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[Crispy75]

So I thought I was being clever by turning my minmus orbiter missioin into an impromtu landing by taking Jeb EVA and using backpack thrust to de-orbit. There's bags of dV in those backpacks! No worries!

Getting down is easy. Take an EVA report on the surface, plant a flag, easy money science and rep. Getting back up again is proviing.... tricky. There *is* enough dV in the backpack, but doing orbital rendezvous without the navball is more than a little painful, especially when you have a phase difference with the orbiting craft due to minmus' rotation. Been at it a while now and am stubbornly refusing to send a rescue craft. I GOT THIS JEB.

EDIT: YES. DID IT. RENDEZVOUS BY HAND. JUST CALL ME SCOTT MANLEY

 

[ThreePiMatt]

Godspeed Jebediah Kerman, we'll send a rescue mission... some day.

 

[gutterboy44]

So I thought I was being clever by turning my minmus orbiter missioin into an impromtu landing by taking Jeb EVA and using backpack thrust to de-orbit. There's bags of dV in those backpacks! No worries!

Getting down is easy. Take an EVA report on the surface, plant a flag, easy money science and rep. Getting back up again is proviing.... tricky. There *is* enough dV in the backpack, but doing orbital rendezvous without the navball is more than a little painful, especially when you have a phase difference with the orbiting craft due to minmus' rotation. Been at it a while now and am stubbornly refusing to send a rescue craft. I GOT THIS JEB.

EDIT: YES. DID IT. RENDEZVOUS BY HAND. JUST CALL ME SCOTT MANLEY

Haha, that is awesome. Well done. I need to put up some screens of missions I ran last weekend. I am so behind on my Kerbaling. Bout to fire it up now. I need to bang out some contracts to up my staffed Kerblanauts. Going to send a space lap to Duna orbit before I land on it so I can convert all of my Duna science to data in my processing lab and get dat science!

 

[gutterboy44]

My long over due mission brief from last weekend. Got a contract to put a science lab around Kerbin, figured why not, I need to figure out this new science processing mechanic.

Pretty modest craft. Needed to hold 6 Kerbals and 5,000 electrical charge. Shit loads of batteries in one of the storage bays.

She's a chubby one with the fairing on. The launch was smooth and uneventful. Nice and rigid, no wobbles of flips.

Mmmm, beautiful staging symmetry.

Figured I would throw a probe body on my penultimate stage to try save some cash after all the recovery talk in the thread. I went to de-orbit burn and without RCS I almost smashed back into my space lab. Too close for comfort.

Don't know why I put the chutes on the bottom, I guess to save the engine?

Well, that didn't work completely as planned, but I recovered the engine!

Bill contemplating the meaning of life before his EVA.

Bill getting shit done.

Eventually cabin fever set in for some of the crew, so I sent up a new scientist and pilot to swap out the original crew and double my scientists in the lab. Swapping out crew also allowed the newbies to get their first star of XP from orbiting Kerbin.

I had no idea that you had to generate data from experiments, EVA's, crew reports, etc for the science lab to then process into a trickle of science. I had pretty much everything done in Kerbin orbit so I barely had anything to get the science going. However, I hadn't done all the EVA reports and sufrace samples around the KSC biomes, so before launching my swap out redevous mission, I had a kerbal go grab all the biome reports and samples, then get back into the rocket waiting on the launch pad and head up to the space lab. I didn't feel like doing a bunch of silly launchpad structure to get to the top of the rocket so I turned off gravity for a min to jetpack up to the command module. It seemed like a brilliant plan, got all this science to bring up to the space lap to generate data. However, as I got ready to launch, I realized I haven't even tested this damn rocket yet and only assumed it has plenty of delta V to get to the space lab. Luckily it all worked out fine and the redevous was pretty uneventful.


God damn I love the career mode. It is so fun to have to manage and plan these bigger missions. Going to Duna for me at this point would be a quick build in sandbox mode, but now I want to get a orbiting lab there first, train up my scientists ahead of time. This game, GOTY a thousands times over.

