Career 'hotkeys'

[Kaelin]

Does anyone know when you get the ability to 'hotkey' items togeather? getting tired of trying to click, say, the thermomiter during flight, or having to click all my goo canisters... I know you used to be able to say 'hit 1' and would activate all those.

Just dunno how to do that/when you get that.

[regex]

They're locked behind a paywall. Once you've sacrificed enough funds to the god of playability you can assign hotkeys.

[justidutch]

I believe its one of the building upgrades but can't remember which one…

[Endersmens]

What regex means is you have to upgrade the VAB a few times.

Also the word you're looking for is "action groups"

[Hanuman]

They're locked behind a paywall. Once you've sacrificed enough funds to the god of playability you can assign hotkeys.

No kidding. Why it's almost as if it's some kind of career oriented approach to a space program game, where you have to progress further into a career in order to advance your space program's abilities and options! Crazy!

[MiniMatt]

Final VAB/SPH upgrade unlocks custom action groups, at which point you can bind all the science gubbins to a single key press.

[Kaelin]

hey. this is my first real forey into career (instead of just sandboxing) so

[moronwrocket]

BTW, you can keybind before that upgrade, with the basic action groups. Just assign things to "lights" and "abort".

[Taki117]

BTW, you can keybind before that upgrade, with the basic action groups. Just assign things to "lights" and "abort".

This is usually what I do. I find an action group I'm not using (Usually lights) and just bind all my science there.

[Captain H@dock]

BTW, you can keybind before that upgrade, with the basic action groups. Just assign things to "lights" and "abort".

Even these are not available in level1 VAB (no action group button).

But i wonder if editing the craft part to set action group would work...

[Renegrade]

No kidding. Why it's almost as if it's some kind of career oriented approach to a space program game, where you have to progress further into a career in order to advance your space program's abilities and options! Crazy!

Yeah, but they could have also made it such that we had SOME available right from the start, and upgrades added more. Such as (1,2) then (3,4,5) then (6-10).

Even the very first manned missions had buttons, knobs, and switches in the pods. :/

[regex]

Even the very first manned missions had buttons, knobs, and switches in the pods. :/

And maths. Don't forget that the very first missions had maths.

[AbacusWizard]

No kidding. Why it's almost as if it's some kind of career oriented approach to a space program game, where you have to progress further into a career in order to advance your space program's abilities and options! Crazy!

...which makes a lot of sense for abilities and options of the space program, but this in particular feels like it's putting limits on the user interface of the game itself.

[DoToH]

And maths. Don't forget that the very first missions had maths.

But maths aren't "kerbal" :sticktongue::sticktongue:

/sarcasm

[Hanuman]

Yeah, but they could have also made it such that we had SOME available right from the start, and upgrades added more. Such as (1,2) then (3,4,5) then (6-10).

Even the very first manned missions had buttons, knobs, and switches in the pods. :/

Sure, but then you're not talking about an error or oversight or criticizing the concept, you're just pointing out how it's an extreme and you want something different. It's then a suggestion to make the game better, and one I mostly agree with really. There should be a couple available at the beginning, and then upgrades expand upon it.

Calling it a "paywall" is being a bit snotty, and that's what I was pointing out.

[Renegrade]

And maths. Don't forget that the very first missions had maths.

I call BS. Math was invented by Napoleon in 2105, just before he discovered the moon. He then proved the moon's existence mathematically. His brother, Euclid, who invented the TV dinner, built the very first flying toaster, which was the first landing. I should know, I got 8% in history class.

Just kiddin'

Man, I remember how long it took for us to get that mass indicator in the VAB. When I started out with my manual calculations, I had to launch to the launchpad, go into map->info to get the mass, and then revert.. Those were NOT good days. I'm not a fan of the 'limited or no info' thing that Squad has going.

...which makes a lot of sense for abilities and options of the space program, but this in particular feels like it's putting limits on the user interface of the game itself.

Yeah, I agree there. Especially given how spammy the science is...

It's then a suggestion to make the game better, and one I mostly agree with really. There should be a couple available at the beginning, and then upgrades expand upon it.

I made a suggestion about that a ways back. That was my 'compromise' between hardline "no limits at all" and "omgwtfbbqpwnt no action groups"... I'd find it perfectly acceptable.

Calling it a "paywall" is being a bit snotty, and that's what I was pointing out.

Eh, it's just regex being grumpy, it's his thing. Just ignore the grumpy bits, he's usually got a good point.

[regex]

Calling it a "paywall" is being a bit snotty, and that's what I was pointing out.

How is it not a "paywall"? It's literally a wall of funds in front of getting your features. It's grind-inducing, terrible gameplay. If we had alternate means of funding than those stupid contracts I'd probably have more respect for career mode but, damn, how many useless satellites do I have to orbit in order to open up my R&D building?

[joke_LA]

It's literally a wall of funds in front of getting your features. It's grind-inducing, terrible gameplay.

I agree. Building upgrades should provide career progression by expanding the capabilities of your spaaace program and your rockets, not by removing the artificial tedium introduced by removing parts of the UI. This only serves to frustrate the player.

By the same logic, the ability to timewarp could be disabled until upgrading the tracking station. Or even having no navball until you research that "upgrade".

As is, a career mode start has us effectively playing the game at version 0.14, before there were such things as action groups, maneuver nodes, or even patched conics. This is 1.0, there is no good reason for anyone to play without these things anymore. The game is made artificially less fun until playing for a certain length of time, and I think this increases the likelihood of a new player to just quit playing before reaching that point.