Hi! I'm new and have a simple question.

[TheTBBD]

Hey, I am wondering how to build a simple refueling station in orbit around Kerbin at about 150,000M. Does anyone have any tutorials? Thanks!

[Taki117]

Well, first off Hello and Welcome! Secondly, How long have you been playing? Putting up a refueling station is no easy task, and it requires a little knowhow on how to dock, because you are going to be doing lots of it. But really, the sky is the limit. Build what you think looks good in the VAB, break it into manageable sections, launch your first piece into orbit. Rinse and Repeat, launching each piece to rendezvous with your first section.

[AlamoVampire]

id recommend MechJeb as one such tool. It will teach you how to dock better than ANY written tutorial or video can. How? simple. Download it, place the mechjeb unit on the uppermost stage <that your NOT going to dump during ascent or at least, not until your about to back down to kerbin> and have it do its thing. Use Ascent Guidance to get into orbit <or do so manually, your call> with the ship<s> you plan to learn to dock with, then, once it circularizes you in orbit, use the rendezvous planner/autopilot to have it set up a rendezvous with your targeted vessel <ascent guidance can launch you into a rendezvous position as well, either into the same exact orbit, or above/below depending on how you set up the target altitude, or it can just launch you into the target vessels plane>. ONCE it has you at say 100m of the target, then, have it commence docking via the docking autopilot, sit back and watch and learn the entire way OH, btw, make sure you are trying to dock 2 ports of the SAME SIZE, clamp-o-tron to clamp-o-tron, sr to sr jr to jr. AND make sure you target said docking port AND are controlling from the port you wish to dock with.

ONCE you are comfy with docking <id keep mechjeb anyway, as it can perform docking by itself, once you have it set up for a docking which frees you up for other orbital operations like crew transfers> you can get busy with making your refueling station.

For starters, my advice: start small and simple just to get the idea. Like say a pair of RCS tanks and a pair of 1.5m fuel tanks, a few solar panels <extending or not, matters little>, a few batteries and a pair of docking ports.

once comfy with that size, progress into larger and have at it

[wasmic]

In my opinion, using the MechJeb autopilot takes away a lot of the fun from the game. Some people will easily learn from MechJeb, while others will not. I personally learned to dock using only a video tutorial and a LOT of trial and failure (I used about an hour on my first docking, but it was WORTH IT!). But the above advise is good, take something very small with good amounts of torque and lots of RCS, then dock it. If you don't know how to rendesvouz, seek out some tutorials - in my experience, it's hard to copy MechJeb on that point.

[Tex]

Welcome aboard!

Firstly, docking is an absolute must. Once you have docking down, the next step is making sure that you have a rocket capable of launching a full orange fuel tank up to your desired orbit. If you can launch something that heavy, nothing else will be a problem as long as you have the patience. Start working on some powerful rockets and put up that tank, then build a little station around it. In my opinion, make the tank easy to replace or refuel when the fuel runs out. That's pretty much all there is to it!

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Welcome aboard... here you go

[AlamoVampire]

In my opinion, using the MechJeb autopilot takes away a lot of the fun from the game. Some people will easily learn from MechJeb, while others will not. I personally learned to dock using only a video tutorial and a LOT of trial and failure (I used about an hour on my first docking, but it was WORTH IT!). But the above advise is good, take something very small with good amounts of torque and lots of RCS, then dock it. If you don't know how to rendesvouz, seek out some tutorials - in my experience, it's hard to copy MechJeb on that point.

Not to try to pick fights, but how does: 1. Having a wealth of information on your vessel. 2. The ability to let a computer babysit long and or tedious or repeated tasks. 3. The ability to set up a docking, let the computer handle it so YOU can do transfer Eva activities (as an example) take away fun? To me this adds to the fun. When I learned that if I control from a port, target a port and tell MJ to dock, I was floored. 1 single minute later I caught myself watching my fuel barge dock by itself in pure awe.

[kahlzun]

Quite frankly, i learnt docking from Mechjeb.

I never quite got the steps down pat, even Mr Manley wasn't able to explain it to my satisfaction.

But, when Mechjeb 2.0 came out, and included a nice list of steps, i was able to watch what it did and learn.

Now, I don't need its assistance anymore.

[wasmic]

Not to try to pick fights, but how does: 1. Having a wealth of information on your vessel. 2. The ability to let a computer babysit long and or tedious or repeated tasks. 3. The ability to set up a docking, let the computer handle it so YOU can do transfer Eva activities (as an example) take away fun? To me this adds to the fun. When I learned that if I control from a port, target a port and tell MJ to dock, I was floored. 1 single minute later I caught myself watching my fuel barge dock by itself in pure awe.