Edit: I've got FRAPS configured again, need to start doing some video capture for some gifs.

 

[mrklaw]

Hmm, need to figure out docking in orbit next I think.ndont have the equipment for landing on the mun yet.

For rescue missions do you just take up an empty seat and have the other guy EVA across?

 

[Ark]

Pretty much. Make sure you stock an OCKTO core somewhere on there if you have one, that'll let you use SAS without requiring a Kerbal pilot.

Quick question; does anyone have a good rover launcher design? I want to drop a manned science rover on the Mun but I have no idea how to actually get it off Kerbin and onto the Munar surface without unwanted explosions.

 

[Crispy75]

Hmm, need to figure out docking in orbit next I think.ndont have the equipment for landing on the mun yet.

For rescue missions do you just take up an empty seat and have the other guy EVA across?

Yep. You only have to get within a few km and then eva backpack will let you close the gap. Stack two pods if you don't have probe cores yet.

 

[mrklaw]

what altitude do you need to be for scanning the mun? Have four temperature readings to take - two say over 9,000m and two say below 8,000m. But I'm flying pretty much directly over the higher zones and it isn't saying 'you are entering zone xxx', and when I take a temperature log it just says flying over the mun.

I haven't gone lower than 45,000m though (was a bit low on fuel)


edit: I'd love a multiplayer aspect to this. Being able to play with friends and rendevous on planets or dock etc.

 

[Crispy75]

EDIT: YES. DID IT. RENDEZVOUS BY HAND. JUST CALL ME SCOTT MANLEY

Hah, I thought to check and he pulled the same trick off a few years ago. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D7Wb-kcR4g (but I stuck the landing, Manley you amateur)

 

[Vlad]

Ok, either I'm missing something really obvious, or something's gone wrong here.

After dabbling in a little KSP a long, long while ago, I figured that I'd dedicate some time to see all the new stuff that's been added since. I figured that since there's all these fancy tutorials, I'd run through those to learn the "right" way to do things.

This all works out relatively fine until I hit the docking tutorial. Twice now I've tried completing it and I keep getting stuck here:

I swear I have dragged that node around the orbit and tweaked the prograde vectors for far, far longer than should be necessary for what's supposed to be a tutorial, and I just can't get the same colored ones to match up. I've gotten them somewhat close (at what I could best describe as "12 and 1", if we're using the clock metaphor), but never the 5km required to move beyond this step.

It doesn't help that this is the first time in the tutorials that the game doesn't do a great job of explaining what I'm trying to actually be doing on this particular step. What do the intersection nodes actually refer to? The logical guess would be where the orbit you're currently in intersects with the target orbit. This would make sense for two of the intersection nodes in the picture, the two on the bottom of the target orbit. They're different colors, though, and there's no indication as to what the colors represent in the first place. Then there's the two intersection nodes on the TOP part of the target orbit. My maneuver node isn't taking me anywhere near there, so why are there intersection points there?

Am I just missing something really obvious, or is there something else up here?

 

[Melon Husk]

1. Match target's inclination from the descending node
2. Your orbital periods have to be different, or you won't catch up or lag behind the target's orbit. If this doesn't happen, your spacecraft will never meet in time. This is crucial. Easiest way's to match the shape of the orbits but make yours smaller (you catch up) or bigger (you fall behind).
3. What you're missing there is that you have to play with the prograde vector to burn a lot more. It totally depends on your position. If your orbits sizes are close enough, it's advisable that you wait until the target is slightly over and behind you or or under and ahead of you. Time-accelerate until you hit that sweet spot.

???

5. You should be close enough to do the docking dance.

After 3 matching relative velocity with the target is a bitch if you do the least fuel efficient burn to create an intersection. Hohmann transfer orbit is the most fuel efficient way but in KSP you don't have to be technical.

