A fresh start comes with a great success! [Picture heavy!]

[Margaul]

Yeah. I think one of your mods must be interfering. I think you can check to see what your key binds are for RCS or change them in the settings from the load screen. My wife is looking now. Maybe we can help you fix it.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Margaul
terrible grammar that made my head hurt

[Margaul]

Here we go:

1. On the main screen (The one that comes up when you load the game) select settings

2. Click "Input"

3. Since you (like me) dock from staging select the "Staging button"

4. Scroll down to the "Translation" keybinds

5. See what the game has for "Translate Forward" and "Translate Backward"

6. If they are currently set to "H" and "N" try setting them to something else that isn't being used

See if that helps

[Odo]

Here we go:

1. On the main screen (The one that comes up when you load the game) select settings

2. Click "Input"

3. Since you (like me) dock from staging select the "Staging button"

4. Scroll down to the "Translation" keybinds

5. See what the game has for "Translate Forward" and "Translate Backward"

6. If they are currently set to "H" and "N" try setting them to something else that isn't being used

See if that helps

Thanks! Ill check this out in a minute Im attempting a dock and its intense lol

[kookoo_gr]

THe Part with solarpanels is the core, and the part on the left is one of the 2 life support systems. Once the other one goes on the right, Ill attach some of those very large orange tanks on either side. Also this is the Space Station Columbus. I'm thinking about making some lil crafts that can detach from this station, like little probes or landers. One named Lewis, one named Clark. They could go do recon and exploration and then return back to the station.

Why does your station remind this?

[Odo]

Why does your station remind this?

LOL it kinda reminded me of a tie fighter but thats better lol

[Odo]

This thread went from Mun Success to docking Success. Also Margual you should for sure make a thread for that tutorial. It was the best Ive seen.

[Odo]

Im goin' to bed now. Hopefully tomorrow I will have the other half of the space station done, so I can move onto Lewis and Clark probes and the big orange fuel tanks. G' night!

[Margaul]

Thanks. I probably will turn it into a full tutorial. I'll probably refine it a little bit. I didn't put a lot of the "basics" into the beginning that some people would need since you were already pretty experienced with spaceflight.

Hope we fix/fixed your RCS issues.

[Odo]

Thanks. I probably will turn it into a full tutorial. I'll probably refine it a little bit. I didn't put a lot of the "basics" into the beginning that some people would need since you were already pretty experienced with spaceflight.

Hope we fix/fixed your RCS issues.

Screw sleep. I couldnt rest my brain as it stirred in a soup of infinite ideas and designs which I thought of whilst I tried to fall asleep. Docking is so amazing. No sleep today!

Also I fixed the RCS thing It was binded wrong

[Margaul]

Hooray! That's awesome! That will make your dockings a little safer. Docking does open up the possibilities for sure. I just docked a monstrosity of a lander and an improved interplanetary ship to my fueling station. Next stop: Eve, and if fuel permits, an extreme EVA to Gilly.

[Spaceisbeautifulul]

If it wasn't for docking, I couldn't have done half of my interplanetary things.

And I couldn't have half the fun.

Docking makes the whole game better.

[Odo]

I'm seetheing in anger though. I've been trying for 4 hours to dock the second half of the station and I just can't get it T_T Its so aggravating!

[gilflo]

Hey Margaul

How do you stabilize in space the space station you want to dock into.

I noticed that sometimes my space station seems to drift. I use mechjeb and turn on ASAS to point a position like normal or radial. But sometimes, even with RCS on, the spacestation won't keep this position.

I tried without Mechjeb using the ASAS switch on, once I get the good position, but also sometimes the spacestation drift and sometimes not, i do not know why.

So it's tricky to align with a drifting port....

Some tips to fix that?

Edited June 18, 2013 by gilflo

[Margaul]

Easiest way to stop the drifting...switch to your station, turn ASAS off, warp to 2X for like 3 seconds. The game should stabalize the movement if you don't have anything on (RCS, engives, etc). As you get close to the docking port, if you miss at the last second the magnetic attraction of the docking ports will cause the station to move a bit, so try not to miss

Also, if you are moving straight toward your station, and you use the main engine (pointed in the direction of your station) to close to the station, the rocket exhaust from your engine can cause your station to move. For this reason I try to approach my station and get along side it before using my main engine to brake. Then I switch to RCS. In Kerbal, the RCS engines won't cause blowback on the station. In the real world, even with RCS, astronauts have to be very careful which RCS thrusters they use when they are docking or they will blow the target away from them. They actually used the shuttle's RCS to blow broken parts of the ISS away!

So be careful where you use your main engine.

Edited June 19, 2013 by Margaul

[Margaul]

Also, you have to remember that as your station orbits, it's not moving in a straight line, its moving in a circle around the planet. So if you are approaching it from a distance with your ships ASAS on focused on a specific point, the ASAS will keep your ship pointed in a particular direction in space, so your ship will stay linear. Your station, on the other hand, will be moving in an arc, so it will be basically be slowly rotating as it moves around the planet. This isn't a problem over the course of 1-3 minutes, but in a standard 30-40 minute orbit, after 5-10 minutes it can be an irritant. This is some of the reason I keep my station in a relatively higher orbit (~185,000m) than the standard 100,000m orbit.

When I was still fairly new to docking, I had a total of 8 docking ports so I could approach the station from any direction and dock. It's not a big deal now because I approach at a pretty fast speed and move right toward the docking port before the rotation can affect to much.

The moral of the story is that the longer you take to dock, the more the slow rotation can cause a problem.

[Odo]

I got the majority of my space station done Working on making space bikes and little probes for it. Holds a maximum capacity of 6 kerbals, and can have 2 ships docked at it, at a time Ill post pics soon!

[gilflo]

Hi Margaul

Thanks for the tips, I 'll be carefull with main engine as I often approach to 100m using it.

[Odo]

Thought I'd drop this here for anyone one whose interested:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/36817-First-mission-to-Minmus%21-%28Picture-heavy%21%29?p=465301#post465301