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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.