 

[KimiNewt]

I have some 60 hours in KSP (haven't had a chance to play 1.0 yet, I probably will do so this weekend) mostly in sandbox. I haven't really tried career mode because it was crappy when I started off (I think it was just "Science" mode or whatnot at the time). Is it worth a try even though I've played the game quite a bit outside of it?

I remembered that stronger docking ports were planned for some version, but I don't see it anywhere so I'm guessing they didn't add it now?
Kinda bummed out because I really like making huge ships that require in-orbit docking and propellant depots. I think I find docking more satisfying than even landing.

Incidentally, I'm starting an aeronautical engineering degree in a few months, hopefully it'll help me with KSP or vice-versa!

 

[MacGurcules]

I've been bitten a few times now by trying to save before a risky mission and the game not actually make a save file. It's gotten to the point that I check the load menu for my savegame right after saving to make sure it's there.

Only thing I could figure is that it doesn't work on names with spaces in them. But the numbered quicksave slots all have a space in their names. So I'm not really sure what's up.

Known issue?

 

[r1chard]

I have some 60 hours in KSP (haven't had a chance to play 1.0 yet, I probably will do so this weekend) mostly in sandbox. I haven't really tried career mode because it was crappy when I started off (I think it was just "Science" mode or whatnot at the time). Is it worth a try even though I've played the game quite a bit outside of it?

I had 160 hours in pre-science KSP sandbox. I've grown to quite enjoy career mode, though you really do need to know all the cheats to getting lots of science to make it really enjoyable. Manley's vids for 1.0 noobs show some of the cheats, like leaving and entering the command pod multiple times to be able to collect lots of science. And then there's constructing a stupid little car early on to harvest the science in each of the "biomes" in the KSC.

 

[Vlad]

1. Match target's inclination from the descending node
2. Your orbital periods have to be different, or you won't catch up or lag behind the target's orbit. If this doesn't happen, your spacecraft will never meet in time. This is crucial. Easiest way's to match the shape of the orbits but make yours smaller (you catch up) or bigger (you fall behind).
3. What you're missing there is that you have to play with the prograde vector to burn a lot more. It totally depends on your position. If your orbits sizes are close enough, it's advisable that you wait until the target is slightly over and behind you or or under and ahead of you. Time-accelerate until you hit that sweet spot.

???

5. You should be close enough to do the docking dance.

After 3 matching relative velocity with the target is a bitch if you do the least fuel efficient burn to create an intersection. Hohmann transfer orbit is the most fuel efficient way but in KSP you don't have to be technical.

Ah, this makes more sense than the first version of your post . Thanks for the edit. After taking a look at the markers some more, I've figured out what they mean, but this particular tutorial does a terrible job of telling you this information. The prompt also makes it seem like it's asking you to match up the two brownish-orange intersection markers, when in truth matching up either pair will work.

Still haven't nailed it yet, but I'm getting closer....

 

[mrklaw]

I had 160 hours in pre-science KSP sandbox. I've grown to quite enjoy career mode, though you really do need to know all the cheats to getting lots of science to make it really enjoyable. Manley's vids for 1.0 noobs show some of the cheats, like leaving and entering the command pod multiple times to be able to collect lots of science. And then there's constructing a stupid little car early on to harvest the science in each of the "biomes" in the KSC.

this is one thing I really hope they revise. You shouldn't have to know the tricks to get the best science. Could be way simpler. Just let crew give multiple reports - no need for silly EVA/take report/store report/make paper aeroplane out of report. Just turn the page on your pad, and make a new report. Not rocket science.

 

[Melon Husk]

Ah, this makes more sense than the first version of your post . Thanks for the edit. After taking a look at the markers some more, I've figured out what they mean, but this particular tutorial does a terrible job of telling you this information. The prompt also makes it seem like it's asking you to match up the two brownish-orange intersection markers, when in truth matching up either pair will work.

Still haven't nailed it yet, but I'm getting closer....

