What's your mode?

[CaelumEtAstra]

Sandbox with three rules:

1. Minimal and/or no orbital debris.

2. At least 5 days between launches, Though the runway can be used anytime.

3. Only use pre-built launchers in the sub-assembly tab. No specialized rockets for each payload.

[CrazyJebGuy]

Sandbox, love the freedom. I sometimes go sience/career.

[zxczxczbfg]

Sandbox, but with destructible buildings enabled and auto-hire disabled.

[regex]

Sandbox, because career is literally one of the most grindy collections of slapped-together and tired game mechanics memes ever assembled.

Edited March 2, 2015 by regex

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Sandbox, with KCT, and a little RP, as career is a grindy, clickfest, mess.

[Hannu]

I start a new career game 1 or 2 times per year (not for every version). I open whole tech tree in couple of weeks and after that I play with sandbox style. I like most sandbox style gaming but contracts and science are nice addition to it, if I use normal difficulty, which is not too grindy. I get more than enough money and can choose only most interesting contracts.

[cicatrix]

Career, it encourages creativeness.

[CalculusWarrior]

I actually prefer Carrier mode:

sorry it was how I pronounced your spelling of career in my head

All jokes aside, Career is indeed my favourite mode, as I do love how it gives you contracts and how you need to work within a budget to get everything done.

[worir4]

I play career but at the start I cheat in money and science then I play like sandbox. I just like reading the science experiment reports.

[eddiew]

Career, with low science return and a modded tech tree that demands more science! Turns the whole thing into a quest for knowledge, with a budget

[Flixxbeatz]

Sandbox, just like the good ol' days

Too busy irl to grind all the science and unlockables, I prefer going straight to it.

[Dewirix]

I mostly play career mode, although I dip into sandbox every now and then, mainly to test designs or to build aeroplanes to amuse my son.

For me, the career mode offers a nice mix of directed and free-form exploration. There are contracts to take if needed, but I've also got the opportunity to go off and explore on my own.

At first, my 0.90 career was a bit of a grind (I have memories of spamming science data from Kerbin orbit contracts just to upgrade some buildings), but now I'm much less restricted by limited funding. I've intentionally turned science gain down as low as it can go, because unlike funds I never really feel restricted by limited science. Before this career, I'd always used LV-Ns for every interplanetary mission, so it's fun to see what can be done with chemical rockets (the Skipper is surprisingly decent as both a launch and a transfer stage).

[Madrias]

Sandbox with no quicksaves or reverts. It's more fun that way. Yes, I know, one game glitch and it's game over, but it's risk vs. reward. Landing the Kerbal Equivalent of the Space Shuttle on the runway after a trip to the Kerbal Science Station is more rewarding when you only have one shot at it. Accidentally launching a plane or rocket with no way to return the crew safely becomes a situation, rather than "Oh, crap. Revert to Assembly." Breaking up on landing has you on the edge of your seat, because you're hoping the capsule comes out safe on the other side of the boom. And you get instant rescue missions when things go wrong. That ship with no parachutes you brought back from the Mun, because the chutes were left on the Mun Lander System, that's on a sub-orbital trajectory with no corrective fuel left... Well, you've got that much time to go rescue the crew, or they'll crash and burn.

And lately, I've added 6.4x Kerbin to the mess, without FAR. Because I like a good challenge.

[Docsprock]

Sandbox, with a sprinkling of Science mode.

[Yukon0009]

Sandbox because no one should ever let me and Zekes touch actual money and hardware.....

[Sufficient Anonymity]

Career, with a sandbox save for "simulations."

[Pecan]

Sandbox, because the current tech-tree is so awful and I can't be bothered with 'visual survey' contracts.

However, for anyone just starting I'd recommend Science mode if they are overwhelmed by the number of parts in sandbox. Science gives tech-tree 'progression' without the hassle of contracts, funds, reputation, strategies and building-upgrades. That's a lot of extra stuff to think about if you're just trying to work out how to get to orbit.

@worir4: "I just like reading the science experiment reports." - they're available in Sandbox too now.

[Kibble]

Sandbox with self enforced don't-use-anything-crazy. (Easier, with RO!)

[Technical Ben]

Sandbox (though I clicked the wrong box on the vote! ).

Especially as Career just bugs out on me now with the latest save state change in 0.25/0.90. It deletes/kills kerbals and missions in error and trashes all my saves.

[Random Tank]

Well, I play career, but I don't see an option for that in the Poll...

That's a joke though, I mainly play science. I find most contracts too grindy and boring, and the ones that aren't don't seem to pop up enough or don't give enough money, so I don't play career. I do like collecting science though, so that's why I don't play Sandbox; though I do use it for testing

[Herbin]

I just play career mode. Money, science, reputation -what's not to love. Especially the huge payout missions. I get extra science per fund so flying through the science tree is pretty fun. You also hit walls when you have to upgrade buildings to unlock features / abilities. Good times. Also waiting for 1.0

Edited March 2, 2015 by Herbin
spelling / typo

[Gkirmathal]

I started with Science, as it is my first play through of KSP and I didn't want to be hindered by the money side of things in career mode.

What I read from career being 'grindy'.... my reason for playing Science mode: I got into KSP only because of a couple of mods. With KSP being the resource hog it is (which I knew) to extremes (which I didn't) when modded, the regular restarts it requires means I would not like to grind contracts to get funds.

So Science mode, with a customized tech tree mod, makes it a lot more challenging for me atm than stock KSP ever did.

[Alchemist]

Career on hard. Still messing around with sandboxy stuff. It's a fun challenge to integrate your ideas with some contracts... Although I often manage to spend most of the money on some crazy ideas that don't really pay off.

But except for one moment (the 3rd level of R&D is freaking expensive) it hasn't been too grindy. Not with some new ideas to try on different contracts.

[Doctor Axel]

Modified career save in which all science is unlocked at gamestart, and science rewards are reduced to nil, leaving just money and rep as the variables. Basically a fully modernized 'startup' space program.

+Remotetech and KCT for added shenanigans. ^^

[JonBar]

Sandbox for sure, career is good for pushing you to design conservatively. The whole science part of the game is no fun at all to me, I honestly expected something else although I wouldn't know how else they could approach it.