Has anyone else not bothered with career mode?

[Sandworm]

2 hours ago, Entropiated said:

I like career mode, myself. Gives the game some structure, and it presents challenges that just aren't there for me in the sandbox mode. My only complaint so far, and this only happened to me yesterday, is about the impossible contracts that pop up. I've had DIFFICULT contracts come up before, but always found a way to complete them. But yesterday I got a contract to "Test a launch clamp while flying over Kerbin." Stupidly, I accepted it, thinking the moment of rocket launch would count as "flying." WRONG. As far as I can tell, this mission is impossible because you can't just attach launch clamps to your craft without them automatically being bolted to the ground. Eventually I had to drop the contract and just take the hit in funds and reputation. Word of caution to anybody playing career mode: do not accept this contract. 

Yup.  Impossible contracts have been a bug since day one with career mode.  Maybe fixed tomorrow or maybe not.  At least your experience is better than the early days of trying to test launch clamps landed on mun or while flying at duna.  The issue of testing parts in strange places, typically large lifter parts (mainsails/large srbs in orbit etc) seems now just part of the game.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Sandworm

[Waxing_Kibbous]

The big trick to career is not to take any contracts that may seem remotely off-putting. Don't touch them. There will be others that come along. Don't take the first station or base contract if it doesn't follow what you want to do. This has taken me a while to sort out, but in general I don't touch part contracts (unless they are "on the launchpad" ones early on), and I'll do satellite ones if they involve polar orbits because I use ScanSat. If a base one is simple, like a small habitat one, I'll do those as a start to a bigger base. A big part of making career fun is the having wisdom, patience, and discipline to take contracts that mesh with your own personal (and yes creative) goals. Don't be greedy! It'll bite you in the a#$!

[Vanamonde]

The discussion here is about why some people don't like career mode. We're all just expressing our opinions, if sometimes a little strongly, and so far, the thread has avoided insults and personal attacks. Let's please keep it that way, and avoid either giving or taking offense. 

[Atlas2342]

Meh, i never really liked carrer and science mode....too tiring and gets boring  easily for me...

[Kar]

I and always play KSP like that. My problem is that is much more harder (because I want to) because of the many "almost realistic" mods I use.

I play career with mods like Remote Tech, TACS life support, MKS/OKS, Scansat, KAS, etc, etc, etc.....

My career (and my lack of time) sometimes never get all done because of a new KSP version.

Also, since I have to take into account the costs of every launch I make, I use stage recover mod, I need to recover the most I can from my rockets.

The main problem of all of this, is the lack of contracts structure. Just because I made a fly by to the mun, that not mean I am ready to accept a contract to go to Duna.

I know there are mods that tweak and improve the contracts, but, for me, KSP is on hold because I am tired of 32 bit.

[Azimech]

I can't set myself to it anymore, for over a year. I only design, build, test and build my own mods.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Azimech

[suicidejunkie]

On Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 4:36 PM, Entropiated said:

I like career mode, myself. Gives the game some structure, and it presents challenges that just aren't there for me in the sandbox mode. My only complaint so far, and this only happened to me yesterday, is about the impossible contracts that pop up. I've had DIFFICULT contracts come up before, but always found a way to complete them. But yesterday I got a contract to "Test a launch clamp while flying over Kerbin." Stupidly, I accepted it, thinking the moment of rocket launch would count as "flying." WRONG. As far as I can tell, this mission is impossible because you can't just attach launch clamps to your craft without them automatically being bolted to the ground. Eventually I had to drop the contract and just take the hit in funds and reputation. Word of caution to anybody playing career mode: do not accept this contract. 

I wonder if you can do it via KAS.

The largest storage containers are big enough to hold a launch clamp, and I've wanted to test if they can be attached in situ to power a base on some other planet (such as Eeloo)

If you put a ship into a 69km x69km orbit so you're flying, and then EVA enough engineers to attach the clamp, what will happen?

[Entropiated]

1 hour ago, suicidejunkie said:

I wonder if you can do it via KAS.

The largest storage containers are big enough to hold a launch clamp, and I've wanted to test if they can be attached in situ to power a base on some other planet (such as Eeloo)

If you put a ship into a 69km x69km orbit so you're flying, and then EVA enough engineers to attach the clamp, what will happen?

Thanks for the suggestion!

It's possible that might work, but I don't use that mod at all. I'm actually running really light on mods. I only use KER, the Navyfish docking mod, Kerbal Alarm Clock and the Transfer Window mod. Even if your way works, I don't think it's right that you'd need to install mods to fulfill the terms of a contract, you know?  

