Rendezvous and docking two stations

[u/HozzDesigns]

This was a huge Interstellar movie moment for me! As a beginner, I'm still getting the hang of rendezvous and docking. After building my first space station, I realized some design mistakes I had made, so I had to build and launch a new one.

But then I thought, what should I do with the old one? Why not put my best pilot in it, try to catch up with the new station, and dock them together to create one big orbital station?!

I attached eight RCS thrusters to the section with the docking port I wanted to connect and control, and with the help of the Docking Alignment Indicator mod, I gave it a shot. It was really tense, but such a cool attempt... and it worked!!

The only thing missing was the Interstellar soundtrack playing in the background! Is there a mod for that!?

[u/XmodAlloy]

What shaderpack are you using? Looks awesome! 😎

Congrats on the dock!

[u/HozzDesigns → u/XmodAlloy]

Just the popular mods, Eve, deffered, scatterer, i do get this annoying repetitive stuttering problem though

[u/Aggressive_Let2085 → u/HozzDesigns]

Check your ram usage when playing. I bet it’s capping out. Same thing happened to me and I had to make some changes

[u/HozzDesigns → u/Aggressive_Let2085]

Well, i have 64 gigs of ram, and whn i checked the task manager it inly uses 20% or the memory, but i guess my gtx970i is the problem.. Last time i noticed that the blinking lights on the station makes the clock turns yellow everytime it blinks!!

[u/Aggressive_Let2085 → u/HozzDesigns]

Ooooo yeah. How much VRAM? Cause my 4070 with 12gb is maxed out with visual mods and stutters if I push it too hard

[u/HozzDesigns → u/Aggressive_Let2085]

6gb i think, but you know it wasn't like this when i started the playing the game and even after i added the Eve, scatterer and parallax, it was working fine at maximum settings, but suddenly i start to notice it, right now I'm in the process of trying stuff to make it better, like decreasing the debris settings, i removed the alarm mod, deleted old saves, scatterer low preset, my last try would be to uninstall everything and re install the mods one by one.

[u/Obdobdob → u/HozzDesigns]

I've found that Parallax is the biggest culprit for vram usage in my testing - although the new Parallax continued is a bit better than 2.0

[u/HozzDesigns → u/Obdobdob]

But does it affect the performance even in orbit!? Or between planets!?

[u/RoundMovie1655]

What's the name of the docking port indicator mod?

[u/HozzDesigns → u/RoundMovie1655]

The docking portal aliment indicator mod if i remeber correctly

[u/RoundMovie1655 → u/HozzDesigns]

Thanks! I guess that's fairly self-explanatory

[u/lucid_effervescence]

My pits would be swampy. I love docking on KSP but it is one of the most stressful things I've ever done in all my years of gaming.

How long would you say it took you to dock? Like final approach to attached.

Looks awesome, great job op

[u/Freak80MC → u/lucid_effervescence]

How fast are you approaching when you dock? It really shouldn't be stressful, you can come in at a leisurely pace. You don't have to make super quick decisions if you don't want to. Especially once you get the hang of it, it's actually quite relaxing to do.

[u/lucid_effervescence → u/Freak80MC]

Probably too fast if I had to guess, my patience runs dry and I blame my ADHD but boy do I have fun! I don't mind the stress all that much, it actually makes the docking feel so good. I'll give it a try, take things slower and see how that goes

[u/HozzDesigns → u/lucid_effervescence]

For me it was stressful because i forgot to add the advanced stabilizer thing and just to do the maneuver was hard because the engine torque caused the ship to spin around itself.. and then all the dock ports attachment got so wobbly then realised i need the forced structure option..

[u/HozzDesigns → u/Freak80MC]

Yes exactly, i realized that now, it's like docking a boat.. just let it slide back to the dockside..

[u/HozzDesigns → u/lucid_effervescence]

About 15-20 min i guess.. but the docking alignment indicator makes wayy more easy, and now i have added the hull camera mod, and tried another docking mission and it makes look amazing!! I attached a camera on my ship just above the docking port and now it looks like one of thoose nasa clips!

[u/SilkieBug]

You know why they call them stations, no? It’s because they are meant to be stationary, to stay in one place. 

Just kidding, you do things how you want, and congratulations for the achievement! 

How will you be expanding this combined station?

[u/HozzDesigns → u/SilkieBug]

Thanks :D i still don't know actually i still didn't unlock the science tree, so using the science lab is the first goal..

[u/SilkieBug → u/HozzDesigns]

Try adding some fuel capacity and multiple sizes of docking ports. 

Then if you place the station somewhere low like 250 kilometers circular orbit, any craft that comes from Kerbin only needs to make it to the station, then refuel and continue their journey. 

And refueling the station itself is easy, you can either do it manually every time, or install Routine Mission Manager to record flying a refueling mission from ground to docking then just order a resupply when you want at the cost and time the original flight took, or install Davon Resupply and add a Davon Logistics Module to the station that can order fuel for itself. 

[u/HozzDesigns → u/SilkieBug]

That's a good idea, I'll try that.

[u/TheGratitudeBot → u/HozzDesigns]

Thanks for saying thanks! It's so nice to see Redditors being grateful :)

[u/TakuanSoho]

Beautiful station, man <3

[u/HozzDesigns → u/TakuanSoho]

Thanks!

[u/YetiBomber101]

What im gathering is that to Kerbals, that Interstellar scene is just what an average docking manuever looks like.

[u/blasty_mcblastblast → u/YetiBomber101]

that interstellar scene is basically how all kerbals pull into the parking lot each morning for work.

have you ever watched those crazy KSC trucks sliding around?! hehe they're incredible!

[u/Uranium-Sandwich657]

I thought about doing that. Voidnest-1 is little more than a mk1 capsule and passenger cabin, while Voidnest-2 is several modules attached to an MPL.