OxfordTheCat

I do, depending on my design, but only because I come in on landings way too hot and need the extra thrust to slow down in time: I don't use parachutes except on the return to Kerbin, so I usually have two or three engines at full blast for a hundred thousand feet or so to slow down on my hybrid transfer / lander stage. (I'm a relatively new rocket scientist, so my approach trends more towards Wile E. Coyote than Werner Von Braun....) If I'm using a smaller lander and a dedicated transfer stage, then I'll usually only have 1 to conserve fuel, with the extra engines on the lander still.

I'm a relative noob playing mostly stock, but with I've dabbled with a few parts mods in a vain attempt to cut down on parts to reduce launchpad lag. My only real issue with the mods is the asinine advice some people some to give when I'm reading other peoples requests for help: "Can someone help me / give me some tips on interplanetary flight to Duna?" with the response "Use Mechjeb, transfer orbit......." is just not helpful. Aside from that, I think people are entitled to their high horse to some extent: From what I've read, I don't think anyone really cares what people are doing in their own game or for their own enjoyment..... ..... However, I can see how posts on here that equate getting Getting to Jool and back, stock and without the aid of Mechjeb to being the same level of achievement as using a modded engine with mega high specific impulse and clicking buttons on the Mechjeb interface could ruffle some feathers. As soon as the mod using posters stop pretending that it is the same thing, I think you'll see the negative attitudes towards some mod users go down. As it stands, mods like the crew tank and the docking mods allow us to do things not yet implemented, and I think that's fantastic.

Thanks for that..... ... my first interplanetary mission, a mission to Duna, met an abrupt end just as I was about to start my descent. I couldn't figure out what happened but all of a sudden I was short an engine.

Wouldn't this prevent decoupling, or cause an extremely unpredictable decoupling as struts break (or not break) ? I've never tried this because I always assumed it would have catastrophic results.