Categorizing Contracts

[Pthigrivi]

 

So this is somewhat in response to a thread in the general section discussing the state of career mode. While I don't agree with everything said (certainly not the tone), there are enough people with similar concerns that I wonder if there isn't some relatively easy way to accommodate more players without losing the elements of the game that are working. This also ties into some concerns that game progression relies overmuch on the tech tree and not enough focus is placed on exploration. My general diagnosis is that most contracts feel like side quests because it isn't clear what the main quest is. I can see people being rightly worried that any fixed objective might limit freedom of play, but I think a middle ground can be found that lets players direct their own exploration while still offering constraints and rewards. Fortunately, this doesn't require scrapping anything, merely reorganizing the way it's presented in Mission Control.

In broad strokes, my suggestion is that contracts could be categorized by body, and perhaps also by type. When opening Mission Control instead of seeing a random list of contracts, there would be a list of headings: Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, etc. There might also be categories for rescue, collect science, etc. At first only Kerbin would be available, and listed at the top would be the prominent World First contracts. Other more optional contracts would appear below as rep increased, but the Mun and Minmus categories would not appear until a player had completed the Reach Orbit contract. Once unlocked those categories would also have important world firsts listed on top, though some may have their advances greyed out if the player didn't have enough rep. A player could of course go straight to the Mun or complete any World First contract as they reached it, they simply would not be eligible for the advance.

At this point their contract window might look like this:

Kerbin:

- Rescue Sambell from Kerbin orbit

- Collect readings around X

- Test Skipper on suborbital trajectory

 

Mun:

- Explore the Mun

     - Perform Flyby

     - Achieve Orbit

     - Land on the Mun (Advance after X Reputation)

     - Plant a Flag on the Mun (Advance after X Reputation)

- Collect readings around X

- Place satellite in stable orbit

 

Minmus:

- Explore Minmus

     - Perform Flyby

     - Achieve Orbit

     - Land on Minmus (Advance after X Reputation)

     - Plant a Flag on Minmus (Advance after X Reputation)

- Collect readings around X

- Rescue Barbella from the surface of Minmus

 

After planting a flag on one of the moons headings would open for other planets. The important thing is that if you were ambitious and good the World Firsts could feasibly pay well enough to advance and unlock facilities by themselves. The other missions are more easily thought of as optional ways to increase the profitability of your program. Importantly this isn't radically different from the way things are now. Its mainly a question of visual clarity and emphasis. You can decide to explore any body you like and be rewarded for it. Earning rep and operating within the contract system is really only necessary to receive advances.

 

What this would do is make clear that players could explore and grow their program however they liked. Launching satellites and building stations are in effect side-quests to earn money and reputation toward the World First main-quests. They could be dovetailed into larger missions or completed separately. Additionally many more contracts could be generated, 5 or 10 per body, without waiting at a very limited slot machine for the one you really want or feeling like you had to break warp and return to Mission Control every 4 days. Once completed, World Firsts (which could also include hidden Easter-egg finds) should really be given a more prominent home, possibly with special rewards, so players would see clearly how far they had progressed.

 

I think this would help a lot and covers a big enough swath of play to satisfy people who want more autonomy while still rewarding players and offering unexpected constraints for those who like them. This does however clearly posit exploring each world as the goal of Career mode. It's harder for me to see how all the plane enthusiasts out there could get very far, but maybe they are more content in sandbox anyway. This is Kerbal Space Program after all.

[pandaman]

This makes sense.

I guess the 'Part Test' contracts, being offered by commercial customers as and when they need parts testing, would need either a separate 'Commercial Contract' list or sub categories under each celestial body.

Whereas the 'Collect Science' contracts (whether from commercial customers or for general research) would be integrated into the list for each celestial body.

A simple way of enhancing what's already in place, I like it.

[Pthigrivi]

Yeah I mean I think its okay for people to think of KSP as a public or private space company. If people want to imagine rep is essentially public support which then translates into more up-front funding that's fine. A lot of people have suggested time-based budgets and rep fall-off over time but that seems like it could be a nightmare to balance with time-warp. I just picture players sending a probe to Jool and then realizing they've erased all their rep. So tying rep to contract advances on World Firsts seems like a good, working solution. Players should just be given an indication of "Okay I have x reputation. I'll get an advance at y reputation. What do I need to do to get there?" 

The other important change is that it makes it possible to have many more available contracts open at a time, meaning players have a lot more room to pick and chose the types of missions they want. Categorizing them by body not only means a player has an easier time sorting through a larger number of contracts, but also makes mission planning easier, because you can say "Okay I want to go to Eve. Which of these side-contracts could I fit into that mission to enhance it?"

There are a lot of people out there having a hard time. A worrisome number of people want career completely scrapped. I feel like that is a sign that something isn't working, i just don't agree that the situation is nearly so dire. Some relatively small, incisive changes could go a long way to giving that sense of self-direction back to players. 

Edited December 27, 2015 by Pthigrivi