As I’ve been building my own version of the Lunar Gateway Station I’ve encountered another problem. With a station of this scale, moving parts, adjusting orbits, or other physical changes that affect the station often result in large portions of the station disassembling itself. Though I suppose I could redesign it to distribute weight more evenly, that would be a temporary solution as more changes are to come.
Another solution would be assuring a physical, firm connection between docking ports. Perhaps similar to what the ISS uses to assure connection to the station. Of course magnets would still be useful for guiding the docking ports together, but they’re not effective on their own for making the station structurally sound.
This would allow for larger and more complex stations to be made, without fear of the station spontaneously falling apart