[yorshee]

I only use Sandbox for testing crafts out, and Science mode is too grind-y for me. I pretty much only play my heavily-modded Career mode as I do think the stock Career mode has a lot of issues. I don't like the tech tree progression at all (you start with a manned capsule???) and a lot of the contacts are dull and uninspired - I don't like the 'test this part in x situation' at all because they're boring and don't challenge you at all and are generally impractical (why am I firing an SRB in a suborbital Munar trajectory?). The 'haul this part to x situation' contracts are a bit better because you just have to get the part there so you can use it in tandem with other contracts you have going on. I installed Contract Configurator specifically to disable the contracts that I don't like because I was getting so sick of seeing 'em clogging up Mission Control.

Another issue I have with career is the lack of a stock alarm clock feature means you can't multitask very easily. With Kerbal Alarm Clock I can send a satellite to Eeloo and set an alarm reminding me when I need to do the next correction burn or when it enters Eeloo's SOI, and while I'm waiting for these things to happen I can do a lot of other contracts while I wait without having to worry about forgetting about the satellite. If I did the whole mission in one go via timewarping then I would be getting barely anything done in the same amount of in-game time that I could be doing if I could multitask more easily.

The admin building is pretty useless to me too - at the beginning of the game you don't have enough funds/rep/science to take advantage of the strategies, and later in the game I have way too much funds/rep/science so I don't need the extra help anymore. I have no idea what could be done to remedy this, maybe remove it altogether? I dunno.

Also I also don't think career is immersive enough - sure it's fun, but it doesn't really feel like I'm running a space program which is an issue considering the game is called 'Kerbal Space Program'. I made a post with some of my ideas for expanding career mode a while ago, I figured it's relevant to copy and paste here (with some modifications as my opinions have changed):

There should be a more managerial-y feel to career mode, like you're actually the head of the space program. One way that could help achieve this would be the addition of an extra building, or an addition to the administration building.

In this building, you can choose how you want the program to be run. You can choose between being public funded and private funded. With public funding, you will receive a certain amount of money every Kerbin year or so, the amount depends on your reputation. You can still do contracts but the rewards for them are lower than what they'd be like if the program was privately funded. Most of the contacts you get will be ones like 'Retrieve science data from _____' or 'Set up a space station in orbit of _____', and less part testing and visual surveys. If you screw up a mission and a Kerbal gets killed or anything else happens that damages your reputation, be prepared to take a big reputation hit! Much larger than the reputation hit from being private funded. This in turn will affect the amount of money you get every year.

If you choose to be private funding, you get the full scope of contracts and much larger rewards for doing them, but you don't get the money every year that public funding gives you. Reputation hits from catastrophic failures are lower. Also with private funding, you can choose the sorts of contracts you want to do. If you want to focus on visual surveys, then you can do so, and the generated contracts at Mission Control will be 75% visual surveys. This way you can choose to do the types of missions you want without having to spam the decline button in order to find one you want to do. 

Another feature of this building is something like a suggestions box that members of the Kerbal public can put their opinions of the space program into. These tips will help you improve the space program, and they'd be more strict for public funded programs. For example, if you're been doing nothing but Kerbin system missions for 5 years, you'll get a lot of suggestions like 'What have these scientists and engineers been doing all this time? Isn't it time to go interplanetary now!?' or if you have lots of astronauts in the Astronaut Complex, but none of them have been on a mission in a while, you'll get a suggestion like 'What are these astronauts doing all day? Playing video games?'. If your space program is doing well, the suggestions box will praise that too, but its main purpose will be to point the player in the right direction for what to do next.

(Also, this would also give Squad an opportunity to introduce a new KSC staff member who runs the building, who could be female.)

Another idea I had is one I already posted here, but I want to expand upon it. I like the outpost-building contracts because I like building space stations and stuff, but it sucks because...well, nobody actually uses them. I put this space station it orbit around Jool? Cool! ...Now what? I will get the occasional boring contract to adjust its orbit but as far as I'm concerned, it's useless space junk once it fulfils its contract parameters. It would be neat if you had contracts that would have you ferry tourists to these space stations and bases, dock to them and spend some time there, and then get 'em home again. It would be even cooler if these contracts had a time limit too - if they don't get there in time, or get home in time, you fail the contract. Not only could tourists visit these outposts but scientists from the agencies could want to use the science facilities of your outposts, and could yield a little science rewards too. You'll only get these types if you actually have an outpost set up, like if you don't even have a space station around Eve you won't get a contract asking to ferry people to an Eve outpost. I have some mods that let me do these kinds of contracts but they really should be stock.

