Because I have noticed that some of the beginners to rocket simulators seem to be ill-informed on how to rendezvous, or what the things in the map view tell you, I discided to make this informative post.
For those expecting a complete step by step written tutorial on how to rendezvous, this post won’t do that. I tried that in a previous revision of this post and it took up a page and a half single-spaced (needless to say, it would have been long in a forum post), so instead, I will redirect you to a very informative youtube video by Scott Manley on the topics of rendezvous and docking in Kerbal Space Program here. Even though this tutorial is for KSP, the same principals can be applied to rendezvousing in Simplerockets 2.
On the stuff in the map view, here's a brief rundown of the markers that show up in your map view:
The green arrow pointing down to your orbit is your apoapsis (the highest point in your orbit)
The orange arrow pointing down to your orbit is your periapsis (the lowest point in your orbit)
When getting planning an encounter, there are two markers that show up: the first one (the white one that looks like a rocket) is the visual representation of where your spacecraft will be closest to your target for a closest approach. The second one (the other white one that looks like a satellite) is the closest your target will be to you visually at your closest approach.
On the stuff in the “orbit details” box:
When in the map view, there is a box on the right that has some of your orbital elements. To save "space" (pun intended) once again in this post, I won't detail each here, but at this Wikipedia article, everything that is in the orbit details box is described in great detail and then some for those who are more curious.
It should be noted that if you are just starting out, you shouldn’t worry a whole lot about everything in the orbit details box except inclination and possibly the period of your orbit. You should focus on getting used to flying and building things in this simulator. Your Inclination is critical for things like making sure you can rendezvous, and so are the rest but the rest are for calculations like delta-v required for something, transfers, etc.
I Hope this helped. If there is anything that I got wrong in this post, or that you feel should be addressed in this post, please inform me. I would hate to find that had misinformed beginners in such a wonderful thing as orbital mechanics. Happy flying.
Ok