It's frustrating I know because you want to do things right, and the tutorial isn't telling you how to do that. The way I manage to do it without thinking is by matching the two orbits from my initial position almost 1:1 (transfer orbit), then burn prograde once the target is slightly behind me.

Basically you just wait on a lower orbit until you're in that good angle. You'll waste more fuel this way than in a perfect Hohmann transfer, but less so than swinging agressively beyond the target's orbit (like the tutorial seems to suggest).

Playing around is the best way to build intuition in 4D.

 

[Vlad]

It's frustrating I know because you want to do things right, and the tutorial isn't telling you how to do that. The way I manage to do it without thinking is by matching the two orbits from my initial position almost 1:1 (transfer orbit), then burn prograde once the target is slightly behind me.

Basically you just wait on a lower orbit until you're in that good angle. You'll waste more fuel this way than in a perfect Hohmann transfer, but less so than swinging agressively beyond the target's orbit (like the tutorial seems to suggest).

Playing around is the best way to build intuition in 4D.

Yeah, I almost had it on my last run but I screwed up too many times on the initial burns and ran out of fuel when I was doing the "slow down when getting close to the target" step. One thing that I'm having trouble visualizing is how this intercept will actually work when my trajectory is at such a sharp angle compared to the target's orbit. I mean, I get that I'm slowing down relative to the target, but we're still going in different directions. I'm assuming it'll make sense once I get to that step, but it's kind of a hard thing to picture.

It's sort of how I had a rough time visualizing how the encounter and escapes to and from the moon worked, but that just came down to getting used to reading the lines and remembering that the moon's actually moving .

 

[Mengy]

I've been bitten a few times now by trying to save before a risky mission and the game not actually make a save file. It's gotten to the point that I check the load menu for my savegame right after saving to make sure it's there.

Only thing I could figure is that it doesn't work on names with spaces in them. But the numbered quicksave slots all have a space in their names. So I'm not really sure what's up.

Known issue?

Saving games is actually odd, in that you need to press the save button and not just hit enter in order to save a game with a custom name. If you just press enter then it actually ignores the name you typed and it uses whatever file name was last loaded instead. Been like that for a long time now, it frustrates me too.

 

[mrklaw]

can someone summarise the order to do things in to maximise science? isn't is something like
- crew report
- eva
- collect data from capsule
- store it again
- get in
- can now do another crew report
?

I've started orbiting the mun which has lots of science available so I want to make sure I don't miss opportunities.

 

[MacGurcules]

Saving games is actually odd, in that you need to press the save button and not just hit enter in order to save a game with a custom name. If you just press enter then it actually ignores the name you typed and it uses whatever file name was last loaded instead. Been like that for a long time now, it frustrates me too.

Yeah, that does sound dumb. But at least I can work around it now that I know what's up. Thank you.

 

[Xater]

Guys I am trying to build a plane but the movable parts on my main wings and the wing sin the back move in opposite directions. I tried inverting one or the other but it doesn't seem to work. Can anyone help?

The design of the plane should work right?

 

[Crispy75]

Guys I am trying to build a plane but the movable parts on my main wings and the wing sin the back move in opposite directions. I tried inverting one or the other but it doesn't seem to work. Can anyone help?

The design of the plane should work right?

This might help:

You can right click on each control surface and limit their functionality. Aerilons on the wings for roll only. Elevators on the tail for pitch only. Tail for yaw only (this particular important, or your roll behaviour will be all over the shop).

 

[gutterboy44]

Ailerons on wings should move in opposite directions. If they move in the same direction, they are just elevators on your wings and kind of pointless. Make sure your elevators, the flappy bits on the tail are set to pitch only like described above.

 

[Xater]

Got my first plane to fly. Thanks guys. Got a lot of science from visiting the highlands and the mountains.

 

[mrklaw]

any suggestions for the next things to unlock? I'm mostly doing rocket stuff at the moment, but it would be handy to have slightly better plane parts for flying around kerbin for research etc.

 

[Phanatic8390]

What are you guys thoughts on reverting in career?

