If you go the mod route, I'd suggest the Lazor Docking Cam.

Cool, am I supposed to look at the numbers in the window??

What Kasper said

You showoff! very nice station

----------

Well thanks guys for the help

I guess I have to wing it then, to bad lazor dock don't work with fusteks ports.

I hope fustek mods his docking berthing port so they have to snap aligned .

Edited May 1, 2013 by SierraKhaar

[sal_vager]

Yeah spoilers are broken, don't worry about it

You can use other items to give you a visual cue when docking, such as the antennas, line them up and you are perfectly straight

[SierraKhaar]

Yeah spoilers are broken, don't worry about it

You can use other items to give you a visual cue when docking, such as the antennas, line them up and you are perfectly straight

Thats a cool idea, they will work as... cross hairs of sorts, cool .

[Noticeably FAT]

Cool, am I supposed to look at the numbers in the window??

I do, it's easier to be more precise. As you are learning how to use it you can use the graphical indicators and get close enough. The solid white lines are where you need to be pointing. The dashed lines are where you are pointing. The red cross is your direction of travel in the X & Y axis (to find Z you'll have to use the distance readouts to figure out if you're moving toward or away. Note that if you are adjusting your x & Y distance fast enough, it's possible to be moving away in Z and still have your distance to your target dropping. However, if that's happening it doesn't matter much, you're likely far enough away to fix it later). The red triangle is your Z rotation. If it's pointing up*, your docking ports are rotated to the same position (the indicator is pointing toward 'up' for the target port). However, the rest of the ship may be rotated relative to the docking port (though likely in 90° increments) so you can't just make your Z rotation 0° and assume you're in the position you want.

If you want to use the numeric readouts (and you eventually will), check the How to use section for the mod on the SpacePort, it explains what each number means.

*The arrow actually 'points' to the center of the crosshairs. The indicator rotates about the center of the crosshairs, where it is in relation to the crosshairs is the readout. If you look at the screencap on the SpacePort, the ship needs to roll to the left.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Noticeably FAT

[IsaacHeron]

You showoff! very nice station

Thanks

I've used no mods and have bought KSP three weeks ago. Started building the station two weeks ago and had most trouble with the launcher rockets and not docking. Best thing to do while docking is be patient and use the chase cam (which I didn't for the first few dockings).

[Blackstar]

However, the rest of the ship may be rotated relative to the docking port (though likely in 90° increments) so you can't just make your Z rotation 0° and assume you're in the position you want.

Right-clicking on your own ship's docking port and selecting "Control from here" will make both the navball and the readouts on the docking camera relative to the orientation of that port. Though be aware that it will also change your RCS translation controls to be relative to that axis as well, which might be surprising if you're not expecting it.

Quite handy for docking using ports that aren't on the nose of your ship, like ones mounted radially on the side.

Unless you're talking about the case where you want 'up' on the ship to match 'up' on the target port, but your own ships port is rotated differently. Of course in that situation, the camera view will be rotated and most likely confusing. I learned very quickly after installing that mod how to tell which direction 'up' is on docking ports when placing them.

[SierraKhaar]

Wow so much help guys thanks!

[Noticeably FAT]

Right-clicking on your own ship's docking port and selecting "Control from here" will make both the navball and the readouts on the docking camera relative to the orientation of that port. Though be aware that it will also change your RCS translation controls to be relative to that axis as well, which might be surprising if you're not expecting it.

Quite handy for docking using ports that aren't on the nose of your ship, like ones mounted radially on the side.

Unless you're talking about the case where you want 'up' on the ship to match 'up' on the target port, but your own ships port is rotated differently. Of course in that situation, the camera view will be rotated and most likely confusing. I learned very quickly after installing that mod how to tell which direction 'up' is on docking ports when placing them.

I was referring to the 0° position on the parts themselves. For instance, if you place a docking port on top of the three man pod, if you are looking directly at the nose of the rocket in chase view 0° will be up but the capsule hatch will be about 170°. Or, you may have built your station with tri-symmetry and you need to work with 120° increments. In those sorts of cases you can't just assume that you can line up the docking ports at 0° and be where you want to be.

[gilflo]

Hello IsaacHeron

Can you even transfer Fuel using Clamp O tron Jr on a tripod docking as your photo?

Which add on do you use to build your tripod dock ?

Edited May 2, 2013 by gilflo

[IsaacHeron]

Fuel transfer should work as the Jrs are fuel cross feed capable. I haven't tried it yet, though. I've launched full fuel tanks. For the worst case, my tanks have a docking port directly attached to them so I should be good.

Edit (just remembered): I've transferred monoprop to different station segments from my fuel tanks. So it does work.

I've used the subassembly loader but could've done without it. The trick is to load the fuel dock frame (the part attached to the station), add the tanks with all parts (you want to get the correct height) and the build the lock part to match it. I couldn't attach the lock part to the tanks in the VAB so I've unattached the whole tank/frame part (red translucent in editor) and eyeballed the correct sizes.

To make sure it works you could build test rovers and try the docking on the launch pad I guess. I did it the Kerbal way: eyeballing and trying it in space first

Edited May 3, 2013 by IsaacHeron