If you read my post carefully, I didn't say that my opinion is cirrect. I said that in MY opinion, it takes away the fun, which is why I only use MechJeb for information. I have nothing against other people using the autopilot.

[42undead2]

I suspect a lot of MJ discussion here...

[AlamoVampire]

Wasmic i may not have been clear sorry. I find it curious that you think doing long or tedious or repeated tasks by hand fun. I think that is your implication by saying the autopilot feature takes fun away from the game. The logic im seeing in place is curious

[going-to-the-MOON]

Why does it matter which mods people use? Just play the game how you want; people are allowed to have their own opinions.

[Vanamonde]

Please, let's not debate the morality of mods here.

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

I turned to the Steam Guides at first, which taught me a lot of the fundamentals, and then moved on to MechJeb a little after... Only mod I've used so far, still having WAY too much fun with the stock parts (and SO looking forward to the next lot!)

[AlamoVampire]

Im looking very fwd to the nasa stuff, i want a robotic arm badly but infernal robotics doesnt agree with me very well lol

[JiWint]

Doing it without mods is really,really rewarding.

Actually stations are pretty useless for now,well yeah,for refueling.

How to actually build one: You put a docking port and RCS on a fuel tank,then dock it to the main module,for example,a capsule with something under it.

Here's another video showing how to do rendezvous and docking Clicky

If you need any help trying to figure out what a station or modules need,send me a message

[RocketScientist00]

Hey, I am wondering how to build a simple refueling station in orbit around Kerbin at about 150,000M. Does anyone have any tutorials? Thanks!

That's easy man, you just have to launch the center of your refueling station around 150 km, and don't forget to put docking ports in them. Then launch the fuel tanks. You got to be precise with your rendevous. I recommend MechJeb 2.1.1 to help you.

[Naten]

That's easy man, you just have to launch the center of your refueling station around 150 km, and don't forget to put docking ports in them. Then launch the fuel tanks. You got to be precise with your rendevous. I recommend MechJeb 2.1.1 to help you.

Yes, and don't listen to the "THATS SCHEEATING!!!!!1" people. Please. I don't use MechJeb as I like flying my own stuff & thaangs, but I know that in real life, you're not really flying manually. At all. An Airbus a330 pilot flying across the Atlantic from NYC to Paris will manually fly the plane about 4 minutes the whole way there. And space, it's basically no manual flight other than pressing buttons to operate the computer, or for example, jettison the orbital module and/or propulsion module of the Soyuz, but that's not nessecarily piloting. Really, unless your autopilot goes Hal on ya, you're gonna fly by wire the whole time. So don't be afraid of MechJeb.

**NOT MEANING TO START FLAMEWARS, PLEASE NO**

no no pls no srsly guiase stahp pls pl0x plz plaayz pleeeeez no flaym wers no pls nuuu no

[FREEFALL1984]

I use MJ, but only the maneuver planner, I've have it perform the transfer/match speeds and inclination, which I could easily do myself, but I insist on performing the docking without any assistance, now I've docked about 40 vessels I find it fairly easy, once good idea though it to put your MJ unit on a clearly visible location on the "front" of the rocket in the VAB and then you can use it for an orientation reference point.

[Tidus Klein]

STOP!

Dont use MJ, well you can but its not as fun:)

docking is actually much easier then every one makes it out to be, I learned how to do it with out Utube or tutorials in 3 flights...

here,s how

1, have an orbit or perapsis, lowest point in your orbit, lower then your target......you can have one higher but it makes it a little more difficult

2 make sure that your orbits are at the same inclination, or as close as you can get, 1 or 2 degrees is ok 2 thou is pushing it.

3 with your target well targeted you will now see 4 new arrows in the map view these are your intersects, place a maneuver node on your perapsis and accelerate or burn prograde till both of one color arrow lines up, then fine tune the node till you get your intersection as close as you can 0 is perfect, 1 is great,2 not the best but workable, NOTICE you may need some RCS finesse to get it exact.

4 once you have you have done your burn, from the last step set up another node where your intersection is and then play with it till you ether see a pink aerow with an intersection lower then 1 m or both the red and orange arrows are relatively close,

5 after you burn exit map veiw and look around to find your target, once you have found it reduce the speed on your nave ball, It should say target to zero, you are now in perfect sync with your target,

6 burn towards your target, but not to fast! dont go over 20 m/s if your more then 1000m out reduce that speed to ten if your 500m out then reduce again at 200m to about 5m/s

7 set a docking port as your target and switch to docking mode and if all goes well and your vessels RCS is well balanced line her up and get close the magnets will do the rest.

Edited March 17, 2014 by Tidus Klein