I started career mode last night and I found myself reverting after disastrous flights quite a bit. I'm thinking it kinda ruins the challenge to constantly save scrub. On the other hand you'd think an actual space agency would test some of these designs in a simulation first.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

What are you guys thoughts on reverting in career?

I started career mode last night and I found myself reverting after disastrous flights quite a bit. I'm thinking it kinda ruins the challenge to constantly save scrub. On the other hand you'd think an actual space agency would test some of these designs in a simulation first.

I'm opposed* to it. I started on Normal except with reverts turned off. I've restarted my career a couple times after I kind of learned the ins-and-out.




* I'm still a dirty cheater. I'll Alt+F4 if I see things start to go south in a way I can't recover or safely bail from.

 

[MacGurcules]

What are you guys thoughts on reverting in career?

I started career mode last night and I found myself reverting after disastrous flights quite a bit. I'm thinking it kinda ruins the challenge to constantly save scrub. On the other hand you'd think an actual space agency would test some of these designs in a simulation first.

That's pretty much the way I think of it. If you could just brute force your way through everything, I'd have a bigger issue with it. But successful missions are challenging enough without going bankrupt from botched rescue missions and accidental staging errors.

 

[EBreda]

Do you guys think this would work on consoles? Is there any info on that?
Would love to try it but my shitty PC won't run it no matter what.

 

[Rosur]

Do you guys think this would work on consoles? Is there any info on that?
Would love to try it but my shitty PC won't run it no matter what.

I think it would work quite well if they make the menus work for the controllers.

 

[Crispy75]

Consoles could handle it, no problem - it's not really a very demanding game performance wise. But I don't see how you'd get it to control well with a joypad at all.

 

[GavinGT]

What an incredible game, wow. I've been playing through the campaign non-stop for the last three days. It has such a delightful loop of earning new parts, learning what they do, and then using them to reach new heights. And because the simulation feels so authentic, the feeling of accomplishment is unlike any other game. I can't believe I just designed my own rocket, landed on Kerbin's second moon, and made it back to the planet.

For those that are just starting out:

1) do the tutorials
2) watch a moon landing video or two
3) Google everything you aren't sure about, because the in-game text isn't great
4) asparagus staging is the answer to your fuel problems
5) use maneuvers

 

[mrklaw]

This game has tipped me over into a space frenzy. Just watched the first half of 'The Right Stuff' and bought 'From the Earth to the Moon' on DVD (why no bluray?).


Was trying a 'test this rocket in solar orbit' mission, so put an octoprobe on. The rocket turns really slowly for manouvers in space - does the normal command pod have something in it that make it more reactive? Almost makes it unusable. Likewise for some reason my kerbal engineer and chatter mods weren't doing anything - do those only work with kerbals onboard?

 

[Crispy75]

This game has tipped me over into a space frenzy. Just watched the first half of 'The Right Stuff' and bought 'From the Earth to the Moon' on DVD (why no bluray?).

Another good watch if you're on a space binge is the 4-part BBC docudrama Space Race. Starts with Von Braun and the V2 and ends with man on the moon, with the story in the USA and USSR told through dramatic recreations. The guy who plays Korolev nails it IMO, even if the other Russians are rather stereotyped.

It's all on youtube, and has plenty of inspiration for your kerballing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcLphSY8PX0

Was trying a 'test this rocket in solar orbit' mission, so put an octoprobe on. The rocket turns really slowly for manouvers in space - does the normal command pod have something in it that make it more reactive? Almost makes it unusable. Likewise for some reason my kerbal engineer and chatter mods weren't doing anything - do those only work with kerbals onboard?

Your craft is turned with reaction wheels (literally big spinning wheels that can be "pushed against" like a gyroscope. The crew pod ones are more powerful than the probe ones. If you've unlocked the parts, you can add more powerful reaction wheels to unmanned craft.

 

[adburns]

Does anyone of know of a mod that tells you what science in each biome you have yet to acquire? I know you can see which science you have required under R&D but just wondering if there is mod that can tell you what you are missing?

