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What career settings do you use?


TheFlyingKerman

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Well, since I rarely play in a full career save, but rather a science career (because while tried, I don't like the money thing, and I like to make up my own missions) I cannot advise on fund settings. But I do use the part pressure an g-force limits. And sliding the science refund back to 50-60% I need to get out of Kerbin SOI (or scrutinise every biome on Kerbin, Mun and Minmus) to complete the techtree. Next to that I usually set all body occlusions to 1, use commnet without extra groundstations, use control and comms blackout during re-entry, set re-entry heating to 100% (which it is by default if I remember well) and if I want to get tricky use no revert to launch or VAB/SPH and no respawning Kerbals. Makes a playthrough pretty challenging especially without reverting and respawning...and the sence of achievement even greater than on easier settings...

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I use normal settings and make the game challenging in other ways.

Currently just installing JNSQ and no other gameplay changing mods has been enough. I'm only to the "get a basic fuel driller on Minmus" phase and I'm constantly clicking "launch" and being told I don't have the cash. But I've not once felt the need to grind.

Most of the money has come from satellite contracts. I throw a relay antenna on them and they make up 100% of my relay network on every single world in the game. But I literally can't afford a multi-Kerbal ship to Duna, likely until I get a couple satellite contracts for there completed.

I'll still eventually have way too much money (and science, even though I'm ignoring the science part of the science lab and only using them for local leveling) but for now I'm totally happy with the balance.

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Haven't played career yet, but I'm planning on 10% science, no extra ground stations, no interplanetary flight until after Kerbin's SOI has been exhausted of all science, no Moho or Dres until after Eve orbit, Gilly and Duna/Ike are similarly done, no Jool or Eeloo until after Dres.

I'd also prefer to limit my facility levels to:

  • VAB/Launch Pad: no level 2 before lunar landing, no level 3 before Jool
  • R&D: no level 2 before lunar landing and until all science within Kerbin's SOI that doesn't require offworld EVA has been exhausted
  • Tracking Station: level 1 while within Kerbin's SOI, level 2 until Jool

The only problem here is that without a level 2 TS, I can't use maneuver nodes, which makes it extremely hard to reach Minmus and the Mun's non-equatorial biomes, since I basically have to eyeball the maneuvers.

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I use MakingLessHistory, so I get the MH parts without the extra launchsites.

  • Actual settings:
    • Disable extra ground stations
    • Enable plasma blackout
    • Require signal for control
    • Kerbals level up immediately
    • Kerbals do not respawn
    • Resource transfer obeys crossfeed rules.
    • Contract decline penalty is set to 0.  I shouldn't be punished for not wanting to do stupid contracts without letting them expire.
  • Personal restrictions
    • I only revert when a problem is the game's fault
    • ALL crewed launches will have a tested launch escape system.  If I'm launching a space station or some kind of fancy lander, it will go up automated, and then a crew capsule will take the crew up and dock with it.
    • I must use a life support mod.
    • Rescue contracts must be accepted immediately and are prioritized.  This initially got out of hand, but I was able to make some settings to the contracts.cfg file so I can only have one at a time.

That all said, up until recently I didn't really touch career.  I think I've finally got the right mods and settings, so that I'm actually enjoying it.  I haven't left LKO yet, and I seriously doubt I will push kerbals out past Duna/Eve.  I'm not a fan of managing multiple long term missions. 

 

 

Edited by Geonovast
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The "Whatever" Trading Company ("Trading Company" = TC = "Travelling Circus" amongst the lower deck), being a state-sponsored entity with the Sovereign and all the leading peers and nouveau-riche bourgeois heavily invested in it, gets 200% rewards (but also penalties).  Negative balances are not allowed--the whole Board of Directors would be drawn and quartered.  Also, all astronauts are pressganged vagrants or the sweepings of HM's prisons, so Custom Barn Kit sets the hiring cost for new Kerbals at a flat 10K fee to handle the necessary bribes, fees to crimps, and administrative overhead.  CBK also subsidizes KSC building upgrades in keeping with the nature of the business, so that's much cheaper, too.  Missing crews (and there are many due to BARIS) do not respawn,  building damage is maxed (and happens frequently due to BARIS),  and most other things are at default.  Probes do NOT require a signal because the Travelling Circus invests heavily in AI technology and relies on its probe cores being more competent and loyal than its untrained and unwilling astronauts. The probe cores are also in charge of crew discipline via shock collars.

