"On planet" docking issues

[Tach]

Hi,

I've made a rover that is capable of docking with various other wheeled modules and moving them around at the Space Center. But when I put those rovers and modules on either Duna or the Mun, they simply won't dock even though I can bang the actually docking nodes off each other over and over again. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Tach

[Millitron]

Gravity is overpowering the magnetic docking. Your vehicles' ports all line up on Kerbin, but on different planets, the different gravity and different fuel loads will mean your vehicles rest differently than they do on Kerbin. This means your ports don't line up perfectly anymore.

It's a tough problem, and you aren't the first to have it. The only good way around it is to include lander legs for docking. Since legs don't have suspension, they rest the same regardless of how balanced the fuel is. Just be prepared to get frustrated, it's not easy.

[Motokid600]

Yea the wheels won't sag as much. The only thing you can do if you want to stick to your design is to.. well.. redesign it to compensate. Or... ditch the wheel and make modules that sit on the ground or landing legs. But this requires a crane and kerbal attatchment system ( mod ). The crane can be tricky to design. I was inspired by boat cranes... Google that. Id post pics, but I'm at work.

[AndreyATGB]

I would recommend using KAS for surface transfers. Docking is not only completely unrealistic, but extremely difficult. You can test as much as you want on Kerbin, but when you actually land maybe the surface isn't perfectly even, maybe the fuel makes a tiny difference from your original design, if that happens say bye bye to your original plans. If you use KAS, it's way simpler and logical, you manually drag cables around just like when they refuel cars or planes or whatever. You don't dock your car to the fuel station do you?