JuJuVyez

I second all of the ideas in this thread. For Career Mode I have some ideas of my own to add. They center more on crew development, financing etc: Kerbal Experience Having your Kerbals gain experience for each mission flown (and survived) could reward with a bonus to Science, and adds the risk of losing experienced Kerbals in accidents. Experience gains could also unlock special abilities or specialties. Maybe an EVA repair skill for damaged solar panels etc. Or a scientist skill to boost science. Piloting skill to make for easier steering of bigger, heavier ships in space. I'm sure there's lots of ideas that could be thought of under this heading. Oh, and on the flipside, more experienced Kerbals would demand higher salaries. Funding The Kerbal nation could provide funding to the program (to add money management to the game, so the part costs mean more to us and force us to make decisions in what we send into space). Successful missions can lead to increased budgets, with bonuses awarded for reaching certain milestones, like first Kerbal in space, first Kerbal to complete an orbit, first Kerbal on the Mun etc. Re-usable and recoverable rocket designs would save the program money. Money could be raised by making broadcasts from space. Broadcasting from a more amazing location would raise more money. There's a flipside to this too, if your program is dangerous, you'll have to keep paying for Kerbal funerals and training replacements. Kerbal Provisions Have provisions as something to be added to the ship to support the crew on their mission. A Kerbin orbital flight and re-entry can easily be achieved in a short amount of time, so only 1-3 days of supplies need be carried. A longer mission to the Mun however might require more supplies. If your mission takes too long, the crew will be lost because they run out of supplies. Also, supplies can be transported up to space stations to keep them in operation. (I also suggest that after you successfully dock an unmanned resupply ship to the space station, you should get an option to automate that supply run.) An end-game supply solution could be some kind of Star Trek style replicator that runs on electric energy, therefore allowing for almost unlimited range missions or planetary bases. Supplies could be included on all manned pods, with external packs to be added to extend mission time. Department Heads Instead of retiring Kerbals (as has been suggested in another thread) you could appoint them to important positions in the space program. Such positions could be Head of Training, Assembly Manager, Mission Control Commander, Logistics Manager, Public Relations etc. Appointing experience Kerbals to these positions could provide extra rewards/discounts/boosts to the program. Kerbal Record Books The game could record the Kerbals that make significant achievements. Those milestones I mentioned earlier, each one could be recorded in game and could be viewed in a hall of fame at your Astronaut Building. It would be cool to be able to look up the name of the first Kerbal you had that landed on the Mun (and lived) and to see who's flown the fastest or furthest. And a fallen heroes memorial for those unfortunate Kerbals who landed like a lawn-dart. I think that should do for now. These were the suggestions I thought of while playing the Career Mode. I felt like they could be easily and reasonably included in the game. Some of the ideas that would make things harder, like supplies, should be able to be switched off for those who prefer to play with easier difficulty levels. Funding could vary by difficulty too.

They could have a system where, as the Kerbals rack up flight time, experience or whatever, they unlock a special ability, be it docking, repairing solar panels, calculating a rendezvous in space, so eventually you could have a veteran crew each with their own specialty.