However, it's not all bad being sent to space,.  Kerbals have a ration of 1 gallon of beer and 1 tot of grog per day, along with filling meals of salt meat and dried peas.

Edited by Geschosskopf
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23 hours ago, Epicdreamer said:

Well, since I rarely play in a full career save, but rather a science career (because while tried, I don't like the money thing, and I like to make up my own missions) I cannot advise on fund settings. But I do use the part pressure an g-force limits. And sliding the science refund back to 50-60% I need to get out of Kerbin SOI (or scrutinise every biome on Kerbin, Mun and Minmus) to complete the techtree. Next to that I usually set all body occlusions to 1, use commnet without extra groundstations, use control and comms blackout during re-entry, set re-entry heating to 100% (which it is by default if I remember well) and if I want to get tricky use no revert to launch or VAB/SPH and no respawning Kerbals. Makes a playthrough pretty challenging especially without reverting and respawning...and the sence of achievement even greater than on easier settings...

That is what I am doing now - science with 50% reward. I do use extra ground stations but at some point I build relays with literally 10x the power of the stations.

16 hours ago, Fraktal said:

I'd also prefer to limit my facility levels to:

  • VAB/Launch Pad: no level 2 before lunar landing, no level 3 before Jool
  • R&D: no level 2 before lunar landing and until all science within Kerbin's SOI that doesn't require offworld EVA has been exhausted
  • Tracking Station: level 1 while within Kerbin's SOI, level 2 until Jool

I won't consider munar landing until I get to build a rover with medium wheels and at least the accelerometer, so that I don't need to do the science again. And seriously, rendezvous without maneuver nodes?

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The Mun is close enough to rendezvous without maneuver nodes. From a prograde equatorial orbit, burn just as the Mun starts peeking out from behind Kerbin; it's not 100% efficient dV wise, but it works. It's apparently possible to rendezvous with Minmus in a similar fashion as well, but it's much more precise.

With 10% science, I found that the tech progression is surprisingly well-balanced. You get just enough points from Kerbin and munar orbit to develop the Terrier, the materials bay and 1-2 other tech 4 nodes to reach the Mun with. Similarly, cleaning out the Mun and Minmus gets you enough points to develop all tech 5 and around 2-3 tech 6 nodes to get you interplanetary. Send a temperature/pressure rover to Ike and that's another tech 6 node for you. And that's if you don't minmax and conserve your points towards specific goals but unlock every node at the current level before proceeding to the next, nor does it account for science boosts from strategies and the MPL.

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I'm currently playing with settings known as Moderate + Waiting for Kopernicus. So I'm not going out of Kerbin SOI until Kopernicus updates.

@Geschosskopf: Does the Circus still run? Last I heard, there was a strange cutoff in the thread around the weird Laythean people.

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3 hours ago, fulgur said:

 

@Geschosskopf: Does the Circus still run? Last I heard, there was a strange cutoff in the thread around the weird Laythean people.

Yeah, I did abandon that story.  It was a combination of frustration and burn-out with KSP in general, some issues with that mod system I was using in particular, and some  rather dramatic turmoil in my real life.  Things are mostly ironed out now so here I am again.  I suppose I could resume that old game as it still resides in its own directory with all its contemporary mods, but I know there are issues with it that I just don't want to deal with anymore.  So instead I'll probably start something new, once I get back familiarized with the game and the mods settle down again.  Especially Kopernicus.

