Vector engine - What are the best uses?

[Lunar Sea]

What a cool engine. Slim profile, insane thrust, mad gimbal range. Obviously this is a very special rocket and not going to be a general-use engine like the terrier. So what do you guys use it for? Eve ascent? Tylo landing? I'd like to know what you do with it. 

[wumpus]

Rumor has it that it exists for Shuttle clones.  The extreme gimbal range is needed to counteract being attached to the side of the CoM.  The shuttle had more gimbal range than any previous KSP engine, don't know if it was as much as the vector.

[Mjarf]

I use it to build powerful engine clusters, the "Mammoth" engine is a cluster of 4 Vectors, so why not put more in a custom made cluster? I also find them useful for asparagus auxiliary boosters as they are strong, relatively light and have good atmospheric ISP. With TweakScale or similar mods it can be turned into a proper monster of an engine.  

[cantab]

I haven't used it that much myself. But yeah, one of the most common things I see is seven Vectors under a 3.75 m tank, for real monster launchers.

I've rarely seen it in a 1.25 m stack, I think it's just too much thrust for them usually.

Performance-wise, it's "really" a 2.5 m engine, and it fills the niche between the Skipper and Mainsail. You can use a 2.5 m fairing under it as an interstage to fashion your rocket.

[Alshain]

29 minutes ago, wumpus said:

Rumor has it that it exists for Shuttle clones.  The extreme gimbal range is needed to counteract being attached to the side of the CoM.  The shuttle had more gimbal range than any previous KSP engine, don't know if it was as much as the vector.

It's a little more that rumor.  The file name of the part is SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine).  Aside from that it looks just like the real thing.  But this is Kerbal Space Program, you can use it for anything.  Even NASA is (was?) reusing the Rocketdyne RS-25 for the SLS project.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Alshain

[Lunar Sea]

2 hours ago, cantab said:

I haven't used it that much myself. But yeah, one of the most common things I see is seven Vectors under a 3.75 m tank, for real monster launchers.

Side question, how do you get the engines attached for that particular arrangement? Doesn't the 3.75m tank only have the one attachment node on the bottom? I know it can be done just wondering how. 

[Plusck]

3 hours ago, Lunar Sea said:

So what do you guys use it for? Eve ascent? Tylo landing? I'd like to know what you do with it. 

- Eve ascent, definitely. A mix of Vectors and Aerospikes seems to be the obvious and virtually inescapable choice here;

- By extension, Kerbin ascent if Aerospikes and/or Skippers don't quite make the grade. My core tends to be a Skipper under a stubby 2.5 central stack flanked by two Aerospikes under tallish 1.25m stacks, with boosters and droptanks supporting and feeding into that for lower stages. Since they'll all be firing from sea level to vacuum, I prefer to swap out the 'spikes for Vectors rather than going the Mainsail route;

And that's about it. Proper vacuum engines always seem the cheaper, lighter and (unless gimbal is toggled off) smoother bet in just about every case.

[Lunar Sea]

How about Tylo? Seems that if you have the fuel it would do a good job of bleeding off speed very quickly

[cantab]

1 hour ago, Lunar Sea said:

Side question, how do you get the engines attached for that particular arrangement? Doesn't the 3.75m tank only have the one attachment node on the bottom? I know it can be done just wondering how. 

I think the Vector lets you attach anywhere. But if it doesn't, just mount it on another part like a nosecone or a BZ attachment point.

[FullMetalMachinist]

1 hour ago, Lunar Sea said:

Side question, how do you get the engines attached for that particular arrangement? Doesn't the 3.75m tank only have the one attachment node on the bottom? I know it can be done just wondering how. 

The Vector engine is surface attachable, so put 6 in 6x symmetry on the bottom of the tank, towards the edge. Then put one in the center, attached to the node. 

[Starhawk]

Leaving Eve ('s surface) is the best use I've found for them.

Happy landings!