Giant docking stations

[Dewm]

First off, I'm on the road and don't have the official name handy.

But I've only used the smaller docking connectors. And I am theorycrafting a ship, and was wondering.. do the larger docking ports offer more stability? and are they as easy/easier to dock?

And last but not least.. can you dock 2 ports at once? like if you have 2 side by side?

[ <-docking port

-> [ ] <-

-> [ ] <-

possible?

Thanks!

[KinkyFerrets]

Its possible, but you have to be reaaaally good at docking to get them to touch at the same time.

[Dewm]

gotcha so one won't connect and then the other will swing around and automatically connect?

[annallia]

Depends on how you place them how hard it is to do. If you say have them mounted radially one fore one aft and try to dock that way... it can be ridiculously hard. If however you use something like the stack bi-coupler and put a docking port on each one (regular clamp-o-trons) it is just a matter of having it lined up correctly.

[Whackjob]

The magnetic force will kind of hold together the ports that don't really connect, but if you plan to do any maneuvering with serious thrust or swing the end around, there will be problems.

And as you can see, it's really tough to get them to line up properly.

[Captain Sierra]

Larger ports are more stable when docked but have less magnetic pull. They won't snap to as much, so you'll need to be more skilled to get the dock. You can dock two at the same time but it is not easy. Often times, both will appear to dock but only one will. In this case, you cannot accelerate, or the ship destroys itself. Double and triple docking is hard and requires extreme precision (and patience) to get right.