Career settings for veteran players?

[xtoro]

Just curious what the old timers do. I'm bored with grinding the first 2-3 tiers everytime I start, and finishing the tech tree by the time I get to Duna. I'm tinkering with a setup that starts me off with enough science to unlock the first 2-3 tiers, and 1,000,000 funds. Yes, my space program is well funded I'm thinking of setting funds rewards to 60% and science to 40% so that I actually GET to explore most of the system before unlocking everything. It will likely be mostly probes at first, like real life. What do you other vets do for settings? Is 40% science too high?

[Yemo]

Modding, a lot (SETI).

And then 60% settings.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Yemo

[regex]

Last time I ran through career I used pretty much Normal difficulty settings with permadeath. Anything touted as "Hard" for career is pretty much just adding grind. Set yourself some goals like not returning science from Mun or Minmus more than once (one biome only), or even never, to add "difficulty".

[JedTech]

It depends on how much you enjoy grinding science VS enjoy sandbox game play.

I commonly turn science up to 150% or 200%. This allows me to have some of the career features without the same old science grind.

[ghpstage]

I set challenges for myself, i.e. fewest launches to X, fewest launches to complete first level R&D tech tree, lowest tech/facility level to X.

Gets pretty interesting to try a manned Mun landing on your fourth launch on hard difficulty settings (which is doable!), or land at Minmus on your fourth launch and come back with enough science to clear the first level R&D tech tree!

You could also ban yourself from using certain parts (parachutes!), techniques (asparagus, KSC science rollers) or contracts (i.e. either random repeatables or the explore family) and find ways around the restrictions.

The caveman challenge on this forums is a good way to spice up career mode for a while too.

[Pax Kerbana]

Hard mode with quick save for Kraken insurance... and some periodic goofing off.

I'll give myself a starting science boost tho... You know batteries, those mystical things invented after space capsules and heat shields.

[HafCoJoe]

I like setting very loose fund levels. I'm not the biggest fan of the grind either and loosening up the funds is a good way of alleviating that. Also I'm partial to the mindset that the KSC would have as much money as it could ever possibly need seeing as it is the only space agency on a planet where the only exciting job is going to space.

Other than that I have permadeath, quicksaves (for kraken insurance as Pax Kerbana said ty!), and 150%-200% science (also as stated above ty).

More of a fan of building with all of the parts then starting off with few. More like a sandbox game but with science.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Avera9eJoe

[Just Jim]

I've been thinking if I restart my career when 1.1 comes out I may play it harder than the one I'm playing now....

[GoSlash27]

Honestly, I just run the default progression with no mods. That way I'm able to share the tips and tricks I come up with to unlock everything without grinding.

Best,

-Slashy

[cantab]

Honestly? Ditch career, go for Sandbox or maybe Science. With all the parts available and no stupid cost limits you can make the great missions.

[xtoro]

Thanks for the input guys. I played sandbox the first couple years and now I'm trying to challenge myself more. I find the real grind is just the first few tiers, and I don't mind grinding afterwards if I can actually at least get probes to other planets to get science. Oh and I'm using RT as well so I have to setup a good network as well...

[Vim Razz]

I like 20% or 30% depending on mod setup. There's no point in having tech levels at all if you're going to blast through most of them inside Kerbin's SOI -- might as well just click the sandbox button instead.

10% is another game entirely, especially if playing with reduced funds and/or life support. It gets really tight early on without some kind of starting science boost.

[Merinsan]

In my last save, I finished the tech tree and got sick of the restriction the funds are placing on me. I wish I could have contracts if I wanted to do them, and not have to tailor my program to suit the contracts, just to get money. Science mode is starting to look attractive.

[Varsi]

Why do people always complain about finishing tech tree before going to Duna. It's not like the game forces you to do that.

Try going to Mun and Minmus once and then head off to the other planets, makes it much more of a challenge than any settings (how much grind do you want) you can set in stock game. Of course now that we don't need research lab to reset experiments you can pretty much get all the science from Minmus in one trip (you probably won't have all the science parts tho).

I should probably force myself not to use scientists to reset experiments...

[RocketPilot573]

I have funds at 30%, rep at 40%, and science at 40%. If you know how to grind money easily then it is still fun. I can occasionally do contracts but otherwise do what I want.

[watain895]

See, that's exactly it. I like the idea of establishing a space economy not so based on contracts. I generally try to develop infrastructure in most of my saves. UKS production chains, microwave transmission chains and the like. Eventually I can drop enough stuff back on the landing pad to make enough money to pay for things I can't make in space, like fertilizer or crew members.

The idea of grinding out all the science and money on top of building things from scratch gets to feel like a chore.

[More Boosters]

See, that's exactly it. I like the idea of establishing a space economy not so based on contracts. I generally try to develop infrastructure in most of my saves. UKS production chains, microwave transmission chains and the like. Eventually I can drop enough stuff back on the landing pad to make enough money to pay for things I can't make in space, like fertilizer or crew members.