Thanks

 

[mrklaw]

Does anyone of know of a mod that tells you what science in each biome you have yet to acquire? I know you can see which science you have required under R&D but just wondering if there is mod that can tell you what you are missing?

Thanks

That would be good, also is there a map showing the biomes for kerbin and the mun at least? wonder if there is an efficient route to capture most of it - eg three orbit trajectories to cross all of them. Going to take a while to do his space, low space, upper atmosphere, lower atmosphere, ground

Need to get my engineer upgraded so he can repack parachutes - don't want to try repeated proper landings on kerbin

 

[Crispy75]

Full biome maps for each world: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Biome

 

[mrklaw]

Full biome maps for each world: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Biome

Wow at those space Center biomes. Can you get science at all of them? I think I did one set of science at each main location, but not the little areas like wind tunnel etc. need to take the jet buggy out again tomorrow


Also: http://www.kerbalmaps.com edit:'which apparantly can work with the Telemachus mod to plot your location on a second PC/tablet

 

[Solaire of Astora]

But I don't see how you'd get it to control well with a joypad at all.

The actual flying could easily be done with a joypad. I've actually heard of people using 360 and ps3 pads for ksp online. Vehicle construction would be tough and would require an extensive redesign of the UI in order for it to work well on consoles.

Would love to see it get a good ps4 port, as my computer struggles to run 1.0, but I'm planning on building a kickass PC soon anyway.

 

[zer0das]

What are you guys thoughts on reverting in career?

I started career mode last night and I found myself reverting after disastrous flights quite a bit. I'm thinking it kinda ruins the challenge to constantly save scrub. On the other hand you'd think an actual space agency would test some of these designs in a simulation first.

I'm fine with reverting. It makes sense if you're learning you're going to have a lot of problems initially. Also a lot of times I'll speed up time and accidentally pass up a maneuver node because I'm impatient, and if you're not in a stable path this causes problems. I just view it as a simulation before the actual mission. The more you play the less you need to rely on it anyways, since your rockets are built more efficiently and you're better at executing difficult maneuvers. My first Mun flyby was a mess that barely worked, but a few days later and it is routine.

 

[Crispy75]

I don't see how you could possibly succeed at career without reverting. You'd crash so many rockets in test flights, you'd have no kerbals left.

 

[Ark]

I don't see how you could possibly succeed at career without reverting. You'd crash so many rockets in test flights, you'd have no kerbals left.

Or money

 

[gutterboy44]

For those looking to maximize Mun and Minmus biomes. If you want to get all of the fly over ones, just set up a polar orbit. The rotation of the moons below you will eventually expose you to all of the biomes as your orbit. It takes some time, but at least you can do it with a single orbital path. Getting all of the biome surface EVAs and surface samples... that is much more work.

 

[Mengy]

What are you guys thoughts on reverting in career?

I revert all the time in my normal career. I don't cheat but I "test" rocket designs by launching, seeing what's wrong and what I want to tweak or fix, and then reverting back to either the launchpad or the VAB. It's useful but has it's limits, like if you save and come back to the game later there is no reverting after that, you're stuck if you find out later that you don't have enough fuel or delta V to get the job done. I've gotten a few kerbals stranded that way...

 

[mrklaw]

docking is confusing me. Doing the tutorial and got to within 50m. But whether I'm using the docking mode or the IJKL keys, sometimes I seem to get translation, sometimes it seems to rotate. Can't work out why it seems to change. I'm targetted on the docking port and controlling from my docking port.

 

[Crispy75]

docking is confusing me. Doing the tutorial and got to within 50m. But whether I'm using the docking mode or the IJKL keys, sometimes I seem to get translation, sometimes it seems to rotate. Can't work out why it seems to change. I'm targetted on the docking port and controlling from my docking port.

