Is Normal career mode too hard?

[Lohan2008]

Is Normal career mode too hard?

[Javster]

I play on Easy but with Hard options and Easy bonuses, I assume it's roughly like Normal.

[Mipe]

What do you mean, too hard? What is too hard?

There are more than enough easy contracts so the money is not an issue. Are you referring to the science? That's easy, unlock science lab and thermometers and go biome hopping. Hell, you don't even need to fly - plant some wheels onto that mobile lab, put a scientists into it and visit all sections of the KSP, collecting data and resetting experiments every time (scientist can do that). Then you can visit grasslands and shores. There's some tundra bit just northwest of the KSP. By the mountains there's highlands and mountain biome. You can also add a vertical engine under CoM to hover just enough to collect report in flight over biome.

[Matt77]

I'm finding it slow going but that's what i like. I use Kerbal Construction Time and TAC Life Support for this reason, it takes about 12 days at present to build a rocket that can just achieve a Mun flyby and return before supplies run out.

I hope a couple of Mun landings don't complete the science tree like they did in 0.90.

Loving it since 1.0.1.

[Jananton]

Hmm, "Career mode too hard (on normal difficulty)", I don't think so. Obviously I'm not a completely new player, but with the several changes in 1.x.x some things needed to be relearned slightly.

Certainly with minimal resources in the beginning you need to do with what you got or can unlock, parts wise, but that's just part of the challenge. If things still go blatantly wrong after careful design you can revert to start over without harm done, and it's not as if accepted contracts only have a duration of a few days to full fill them, most have a span of several years. Duration time could become a 'problem' with further destinations later on in the game, but certainly not in the beginning of a career.

Greets,

Jan

[Superfluous J]

For whom?

For someone just buying the game? Yes. Easy career mode is too hard. There's too much to learn and too large a penalty for failure (unless they quickly learn to revert every single mistake). They should play science mode until they feel they are ready.

For someone with a solid understanding of the game? No. It is not.

[Heimdall5008]

I cannot really say that it is too hard for me. But I agree with 5thHorseman: for a new player it is definitely a real challenge. I found KSP hard in 0.21 when I started with the (now) science mode as career. Okay, after I got some experience it got a joke and was no different from sandbox. Since then every update made the career a little harder:

- funds

- removal of reaction wheels and SAS and the need for pilots

- new aero model and massively reduction of science and reputation for contracts

I must say, that I like most of the changes afterwards, but in the beginning it always gets a bit harder.

But I think everyone who starts with KSP should be aware that the game has a brutally steep learning curve. So I cannot say that it is to hard, you have just to invest time and brains to get the hang

[Torquemadus]

I play on custom difficulty because I've found that Hard mode is too easy for my tastes. I've never tried playing on Normal.

[BDelacroix]

It isn't hard, just grindy.

[Aerindel]

I don't think its too hard, but if you've played the game for the last couple years its too boring. The missions I come up with on my own are fare more interesting and challenging than the busy work of career. If I was playing the game for the first time I think it would be fun but once your experienced its a waste. Science Sandbox for me.

[Herbin]

I enjiy the changes to progression. In .90 i would just get the policy to turn money into science and I would have the tech tree completed without leaving kerbin orbit ( never even went to the moon )

[yorshee]

I find it too easy! I got so much money from doing contracts that I had more than enough extra money to do whatever I wanted, including sending a fleet of probes to Jool's moons for no reason (other than for the science!)

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Normal Carreer Mode is way too easy for me, but that doesnt mean that I am not crashing like a lunatic

My biggest issue is still, that the Contracts are just a load of spam you have to sift through.

[ColourOfFire]

Went to space on the second flight, achieved orbit on the third. Got money to burn on building upgrades. Took about an hour of playing. And I'm far from a brilliant player. There's a lot of contracts I will not bother with, but it's by no means 'too hard'.

[adinfinitum]

I play with normal rewards and penalties, but no quicksave, and no revert. I definitely haven't found it too hard, and its not too grindy. Once I got tier 3 stuff mostly unlocked, I was able to send a mission to minmus that got 1200 science, and even without reverts, moneys never been so much of an issue that I've had to grind tons of contracts.

[sal_vager]

Nope, playing on moderate here, not too hard or even grindy, sure I can't unlock every tech after two flights but progression feels okay

[Kuu Lightwing]

If you know what to do an where to get science, nope. Otherwise it might be. And I really wish I could get Terrier engine earlier... Swivel doesn't really work as second stage engine... Oh, and gorram ladders, too!

[Sasquatch_Punter]

Not really. It's more inline with harder difficulties in the early game, but becomes much easier after a few good missions. Hell, I play hard 100% of the time and can pretty well just breeze through it. Hard mode is set up to punish inefficiency, but for people who've already mastered efficiency it's a cakewalk.

[TimePeriod]

If you want hard, then play on hard.

If you want easy, then play on easy.

If you want to be a masochist, then punish yourself.

If something was "easy peasy lemon squeezy" then you are not challenging yourself hard enough.

[georgTF]

With a new and rebalanced version of KSP career mode itself is harder since you've no experience with the nodes you are investing in. After playing 2 short lived screw-ups i'm happy with a 3rd attempt on Hard difficulty.

Regardless of difficulty, there is a bit of a spike in difficulty just before reaching orbital missions since doing anything complicated up there requires a bunch of nodes and upgrades that are not easy to earn. Once Mun and Minmus are opened up science and funding should be plentifull for any type of mission.

And if Normal is too difficult, why not pick Easy or adjust the difficulty sliders a bit to customise difficulty? I like Hard but i gave myself the option to revert because at least early on there is no way to test contraptions without putting Kerbals and too much risk. Having said that, i may disable it after all because i started to abuse it. :/ With difficulty settings for career mode this customisable i don't see why the poll is needed. Discussion about Normal balance is fine though, but i have no opinions on it.

[tater]

For anyone who has ever played before the moderate I play on is still trivial. I tend to role-play it a little, and don't even try for "as fast as possible," and in my new 1.0.2 save (started over with each patch) I have a few 45s unlocked and I'm on my 6th launch I think. Setting the mode "harder" changes nothing except the grind. Pain != hard.

[ArmchairGravy]

I thought .90's was too hard, but find 1.0 to be in the sweet spot. In .90 I was always grinding contracts for money, in 1.0 I feel like I have enough cash to do things I don't get paid for. I'm in late mid-game, have every building but R&D fully upgraded, and have 1.6 million in funds. My Duna expedition is en route, and that will give me the science to finish off the 300-level tech tree as well as the funds to upgrade R&D.

[Jonboy]

For someone who is new to the game? It's possible. For me, career on normal is very easy, but that's because I've been playing for a while.

[-Velocity-]

Even on hard mode it's too easy, but that's because I've been playing for a while. Ideally, the hardest mode should still be challenging to experienced players.

[tater]

Even on hard mode it's too easy, but that's because I've been playing for a while. Ideally, the hardest mode should still be challenging to experienced players.

The entire career paradigm is bad, and the "difficulty" levels no not actually adjust difficulty, but grind.

Here's the bottom line on replay in career:

It will never have good replay value with the Kerbol system never unchanging.

There needs to be "fog of war" in KSP for replay---and even for new players to have a sense of exploration.