Do you think Sandbox Mode can still be rewarding?

[Xaver]

Sandbox mode is very good for building nice looking space ships that you do not build in career because they are inefficient.

[Gerandar]

Sandbox mode is useful if you want to test out a rocket/space plane but outside that theres no reason to use it.

[Superfluous J]

Of course it can. Anything can be rewarding to the right person, if presented in the right way.

[FlyingPete]

For me, sandbox is now the R&D facility's highly advanced simulation software. That and for general mucking around with impractical contraptions

[billbobjebkirk]

Career is just so unrealistic that I can only play it by tweaking it to be more like sandbox.

[Herbin]

I strictly play career. I tend to come up with designs as I need them and sandboxes in any game aren't very rewarding for me. I prefer to play with tangible and goal specific stuff to accomplish.

[dr_jt]

I played the science career when it was first released, but for me it is all about the sandbox mode. I use to run the Rag Tag Fleet for Orbitersim just because I liked creating ships and sandbox allows me to create without all the model building and programming I had to do with the fleet. I do miss some of the stuff I did in Orbiter like the BSG ships and my all time favorite the Firefly, but I never really "flew" the ships like I can in KSP.

[sedativechunk]

I personally play Science mode. Sandbox is a bit too lose, where the science is the main premise of the game, you go to places to explore and learn. The only thing is, once you have so much science there is nothing to unlock anymore. Sometimes I wish they would rework the science gamemode a bit.

[Parallax]

sandbox is the only way that ksp can be rewarding for me

[aleis]

Considering I liked the game before career mode existed...yes I bet someone could.

[Starbuckminsterfullerton]

I start a new save every update, and after filling out the tech tree for the nth time I decided I had completed it forever. Now I .cfg-edit in enough science to fill it out at the start, and enough funds to run comfortably. It's like playing sandbox, but the R&D center is open, the science still works, the reputation still matters, and it still encourages me to design economically. I like it.

[RainDreamer]

Sandbox is a sandbox, challenges are something you come up with yourself and overcoming them will be your reward.

I am just too lazy to come up with my own challenges.

[JAFO]

I personally play Science mode. Sandbox is a bit too lose, where the science is the main premise of the game, you go to places to explore and learn. The only thing is, once you have so much science there is nothing to unlock anymore. Sometimes I wish they would rework the science gamemode a bit.

This ^

[xnorb]

I don't know ...

For one i love grinding and having to overcome limitations, but then i also hate being restricted

when i have something specific in my mind.

Me being someone who hasn't yet sucessfully landed and returned from Duna there's lots of

rewarding things to be done in sandbox mode.

Career and Science mode just limits you in the beginning, it doesn't change the challenges of the game.

[egoego]

I think sandbox is still rewarding.

Not in the same way as sience or career, but in sandbox I can toy around, build crazy stuff, do stunts, test the boundaries of the game.

Projects in sandbox are rarely challenging, but nice short time fun.

[Corw]

Both career ans sandbox are viable and I don't see why sandbox would be less worthy. Mentioning sandbox as 'cheaty' is hilarious

Personally I prefer career, I like solving problems with limited resources.

[Jouni]

Sandbox is still the primary game mode for me. Career mode is a fun distraction, but it lacks the replay value the sandbox has. Every career mode game is basically the same, unless there have been several patches since the last playthrough.

[Umlüx]

i like sandbox more than career. because i can go [guano] insane with my build

most times i play "pseudo"sandbox.

i start a new science game and cheat the complete science tree. that way i can still run experiments for the lulz.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Red Iron Crown
No profanity, please.

[TeddyDD]

I play only sandbox. Science mode is ok (or I at least it was when I played it in 0.23.5 with Interstellar mod) but career is terrible grind based on cash and contracts.

[Frozen_Heart]

I only play sandbox and utterly despise career mode.

Trying to make whacky contraptions work is very rewarding when you pull it off.

Having to test part number 512 at 20m/s over the muns water while throwing a banana in the retrograde direction a few hundred times to get enough rep and money for satellite contracts to start isn't my idea of fun.

[EdFred]

Pre-funds I completed the tech tree in under 30 Kerbal days, and I could have done it under 20 had I wanted to. So the science part was meh. Then the contracts came and I still completed the tech tree in a short amount of time, and had a few million in funds, and never had a mission cost more than a contract. So I pretty much only futz around in sandbox because I decide to do things like make Eve ascent vehicles, or a better Tylo lander, or ships with 3 one man lander cans in 3-way symmetry for the landing vehicle, or I go all Bo and Luke Duke on the Moon craters, or...

[nothingSpecial]

I still dream of Sandbox variation that has contracts, strategies, science rewards for experiments and everything but lets you do anything from the start. I want to see how good I run my program - by reputation, by science, by funds balance, but I don't want to grind for that.

I suppose I could be happier if starting science points could be adjusted to the amount needed to unlock all stock-part-containing science nodes, but the max amount of starting science isn't enough.

[Doctor Axel]

I still dream of Sandbox variation that has contracts, strategies, science rewards for experiments and everything but lets you do anything from the start. I want to see how good I run my program - by reputation, by science, by funds balance, but I don't want to grind for that.

I suppose I could be happier if starting science points could be adjusted to the amount needed to unlock all stock-part-containing science nodes, but the max amount of starting science isn't enough.

I agree with that - since we have a mode that has Science but no Economy, we should have a mode that has Economy but no Science. TBH I would probably play that exclusively.

[Tex]

Sandbox is quite rewarding in the right circumstances. Sure, it may not really challenge you to design, say, a Munar lander using only garbage parts, and then actually flying the darn thing and trying to get it to work, but it is an extremely useful source of information.

New and old players can use the Sandbox to practice or attempt a certain kind of mission for the first time, and I always make sure to keep a Sandbox save file too! (I call it the Playground )

[sporkafife]

I've unlocked the whole science tree, upgraded all the buildings and visited plenty of planets in my career mode save, so for the past few weeks I've been playing exclusively in sandbox mode! Seeing as improved aerodynamics are coming I've installed FAR for the first time, and am just just building and flying a bunch planes at the moment, it's great fun!