The idea of grinding out all the science and money on top of building things from scratch gets to feel like a chore.

You can make all your buildings the highest level in your persistence file. Level 1 is 0 in game, 2 is 0.5 and 3 is 1.

[Vim Razz]

Why do people always complain about finishing tech tree before going to Duna. It's not like the game forces you to do that.

The risk/reward calculation within constraints is a major part of the game when playing with low science and/or resources. The fun is in the tension it adds to otherwise mundane missions or decisions. It gives things a greater sense of importance, if that makes sense.

So yeah, you CAN go earlier with higher science and resource rates... but you don't get that added shot of adrenaline when it's just an arbitrary decision with lots of "better, safer" options still available.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Vim Razz

[Pax Kerbana]

Why do people always complain about finishing tech tree before going to Duna. It's not like the game forces you to do that.

Try going to Mun and Minmus once and then head off to the other planets, makes it much more of a challenge than any settings (how much grind do you want) you can set in stock game. Of course now that we don't need research lab to reset experiments you can pretty much get all the science from Minmus in one trip (you probably won't have all the science parts tho).

I should probably force myself not to use scientists to reset experiments...

Right now I'm doing it a little different, going to other planets without nukes. It's a totally different game! I'm about halfway thru the tree where normally beeline right for nuke tech. Lot of fun and I really need to unlock ISRU stuff but I get sidetracked on things like station, base, and tourists contracts. Working on a Mün base for IRSU when I finally unlock it. I know Minmus is the logical choice but I don't like how far from Kerbin it is and really there isn't much fun to do on Minmus, rock crawling on the Mün is where it's at!

[Superfluous J]

I just leave everything at "Normal." Less is over WAY too quick and more is grindy. And turning off saves/reverts is great until the Kraken shows up.

I was considering doing a "normal" career where each tech tree node was modified to be its base cost * its level. So the first 5-science level would still be 5 (5*1 and all), but the next ones would be 15*2, 18*2, and 20*2, or 30, 36, and 40. The next tier would be 45*3=135, the next 90*4=360, and onward up to the final tier (with few nodes in an umodded game) that would each cost 1000*8=8000 science to unlock. THEN maybe I'd see a reason for the science lab.

But I doubt I will. The "tier" isn't coded into the save files so I'd have to modify each node individually.

[Vim Razz]

The MPL is very useful at lower science rates. It's really light, and moving it to other planet's SOI is cheep enough to be worthwhile.

It becomes more valuable when playing with reduced funding and higher building upgrade costs as well. If you're used to playing with cheep buildings (and even the "hard" mode default is still only 2x building upgrade cost) then you probably just take it for granted that scientist EVAs with free experiment-resets are going to be available pretty early on it the game.

When playing under harder financial pressures, though, that's not necessarily the case. Upgrading the astronaut complex (for EVA) is a lower first-round priority than the launchpad, tracking center, science building, VAB, and (maybe) mission control -- it provides a great little boost inside your current active range, but it doesn't actually expand your active range or earning potential as much as the other buildings do. You end up having a phase in the early mid-game where the MPL is needed for resetting experiments on things like biome-hopping Ike landers (after transmitting data for what it's worth) in addition to it's data processing function.

[Slam_Jones]

Personally, I'd usually choose Hard settings, then add a fair bit of funds, science, and rep, so I can get an easier start. I usually aim to have the tech to make my first launch also my first orbit. I don't have much patience for early-career stuff

[Superfluous J]

After playing around a bit, I think my next career mode might end up actually being a Science Mode run.

[goldenpsp]

I get tired of unlocking the tiers. I have played enough with doing missions with only the parts available. But I do like working within budgetary constraints. So my current save I gave myself just enough science to unlock the entire tree, but otherwise I kept my funds at default, and reduced contract payback. I use science from exploration as a funding source, which still gives me motivation to do science.

[tater]

Last time I ran through career I used pretty much Normal difficulty settings with permadeath. Anything touted as "Hard" for career is pretty much just adding grind. Set yourself some goals like not returning science from Mun or Minmus more than once (one biome only), or even never, to add "difficulty".

This.

The difficulty levels are not difficulty levels, they are grind settings.

The best possible way to increase difficulty is to use some mods, IMHO. There is a 2X rescale, which makes the game feel fresh as tried and true designs won't always work and you can use stock parts, so you need not add anything else if that is an issue. I've been playing with the 365 mod, which is a 3.2X rescale on the various worlds, and a 6.4X rescale on all the distances between worlds. I've been playing it with part mods, but mods meant for stock. The HGR mod adds very useful 1.875m parts, and I have added in SpaceY, because I needed bigger parts for lofting larger stuff later in the career. In rescales, the normal settings work OK, though I always have dead is dead turned on (and I've been using USILS with death turned on there as well).