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I start with Hard settings and make the following additions:

  1. Enable Part Pressure Limits
  2. Enable Part G-Force Limits
  3. Enable Kerbal G-Force Limits
  4. Enable Require Signal for Control
  5. Enable Plasma Blackout

I leave all the rest of the settings alone (stock Hard).

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I start with hard settings, turn on part pressure & g-force limits, turn on Kerbal g-force limits, plasma blackout, and drop funds/science/rep rewards to between 20% & 40%.  I do keep the extra groundstations, and usually bump resource abundance up a little.  Since I started using Community Tech Tree, I've been keeping the science rewards a little higher due to needing a LOT more than the stock tree.

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...normal mode, no extra groundstations, plasma blackout, kerbals revive after a certain time. Not much more quite stockish, challenging, but doable.

I don`t have that much time right now, made three times the techtree without any cheating. It`s enough, the fun begins at minmus.

And with a reusable Shuttle :wink:

Rescuing the crew is the key for :funds:

And getting the Lab is mandatory for :science:

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7 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Not really a career setting but I consider it one, I disable rescue contracts and use a CustomBarnKit config that does nothing but set the price to hire a new Kerbal to a static amount.

I disable rescue contracts too but use the upscaling cost of kerbals to price against the insane contract rewards around for satelites around other planets.  Also disable ISRU, field research.  And also part testing as I expect the contractors to have sorted that for me.  Too much muchness. 

Science 50%  all the options stated around but i do concede to action groups at start and KER HUDS partless.

Edited by theJesuit
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I put it on hard, and 120% heating.10% rewards just makes everything a huge grind (particularly getting enough for the various building upgrades), and 10% science also is grindy. I also play with FAR, which makes the aerodynamics even less forgiving.

My personal rules for latest games:

  • No reverting other than due to bugs
  • Only launch a ship when it attempts to complete a part of a contract (or contracts).
  • Contracts can only be completed by a craft that is launched after the contract is accepted (I don't know if repeated flag planting is still possible, but basically none of that)
  • No science grind -- in particular, no repeated EVA reports. One report per mission over the biome you landed in. No biome hopping. No abuse of things like Science Labs.
  • No 1-way crewed missions.
  • Missions that take a long time must include at least 4 Kerbals (missions to Eve, Duna, Moho), or 6 Kerbals for Jool, Dres, Eeloo, and must include 2x space for short missions, or 3x space for longer ones. This simulates living space and also supply (I used to play with Life Support mods, but I feel they don't add much).
  • Only 1 landing on Minmus allowed (including the restriction that it's on a single biome). Minmus is completely ignored after that. I basically treat Minmus as a temporarily captured satellite that you get to visit exactly once, and then it flies off into deep space
  • No asparagus staging. This simulates the fact that moving around tons of fuel every second in a dinky little fuel pipe is not possible. Even the Falcon Heavy has given up on that.

When it comes to science, I'd really love a mod that really encourages you to visit new places rather than going to every single biome in a single place. Basically make it so that if you land on more and more biomes on a celestial body, you get lower rewards (for any science conducted), representing the fact that different places on the Mun might be different and let you learn new things, but you don't learn as much on the second or third time around. Not sure if that's possible though.

With Breaking Ground, I'd also love to see a mod that makes the science-able rocks rare. Rare enough that you'd need to scan the planet, then do a precision landing, then drive over to it.

Edited by Empiro
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I used to use a couple of mods that allowed me to indirectly buy tech tree nodes with funds. 

-Science return as low as possible.

-Periodical funding based on reputation

-KerboKatz widget to exchange funds for science.

Made the time pass way quicker (planning transfer windows made actual sense) and I didn't have to fly half-assed landers anywhere to get better tech/more science instruments.

What annoys me in stock career the most is the fact that you have to go somewhere to grab points and then go there again to grab additional points to research more parts. That mod setup got rid of this annoyance very successfully.

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