Summer

I did try that before, but it seems I did it wrong. It said (before) that "The selected part is not attachable!" I didn't think to try removing the clamp-o-tron from the top of the lander, and then it worked fine. It still complains about the command pod facing the wrong way, but everything else seems correct. I think that's the answer then! Thanks!

Hello! First time poster but long-time Kerbonaut. I have a fairly specific issue. I've just gotten the tech tree to the point of usable landers+MPL+etc. and I'd like to build the lander (using a clamp-o-tron) in it's final position above the Mk1-2 command pod (then the separator below that, then the MPL, then engines, etc.). My idea was to have the lander be in "final position" as it would be docking in space. So I created the lander, flipped it over, then put the Mk1-2 pod under it and continued building. This, of course, produced the lander can as the primary pod in the system (since it was put in first) and gave various errors like "No parachutes" and "pod is upside down!" After reading another tutorial about changing command pods (via editing the vehicle save file), even though that wasn't exactly what I wanted, I moved the Mk1-2 pod to the top of the file. That didn't remove the error messages but it did make the navball work right. The only other method I thought of was to have the lander right side up at the top and use a stack decoupler to send it off on it's first mission, then dock with the clamp-o-tron normally on the way back. But that would either require starting the kerbals in the lander can or doing an EVA to move to the lander before decoupling, both of which aren't ideal (the first due to realism, the second for simply being annoying). If it matters, I'm playing on Science mode. So my question is: is there a better way to do this? Thanks!