Docking issue

Lt. Snakestrike

The Kronian Serpent; Engineering Student
Head Professor
TEAM HAWK
Swingin' on a Star
Atlas
Under Pressure
Registered
#26
Unfortunately, my line goes all over the place. When I'm not burning, it swings around and won't settle anywhere. When I am burning, it jumps all over, rather than back and forth between two close spots! It's quite unusable.



I've done lots and lots of the time warp method already. Although I haven't been posting, I've been playing SFS for a few months, and reading and learning a lot here on the forum.

I was having fun doing it the other way, but I guess time warp it is. Sadly, I have the same problem around any body in the solar system, not just earth.
Man, that sucks... On the bright side, the time warp method'll grow on you... Among other things, it really limits the mistakes you can make, but also it's just really fun to see one ship circling another as they catch up. I hope you keep posting, I'd love to see your builds!
 
#27
Man, that sucks... On the bright side, the time warp method'll grow on you... Among other things, it really limits the mistakes you can make, but also it's just really fun to see one ship circling another as they catch up. I hope you keep posting, I'd love to see your builds!
Well, I was getting tired of time warping and that's why I learned the other way, lol. I liked that extra bit of risk involved in trying to match speed and direction at the intersection of the orbits. It made things more interesting. Having said that, I also kind of like trying to see how close I can get two ships with the time warp method, and I've had some rather close calls!

I might post some builds. I don't know how interesting they'll be. Most recently I have been doing Odyssey Career Mode, kind of. I'm doing those missions, but I'm not concerned with space debris or with the dead astronauts rules (I do enable drag always, though). Maybe I'll do a little thread with some of those missions. But I warn you that I'm not generally too concerned with aesthetics. In particular my launch vehicles are ugly as sin, so I probably won't post those! :D

The one thing I have designed that I haven't seen anything quite like (and therefore might be of some interest) is a simple little escape pod system for a habitat. I might put together a demo version of that if you're interested.
 

Horus Lupercal

Primarch - Warmaster
Professor
Swingin' on a Star
Deja Vu
Biker Mice from Mars
ET phone home
Floater
Copycat
Registered
#28
Are you in a different SOI to the target you'retrying to dock into?
 

Horus Lupercal

Primarch - Warmaster
Professor
Swingin' on a Star
Deja Vu
Biker Mice from Mars
ET phone home
Floater
Copycat
Registered
#30
Yeah. If you're going huge distances into different SOIs, the way the system works out the maths isn't precise enough to make a stable line and bounces all over the place. Once you're in the same SOI, the maths sorts itself out and the line does as well.
 

Horus Lupercal

Primarch - Warmaster
Professor
Swingin' on a Star
Deja Vu
Biker Mice from Mars
ET phone home
Floater
Copycat
Registered
#31
Or if your approach is very close, then it may bounce a little between like 300-150m as again, the maths isn't precise enough for the system to be accurate. But as long as you pass within about 500m, you'll pass within a screen of each other and can achieve a docking anyway
 

Mooncrasher

Reading LOTR lore
Staff member
Team Valiant
Discord Staff
Voyager Quest
Man on the Moon
Forum Legend
#32
Or if your approach is very close, then it may bounce a little between like 300-150m as again, the maths isn't precise enough for the system to be accurate. But as long as you pass within about 500m, you'll pass within a screen of each other and can achieve a docking anyway
He says it bounces all over the place.
 

Altaïr

Space Stig, Master of gravity
Staff member
Head Moderator
Team Kolibri
Modder
TEAM HAWK
Atlas
Deja Vu
Under Pressure
Forum Legend
#33
Don't worry about your ship's aesthetics, my builds are quite ugly sometimes too. As long as they are efficient, that's what matters for me. Maybe it's ugly but one of my build allowed me to perform the Grand Tour :p

Regarding your line problem, I don't know if it's related, but are your orbits close to eachother when you try to get a rendez-vous? I can't be sure it's that, but if the orbits are really close to each other, the 2 objects will spend more time close to eachother, so the game could hesitate a lot about where is the shortest approach.
 
#34
Yeah. If you're going huge distances into different SOIs, the way the system works out the maths isn't precise enough to make a stable line and bounces all over the place. Once you're in the same SOI, the maths sorts itself out and the line does as well.
I'm just dealing with two ships in LEO, or two in lunar orbit. I even tested two in Phobos. It seems to happen everywhere for me.

Or if your approach is very close, then it may bounce a little between like 300-150m as again, the maths isn't precise enough for the system to be accurate. But as long as you pass within about 500m, you'll pass within a screen of each other and can achieve a docking anyway
Yes I'm familiar with this one. When it was functional for me, I normally got my approach <100 meters for rendezvous, so I've seen that. What's happening now is worse and it's at any distance, not just in close.
 
#35
Don't worry about your ship's aesthetics, my builds are quite ugly sometimes too. As long as they are efficient, that's what matters for me. Maybe it's ugly but one of my build allowed me to perform the Grand Tour :p

Regarding your line problem, I don't know if it's related, but are your orbits close to eachother when you try to get a rendez-vous? I can't be sure it's that, but if the orbits are really close to each other, the 2 objects will spend more time close to eachother, so the game could hesitate a lot about where is the shortest approach.
Regarding approach lines, see my reply to HL above. Regarding builds, mine aren't always efficient either. I mean, I try to make them function well, but I rarely care if I've taken more fuel than I need.

I saw your Grand Tour and loved it, by the way!
 

Altaïr

Space Stig, Master of gravity
Staff member
Head Moderator
Team Kolibri
Modder
TEAM HAWK
Atlas
Deja Vu
Under Pressure
Forum Legend
#36
I saw your Grand Tour and loved it, by the way!
Thanks :)
On my side, as far as I remember (at least under 1.4), I've always had that problem. But approaching to "only" 300 meters is still very manageable. I even tend to leave a margin so that my 2 ships don't smash into eachother if I mess up. Less than 100 meters is very precise.
But if you didn't have that problem before, it's strange that it suddenly occurs like that... Did you try to reload an old save to see if that was also happening?
 
#37
Thanks :)
On my side, as far as I remember (at least under 1.4), I've always had that problem. But approaching to "only" 300 meters is still very manageable. I even tend to leave a margin so that my 2 ships don't smash into eachother if I mess up. Less than 100 meters is very precise.
But if you didn't have that problem before, it's strange that it suddenly occurs like that... Did you try to reload an old save to see if that was also happening?
Yes, I tried reloading saves. No luck. It's very strange. I think I've played for about 3 months now without this problem, and then last night it went wild. I might try destroying the station I was working on at the time and see if that changes anything. I can always reload if it doesn't.
 

Lt. Snakestrike

The Kronian Serpent; Engineering Student
Head Professor
TEAM HAWK
Swingin' on a Star
Atlas
Under Pressure
Registered
#38
Yes, I tried reloading saves. No luck. It's very strange. I think I've played for about 3 months now without this problem, and then last night it went wild. I might try destroying the station I was working on at the time and see if that changes anything. I can always reload if it doesn't.
Don't do that, it won't change anything.

Wait, I didn't see the "reload if nothing changes". It's worth a shot, but don't be surprised if nothing changes.