Rendesvous and docking questions.

[painking]

The one bit I have trouble with in rendesvous is matching velocities and getting fairly close. When should I time my deceleration burns so the target doesn't sling past or still end up being far away? And with docking, is it possible to accidentally change your velocity too much via RCS? And what does properly balanced RCS look like? Thrusters at top middle and bottom of the craft with 4 way symmetry?

Edited July 9, 2013 by painking

[Nabiscovinco]

<--- Scott Manley's tutorial (its from .18, but should still work)

And as for RCS placement, it depends on the craft size. If it is just a command pod-decopuler-asas/sas-rcs-fuel-engine, (so a station shuttle) I just put RCS in the middle using 4-way symmetry. If it is larger, like a long power station, I put (using 4-way) on set on the top, and one on the bottom.

Depending on velocities, it CAN be possible to get too much velocity with RCS. But the wonderful people at Squad gave us this technology of.. QUICKSAVE. So yeah, quick save A LOT.

[Xiphos]

I have made a docking tutorial (link in my sig)

To answer your questions directly: Build your ship in the VAB, but stop when you reach the ship that will be what's left in orbit. (The part of the ship that will be docking.) Now turn on your Center of Mass icon. Now, turn the symmetry to 4, and put the 4-way thrusters EQUAL distances on each side of the Center of mass icon. Also try and keep your RCS tanks near the center of mass. This will help keep your ship balanced as you use RCS fuel.

To answer your docking question: After you make your intercept burn from stable orbit, go ahead and face retrograde, and turn on ASAS. Now time warp until your target is 2 minutes away(intercept point). Go to ship view and find your target ship. Now look at your target velocity in your nav ball. This value will vary depending on many factors, so if you're still facing retro, go ahead and make a small burn and see how much it decreases. This should give you a good indication of how much time you will need to bleed off the extra m/s to get it to read 0m/s or close to it. (Say your target is coming in at 150m/s, and it takes you 5 seconds to burn 50m/s, then it will take a 15 second burn to reach 0m/s.) Then face your target, pink circle with dot in center, and burn no more than 10m/s, then always cancel movements towards your target with YOUR retrograde. Hope this helps. If you're still confused, I show this exactly in my video.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Xiphos

[blizzy78]

Another helpful tutorial (with explanatory text) might be this one done by myself.

[Sirrobert]

Ballancing RCS is done in relation to the center of mass. You can check the CoM in the vehicle assambly building

[painking]

Ok, I'll launch a bunch of test rockets so I can practice properly, thanks.