Might be the design of your craft. The rotation and translation forces are centred on the parts that provide them. eg. if your RCS nozzles are only at one end of the craft, it will rotate just fine, but will have a really hard time translating. Likewise, if you have a direction that's not covered by RCS, you'll find you can't translate that way but may still be able to rotate using thrusters that point at 90 degrees on that plane.

I always use the 4-way RCS pods. If you very carefully align them with the COM of the craft (which won't change as you drain them of course!), then you can get away with 4 of them arrayed around the tank. But usually I put a set of 4 at each end. This gives you maximum control over translation and rotation.

 

[gutterboy44]

Yep, a simple alignment is to have four 4-way RCS at the top and four at the bottom of the stage of your craft you plan to dock. There is a RCS alignment mod so you can get super precise to compensate for center of mass change, but for most docking, just having four at the top and four at the bottom has always worked for me.

 

[Vlad]

Might be the design of your craft. The rotation and translation forces are centred on the parts that provide them. eg. if your RCS nozzles are only at one end of the craft, it will rotate just fine, but will have a really hard time translating. Likewise, if you have a direction that's not covered by RCS, you'll find you can't translate that way but may still be able to rotate using thrusters that point at 90 degrees on that plane.

I always use the 4-way RCS pods. If you very carefully align them with the COM of the craft (which won't change as you drain them of course!), then you can get away with 4 of them arrayed around the tank. But usually I put a set of 4 at each end. This gives you maximum control over translation and rotation.

Yep, a simple alignment is to have four 4-way RCS at the top and four at the bottom of the stage of your craft you plan to dock. There is a RCS alignment mod so you can get super precise to compensate for center of mass change, but for most docking, just having four at the top and four at the bottom has always worked for me.

And that's the problem that mrklaw is having: the ship you get in the docking tutorial only has one set of four RCS thrusters on it. I noticed the exact same thing. WASD turns you just fine, but IJKL doesn't strictly translate. I try to use J to translate left, and yes, the craft does go generally left, but it also starts yawing right, since the RCS thrusters are pushing the rear of the craf to the left.

I've yet to actually build a craft with RCS thrusters myself, and I've only done docking in the tutorial, but I've noticed several problems with the docking tutorial that seem to make it overly difficult:

- They don't give you enough liquid fuel. Even many attempts at doing the docking tutorial (succeeded twice, woohoo!), I'm practically completely out of liquid fuel by the time I get to the actual docking stage. This leaves you with very little room for error when it comes to the initial burns. I get that they're trying to teach you to be efficient, but given that the tutorials are most likely to be used by people new to the game, a little leeway would be nice.

- From what I've messed around with the camera settings, the "Chase" setting that the tutorial recommends isn't really optimal for docking. I find the "Locked" one to be far, far more useful, since it stays stuck where you left it, relative to your ship. This means I can just lock the camera directly behind me, so I at least get a good idea if I'm heading in the right direction.

- The tutorial text also doesn't explain what the "control from here" option does. I've tried docking once with and without it, and I can't really notice a difference.

- This isn't a problem with the tutorial per se, but the docking mode does seem fairly useless, if not downright counterproductive. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that all the docking mode really does is map WASD to the same function that IJKL does in non-docking mode, correct? If so, why bother having docking mode in the first place? You're losing any capability for attitude control, with no upside. I was hoping that it'd give me some sort of "first person" mode for the docking. I'm already dreading any future attempts I'm going to be making of trying to dock larger ships, since the ship itself with be obscuring my view of the docking port.

 

[WhirlwindMonk]

- The tutorial text also doesn't explain what the "control from here" option does. I've tried docking once with and without it, and I can't really notice a difference.

When the docking port is on the front of your ship, it makes no difference. What it does is redefine what directions "forward", " back", "left", etc. are based on the direction the docking port is facing. That way, if the docking port is on the side or back of your ship, you don't constantly have to correct for it "I want to go forward, which means I need to hit the button for left/backward/whatever." But yes, when it's on the front, like in the tutorial, it doesn't make a bit of difference.