Caelib

What are your system specs? I think the performance improvements in .22 have made a world of difference.

I fully expected to wake up this morning to enjoy a KSP Weekly with my coffee ... guess not! Doh!

On my 2nd full-unlock of career mode. On my first one, I relied mainly on transmission for most of my science (except for the Mun and Minmum). This 2nd time I am nearly done and I have done 100% return missions ... it's been a long, labor of love

The latest science features have rendered landing modules completely useless -- using an Apollo-style landing module + command module will net you ZERO science because it's lost when you decouple and return your Kerbals in a re-entry vehicle instead of the lander. Please fix this in update .23!

Something I discovered in this latest release (not sure if it's new or not): maneuver node adjustment controls are bi-directional. For example, if you're increasing your pro-grade and overshoot your expected result, you can drag it back toward the center it will reverse at a slower pace. This makes it a lot easier than adjusting by flipping between pro-grade and retrograde maneuver node controls.

Exposing science experiments to re-entry and water is counter-intuitive of space exploration.

Career mode is a grind, Sandbox is not. You have but two options

It's polymer slime made from Borax and Elmer's school glue! Recipe here: http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryactivities/ss/slimerecipe.htm

For me, the problem is that the game mechanics are interfering with what I consider to be intuitive -- for example, this necessity to return the science containers means that water-landings aren't possible because they break off as soon as you come into contact with any water; this seems absurd to me. So I guess what I'm trying to convey is that there are some conflicting functionality hindering gameplay.

Well, that's still doesn't make sense to me that you're performing experiments but keeping the results in a separate area? I'm talking about logical, not game-limits. It doesn't seem like a reasonable expectation to de-orbit/return these parts to get credit ... especially since it's just DATA. Consider how EVA Reports, Crew Reports and Surface Samples work now ... why can't these other parts work the same way (be associate with the command module instead of their respective "part")? And not to mention the fact that these parts wouldn't be able to survive atmospheric re-entry.

I completed career mode and never actually realized that decoupling these meant losing the data. IMO, this needs to be changed because choosing "Keep Data" should transfer to the command module and not the part itself -- forcing re-entry with these parts is non-intuitive and non-player-friendly.

Neat idea! This would be great for Mun landings where the lander needs to transfer data back to the command module for return. I haven't tested this theory yet ... maybe it already does? Anyone know for sure?

Yeah, I agree. Think about our own space program -- our Apollo missions to the moon mostly went to all different landing sites to collect different samples. So given my statements above, as long as a moon/planet has biomes, return missions would be fully justified by gathering data/physical from different areas. Or as you stated, but unlocking new science equipment.

The more I think about it, the more I think the current system may be a little over-complicated. Is the solution as easy as just making two kinds of science: data and physical? Physical science: goo, rock collection from the surface of a moon/planet, other material in observation chambers Data science: EVA report, crew report, temp, seismic activity, atmospheric Physical science items only reward points on return ... and A LOT of them. Data science items can be transmit (or returned) once, for 100% value. The idea being you collect data ONCE per biome/orbit/area/whatever. This idea that you can transmit partial rewards just seems to clunky IMO.

I really hope .23 includes some tweaks for career mode ... I think it's an amazing first shot, but it definitely needs some modifications.

Regarding my original thoughts, I think the biggest problem I had when starting career mode was the lack of science parts available at the start. Here's an idea that might solve this problem: Make ALL science parts available VERY EARLY ... such as from the second tier or in-between the current 2nd and 3rd tier. In addition, the science yield from these parts need to be changed significantly to balance it with the current rate of progression. I think this would simply the system quite a bit, make it more fun, and give players more incentive to do science on Kerbin first rather than current approach. For example, when you've already been to the Mun, you need to return to use newly-unlocked science equipment across multiple tiers -- this feels like going backwards since the natural inclination for the player is to "go further" with each accomplishment.

I think Spaceplanes probably need their own dedicated update ... IMO, they are too difficult to build/balance/fly for anyone but the truly elite/dedicated.

I love the idea of a trophy case for soil samples from other planets/moons -- it's the ultimate achievement IMO.

kerm ... great response! I agree with pretty much everything you've written!

I haven't seen this yet, thanks for posting the link!

Just a few simple suggestions for future science equipment: - photographic camera - video camera - laser/drill (with robot arm -- that would be amazing) - spectrometer - radiation detector

I had similar feelings about the ladders until I realized they weren't necessary for the Mun or Minmus as you can just use your jetpack to re-enter the craft. But to your point, the tech tree seems to be organized in such a way to limit a player's ability to progress rather than scientific ability. I believe this is to combat the "paralysis of choice" problem with giving the player too many parts at the start. But I agree, the ladders should be available sooner.

I think v.22 is a marvelous update, but after having unlocked the entire tech tree and spending quite a bit of time playing, I have a few suggestions: 1) Obviously, the game is still in development, but there should be some "guidance" when starting a new career mode game or new players are going to be very lost on how to advance. I feel like the game needs some form of "here are the things you can do" for the planets/moons you have visited/unlocked. For example, a new player would automatically see Kerbin in this list with of each biome and their "accomplishments" in each. For other planets/moons, this could be as simple as "High Orbit", "Low Orbit" and "Surface". 2) Building upon my previous point, it would be really nice if we had a way to view our progress of discoveries for each planet/moon. When unlocking new science equipment, it's difficult to remember where I have used what! 3) Antennae should remain in the open position if they have been manually extended; currently, every time you send a transmission, it is automatically retracted. 4) I love the concept of returning ships to Kerbin for maximum science gain, but it seems possible to achieve similar results by making multiple radio transmissions. A player can repeatedly send these tranmissions and get a lot of science data, but the process seems clunky. I get the overall idea with making sending data back less valuable then bringing it back, but my suggestion would be to streamline this where a player can gather ALL of the data at once, then the transmission of said data be sent in multiple batches depending on available power. 5) Now that we have science equipment that appears to gather meaningful data, it would be awesome if we had metrics. Sure, there are add-ons that do this, but I feel pretty strongly that the core game should at least have some more native functionality for stage-based Delta-V and TWR. 6) It would be awesome if we could setup maneuver nodes from the launch pad so we can intelligently launch into the plane of our target and AT THE RIGHT TIME -- right now it's an incredible waste of energy to launch 90 degrees and then change planes ... and THEN time accelerate and create your maneuver nodes in orbit. 7) Finally, can we please get some stock payload fairings? Thanks for making such a great game!

THIS! Maybe even a way to see the experimental value remaining since you can do the same ones a few times before diminishing returns reduces it to zero.

I'm just curious of the construction of the lander itself -- if you just have a part list/build order, that would be fine too.