Buback

Well it's the idea of scarcity and restriction that makes it a challenge. Otherwise, you'd just play sandbox. Scarcity as a game mechanic forces you to make difficult choices. And the grindyness of the current system is acknowledged even by the devs. for me, it's click tool>transmit>repeat till i run out of power>warp more power>start again until science gain is less than 2. I could return to kerbin and get 100%, but then i'd have to fly one mission to every area in every SOI, which would take much much more time. Here's Felip's post from the Daily Kerbal:

I just want to be clear that i was never suggesting real-time science. i was actually suggesting the opposite. maybe it wouldn't work with the "on rails" system, but it doesn't seem like it's be that hard to bypass, since you really don't need to model the physics of a whole craft just to count science. Regardless, the economic model could prevent infinite science and would be an workable constraint, but the point is moot if the science system stays as it is since you currently don't accrue science over time. Even if science was changed, however, the economic model would have to take into account timewarp. What if you miss an Eeloo window? it's a 17 kerbin-year window! if the economy isn't self sufficient enough after exploring all the inner planets, i think a lot of players just won't bother going to the outer ones. they'd be too consumed with keeping the money flowing in to keep the agency running. Something has to be scarce in order to make Career mode worth playing. it could be money, or delivered experiments, or electricity, or kerbals. it shouldn't be "how often i can click on the 'observe goo canister' button".

I mostly just wanted to point out that warping is an integral game mechanic, so something like science (or resources) should take it into account. I don't think the current system does. For example, once you get the first solar panel power scarcity is no longer a consideration (for the most part). you do science, transmit till your battery is dead, and then timewarp to fill up your battery, and repeat. it's ignoring the fact that you can timewarp to overcome power scarcity. a better system would be if 100 electricity = 1 science, as a baseline. Science sensors would multiply the amount of science per 100 e, and transmitters would multiply the amount of electricity per 1 s. i.e. better science sensors gets you more science per power, and better transmitters transmit more science per power. sensors and transmitters would still have power requirements, so a sensor might use .5 e per minute, so it'd take 200 minutes to get 1 science. but, if you only have one small battery, you don't have enough power to transmit it (possibly not enough to get home, even). in the beginning, you benefit most by bringing all your experiments back, because without solar panels you can't afford to transmit the data. as you explore towards kerbol, your panels are more efficient, so you gain science quicker, but as you go to Jool, you need more solar or RTGs and better transmitters. you can still have a max science per biome per sensor type, or some type of diminishing return. i sensor could degrade after being on for a long time, so that it produces less and less science per 100 e. that way you couldn't just leave it on all the time but only when it would be beneficial, like when you get to a new biome. some sensors, like thermometers and seismic sensors, should have a large max like 500 science, but a really slow rate, like .2 s /per 100 e, to encourage you to leave them on the surface for a long time. of course i don't know if these numbers work out at all but they're just an example. the idea is that you need some limiting factor to make you work for science, but the labor intensive clicking that it is now isn't fun or stimulating. having to plan a proper power/science budget (and making it work!) would be a lot more fun.

I've seen an number of people say that you can't do a science per time unit model because people would just time warp and break the model. My problem with that reasoning is that time warp is an integral part of the game. You need time warp to get to anywhere outside of LKO, and you need it even more the farther out you go. Since your going to be time warping anyway, for interplanetary missions and such, it should be part of the science model.

I would like to see the unknowns in the info screen on the map, so that it's clear what still needs research.

Red-shirt/blue-shirt/yellow-shirt? Adding an engineer could allow you to auto burn at nodes, and the more experience, the more accurate.

While i wouldn't want mechjeb as is, for career mode, a mechjeb-lite would be a good reason to train and bring back kerbals alive. maybe a veteran kerbal could do an auto-land, or calculate an trajectory after aerocapture. At first, you have to do all the work, but as you complete tasks and they gain experience, you can have them auto point to prograde/retrograde, and next maybe preform a burn as laid out in the map.

I would love to see the Science tree tied to goals, so that you couldn't unlock a particular branch unless you've built a ComSat, or a Spacestation, or Landed on the Mun. I'd like to see ways to improve your transmission efficiency, for example build a ComSat in a SOI and data transmission goes up in that SOI. Data collection should take time and power, too. if you don't have much power, you can run the experiment and store up data, then charge up your batteries and then transmit it in bulk, or if you have plenty of power, you should be able to experiment and transmit at the same time, one packet at a time. so you could, for example, leave a lander on the mun and go build and launch another mission, and you'd keep getting a slow trickle of data.

Had to join the forum just to post this.