Docking in the dark?

[Thomas Cook]

I just love seeing this! Just throwing in my grats for your docking success! I hope others who might be struggling see this and get some inspiration. Could you expand a bit on how you practiced? Was it a specific tutorial that gave you that "ah ha" moment or maybe a forum thread?

My humble thanks.

Do you mean practicing the basic maneuvers in general or specifically docking in the dark? I'm currently only learning the basics before I want to go full blown with this game. I think it's good to know how to dock/orbit/transfer/land/return well before you want to launch multipart ships to other planets. Just started playing with the tutorials from Scott Manley, and added complexity from that point on.

But after a while you'll always get stuck in certain situations that I just couldn't solve. And therefore I ask you guys. I think it's really cool to see on this forum that noobs are just as accepted as pro's, which is awesome. It's not like you see that everywhere. On the contrary.

[HeadHunter67]

the screen is only so big

And your target docking port is so small... good luck clicking on it in the dark. That pink circle won't help much.

I haven't even considered docking with my roll axis in mind. I guess I should learn it too, if I would like to make nice symmetrical space stations.

It becomes essential when building stations, especially if you want them to be manageable in orbit. A station where everything's off by several degrees won't torque as easily, won't use RCS effectively, and won't look as good. If you're going for MIR, maybe it won't matter as much.

[RoboRay]

The thing about docking with the navball is that those keys /always/ move your velocity vector and anti-velocity director in the same direction across the navball, regardless of how you're roll-oriented. and the target symbol on the Navball will tell you the direction you need to translate.

Right, but a lot of people find it confusing when the instrument is telling them one thing and the view out the window (or on the main screen) is telling them something completely different. Selecting Chase Cam eliminates that possibility.

Basic ORM... if you can mitigate a hazard by a simple procedural action with no negative effects, do so.

Edited August 14, 2013 by RoboRay

[Psycix]

It's pretty easy to dock purely on the navball if you know how:

1)

Align the target docking port with either the north or the south pole* on the navball. (Make sure to use "control from here" on the docking port)

*Why align with a pole: As you orbit around the planet the navball will move you will lose that relative attitude, however, the navball will only rotate along the roll axis while staying on the same point if you are aligned with the orbit normal.

Then, your approaching craft aligns it's docking port with the orbit normal, and the pink marker basically tells you which way to translate. When the target marker is on the orbit normal, you're on the docking axis and can move straight forward.

I find this method much easier because it splits finding the alignment axis from finding the docking axis. It's very hard to both translate and rotate in three dimensions at the same time.

2)

Another way is to have the two crafts sitting next to eachother, rotate them both to point their docking ports towards eachother and then approach. This completely eliminates the need for doing translations (and for reaction wheel crafts, RCS)

However, this technique can not be applied when the docking target can't be easily rotated (like a huge space station)

Last tip: 45degree RCS ports (a mod) will make your translations super clean. Instead of all ports firing mono-propellant everywhere, only the required thrusters fire straight into the desired direction of thrust.

Extra last tip: The RCS ports need to be around the center of mass in order to prevent rotation as you're translating and vice verse.

[ThreeMartiniLaunch]

I use MechJeb's Smart A.S.S. to point my ship in the right direction. Pointing N/S is just as good. (Click Target, then Par - )

Right click on the docking port of the "Docker" and select Control From Here.

Right click on the docking port of the "Dockee" and select Set As Target.

After that, line up the pink thingy and the yellow thingy. They should be pretty close to the orange thingy, but don't have to be right on top of it.

[ZenithRising]

Just completed my first docking maneuver on the dark side of Mun. It was definitely challenging, but doable.

All of my lights were (embarrassingly) pointed in the wrong direction, so that didn't help, but what I could do was mouse over the other ship, which gave me a green outline of whichever part I was over. I was able to use that outline to make sure the ships were oriented (mostly) the same way. After that, it was pretty easy to use RCS with the navball and speed/distance numbers to get the rest of the way. It was sloppy, but once I was close and slow, the magnets took over.

[JiWint]

Put lamps extactly around your docking ports!

[wetmelon]

If you're using the Lazor Docking Camera, even if you're docking in the sun, put one low power light pointing towards what you want to dock with. This way the docking camera will be able to see it much much better.

[HeadHunter67]

One of the other things I did with my rendezvous practice crafts (based on PebbleGarden's Phoenix orbiter) is to put some small battery packs facing upside down on the ship, at zenith and nadir. That way, you have a pair of "tail lights" that show the top and bottom of the other craft, even if you are behind it. This can help you get oriented if your rendezvous brings you together in such a way that you are behind/below the target craft.

[Tydeth]

One of the other things I did with my rendezvous practice crafts (based on PebbleGarden's Phoenix orbiter) is to put some small battery packs facing upside down on the ship, at zenith and nadir. That way, you have a pair of "tail lights" that show the top and bottom of the other craft, even if you are behind it. This can help you get oriented if your rendezvous brings you together in such a way that you are behind/below the target craft.

I've seen Scott Manley do something similar in his Reusable Space Program series: He put 100-point batteries around his docking ports, so their always-on LEDs act as navigational lights.

Since then, I've done that with my craft, using four of the little batteries around each port. In addition to their free lighting, they help keep solar-powered craft usable during nights.

If you don't want to download docking assistance mods(Lazor, DAI, or other), strategic use of 100 point batteries can provide an easy stock-game means of aligning docking ports. Stick them on both vessels to dock, line up the lights, and win.