Kerbal Experience in Science Mode

[pearldrumbum]

After playing 1.0 career mode for a while I've gotten bored with doing tons of contracts I'm not all that interested in and decided to give Science Mode a go and I like it a whole lot more. The one thing that bugs me is my kerbals start off at level 5. Is there a way to knock them back to level 0 so they have to earn their experience as if in regular career? I'm hoping it might be as simple as a cfg edit, but I'm not sure where to look - or whether they would earn experience at all during Science Mode after I've reset them to 0.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Also, bonus question, is there a mod that tracks Kerbal experience in a more detailed way? It would be cool if there were something that showed details of every kerbal's individual mission logs and how they got to the experience they're at now.

Edit~ Bonus bonus: Is there a mod or cfg edit that makes it possible to also upgrade buildings using science points instead of cash? It would be cool to not start with everything already fully upgraded - but this isn't as huge of a deal.

Edited May 5, 2015 by pearldrumbum

[Reddeyfish]

you don't even need to modify .cfgs. Just start a new career mode and alter the difficulty to give yourself all the money and rep you would ever need so that your only limitations are science and XP.

[Superfluous J]

I agree though in principle. There is nothing "career" specific to Kerbal stats and I think leveling up Kerbals would be a fine addition to Science mode.

[Anquietas314]

Also, bonus question, is there a mod that tracks Kerbal experience in a more detailed way? It would be cool if there were something that showed details of every kerbal's individual mission logs and how they got to the experience they're at now..

I haven't used it myself, but the Final Frontier mod seems to (more or less) fit that description

[pearldrumbum]

armagheddon, Thanks! That looks like exactly what I was looking for. I will install it and give it a go tonight.

As for the other suggestions - I thought about doing that with regular career and just ramping up the $ and rep rewards but that just feels weird to me, although it makes sense. Plus, I'd still have to do some contracts, even though they would be so lucrative I would only have to do them once in a while. This is the best option so far, but I don't love it.

I also noticed that only the main 4 Kerbals start at level 5 in science mode, and the rest do not. I'm at work so I can't test right now, but do the other kerbals that start at 0 level up in science mode as they do in career? I suppose I would be ok with not using the big 4 since I use them almost exclusively in my sandbox adventures, and it might be fun to build a space program around a bunch of unknowns that I will inevitably learn to love (especially with the final frontier mod helping me remember their exploits).

As far as cfg editing, I took a look at the persistent save file and there doesn't seem to be a way to change a kerbal's level. I see there is a log of what they have done, but no indication of their current level. Is this hard coded and not changeable?

[PeterTaylor]

I also noticed that only the main 4 Kerbals start at level 5 in science mode, and the rest do not.

The moment you enter the VAB/SPA they get all 5 stars.

I would like to play Sandbox or Science while having to train my Kerbals too

Any mods that allow this???

[PeterTaylor]

I just found a solution on the KSP Reddit page

This enables Kerbal Experience in Science Mode, and if you upgrade all the buildings and unlock all the science, well then you have Kerbal Experience in Sandbox Mode too.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/34e4md/request_enable_missions_in_sandbox_and_science/cquh194

A big thank you to HarvesteR for this information, and I hope they add it to the stock game as an option too.

[ibanix]

I just found a solution on the KSP Reddit page

This enables Kerbal Experience in Science Mode, and if you upgrade all the buildings and unlock all the science, well then you have Kerbal Experience in Sandbox Mode too.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/34e4md/request_enable_missions_in_sandbox_and_science/cquh194

A big thank you to HarvesteR for this information, and I hope they add it to the stock game as an option too.

This did not work for me in 1.0.4.

[cantab]

Yeah, the simplest way seems to be a hacked career. With a savefile edit you can easily just give yourself a huge pile of cash so you don't have to worry about it.

[Red Iron Crown]

Don't even need to edit the save directly, you can just use the Alt-F12 menu to add funds.