[Hysterrics]

20 hours ago, yorshee said:

I only use Sandbox for testing crafts out, and Science mode is too grind-y for me. I pretty much only play my heavily-modded Career mode as I do think the stock Career mode has a lot of issues. I don't like the tech tree progression at all (you start with a manned capsule???) and a lot of the contacts are dull and uninspired - I don't like the 'test this part in x situation' at all because they're boring and don't challenge you at all and are generally impractical (why am I firing an SRB in a suborbital Munar trajectory?). The 'haul this part to x situation' contracts are a bit better because you just have to get the part there so you can use it in tandem with other contracts you have going on. I installed Contract Configurator specifically to disable the contracts that I don't like because I was getting so sick of seeing 'em clogging up Mission Control.

Another issue I have with career is the lack of a stock alarm clock feature means you can't multitask very easily. With Kerbal Alarm Clock I can send a satellite to Eeloo and set an alarm reminding me when I need to do the next correction burn or when it enters Eeloo's SOI, and while I'm waiting for these things to happen I can do a lot of other contracts while I wait without having to worry about forgetting about the satellite. If I did the whole mission in one go via timewarping then I would be getting barely anything done in the same amount of in-game time that I could be doing if I could multitask more easily.

The admin building is pretty useless to me too - at the beginning of the game you don't have enough funds/rep/science to take advantage of the strategies, and later in the game I have way too much funds/rep/science so I don't need the extra help anymore. I have no idea what could be done to remedy this, maybe remove it altogether? I dunno.

Also I also don't think career is immersive enough - sure it's fun, but it doesn't really feel like I'm running a space program which is an issue considering the game is called 'Kerbal Space Program'. I made a post with some of my ideas for expanding career mode a while ago, I figured it's relevant to copy and paste here (with some modifications as my opinions have changed):

There should be a more managerial-y feel to career mode, like you're actually the head of the space program. One way that could help achieve this would be the addition of an extra building, or an addition to the administration building.

In this building, you can choose how you want the program to be run. You can choose between being public funded and private funded. With public funding, you will receive a certain amount of money every Kerbin year or so, the amount depends on your reputation. You can still do contracts but the rewards for them are lower than what they'd be like if the program was privately funded. Most of the contacts you get will be ones like 'Retrieve science data from _____' or 'Set up a space station in orbit of _____', and less part testing and visual surveys. If you screw up a mission and a Kerbal gets killed or anything else happens that damages your reputation, be prepared to take a big reputation hit! Much larger than the reputation hit from being private funded. This in turn will affect the amount of money you get every year.

If you choose to be private funding, you get the full scope of contracts and much larger rewards for doing them, but you don't get the money every year that public funding gives you. Reputation hits from catastrophic failures are lower. Also with private funding, you can choose the sorts of contracts you want to do. If you want to focus on visual surveys, then you can do so, and the generated contracts at Mission Control will be 75% visual surveys. This way you can choose to do the types of missions you want without having to spam the decline button in order to find one you want to do. 

Another feature of this building is something like a suggestions box that members of the Kerbal public can put their opinions of the space program into. These tips will help you improve the space program, and they'd be more strict for public funded programs. For example, if you're been doing nothing but Kerbin system missions for 5 years, you'll get a lot of suggestions like 'What have these scientists and engineers been doing all this time? Isn't it time to go interplanetary now!?' or if you have lots of astronauts in the Astronaut Complex, but none of them have been on a mission in a while, you'll get a suggestion like 'What are these astronauts doing all day? Playing video games?'. If your space program is doing well, the suggestions box will praise that too, but its main purpose will be to point the player in the right direction for what to do next.

(Also, this would also give Squad an opportunity to introduce a new KSC staff member who runs the building, who could be female.)

Another idea I had is one I already posted here, but I want to expand upon it. I like the outpost-building contracts because I like building space stations and stuff, but it sucks because...well, nobody actually uses them. I put this space station it orbit around Jool? Cool! ...Now what? I will get the occasional boring contract to adjust its orbit but as far as I'm concerned, it's useless space junk once it fulfils its contract parameters. It would be neat if you had contracts that would have you ferry tourists to these space stations and bases, dock to them and spend some time there, and then get 'em home again. It would be even cooler if these contracts had a time limit too - if they don't get there in time, or get home in time, you fail the contract. Not only could tourists visit these outposts but scientists from the agencies could want to use the science facilities of your outposts, and could yield a little science rewards too. You'll only get these types if you actually have an outpost set up, like if you don't even have a space station around Eve you won't get a contract asking to ferry people to an Eve outpost. I have some mods that let me do these kinds of contracts but they really should be stock.

You should come over to the Career Mode Fixes Discussion.

Edit: WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME ANDEM ;_;

Edited February 13, 2016 by Sequinox