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[ForsakenVoyager]

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Edited July 19, 2016 by ForsakenVoyager

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

Personally, I prefer Science, because I always just feel burned out during career mode after just a little bit. Even in Science I rarely get far, just out of boredom.

[Temstar]

I don't really like the funding structure in Career where all your funds come from contracts, I would prefer a more NASA approach where you are given a yearly budget and contracts then become icing on the cake if you need more.

That said I like Career more simply because money is a factor. It encourages clever engineering like making payload as light as possible and making launch vehicles that aim to achieve low cost per ton to orbit. With Sandbox and Science you could always just overbuild your way out of a problem.

The Vector engine for example is pretty balanced in Career because of its high cost. If money wasn't an issue then Vector and the Mammoth would be the only engines I would use on my launch vehicles.

[Geschosskopf]

My favorite way to play is what I call "Sandbox on a Budget".  To me, the game really begins when the tech tree is mostly done and you've got the hardware available to do pretty much anything you want, but mounting major expeditions costs millions that have to come from somewhere.  So what I do is play career starting with medium difficulty and modifying it with 200% science and rep rewards, and anywhere from 100-200% cash rewards depending on my overall objectives (plus permadeath).  In this way, I can blow through most of the tech tree with a minimum of grinding, get some good hardware, and then mount major expeditions that still get meaningful science but have to be done within a budget.  Also, I always get bars on the science experiment pop-ups, which makes me feel like it was worth lugging the experiments all the way out there even when the tech tree is finished.  Besides, all that science can be banked for warp drives or converted to cash to fund even more grandiose expeditions.

[Superfluous J]

Yes.

I've been on a Science Mode kick lately, but that's mostly because I haven't played it since it was called "Career" and Career Mode as we have it now didn't exist. However, I can easily see getting back into Career Mode eventually. Then for one-off things there's always Sandbox of course. I like them both for different reasons, and don't like things about both as well.

Then there's always "Other" which is always fun. Career mode with all the tech tree unlocked. Mods that make unlocking things different from doing science. Special contracts that lead you down a non-traditional path. Things like that.

Like I said... "Yes."

[lodger]

I'm playing science career mode because then you are free to do whatever mission you want and still need to gather science data in order to unlock moar tech. I think this mode is a good compromise between full career and sandbox mode.

P.S.: also, I only use the KER and Docking Alignment Indicator mods as I am doing all docking and other maneuvers by hand. Otherwise it'd spoil the fun for me.

Edited December 17, 2015 by lodger

[Tw1]

Neither. Science mode is grinding for points. Career mode is having someone else tell you what to do with your space program. Sandbox.

[MaxwellsDemon]

Depends what I'm in the mood for.

I do like the jolts that contracts can sometimes give you-- they can lead to ideas you might not have had otherwise, and can cause you to develop skills and strategies that can be of use later.

[Hannu2]

I play career but I use normal level of funding. I have most of my funds from interesting contracts and achievements and can do practically what I want. Sometimes I develop huge and expensive things in sandbox but try to use then in career. For example Eve lander.

[The Destroyer]

Career here. Although, I'm looking into some mods for it (career mods, I do have a lot of mods)

Edited December 17, 2015 by The Destroyer

[Scarecrow]

Sandbox.  Don't like like career or science as I find them too constricting.

[OhioBob]

I prefer for Career mode over Science mode.  I've only played one Science game, but it seemed not to be much of a challenge and I worked my way through the technology tree pretty quickly.  After that it was just like playing Sandbox, so I felt like I should have just started in Sandbox mode and saved myself some time.  Career mode, on the other hand, offers greater challenges and provides more things to do; and the need to acquire and manage funds continues throughout the game.  In the future I'll probably play either Career or Sandbox depending on my mood.

[paleo]

i preferred career.

[Pecan]

Sandbox.  Avoid the insane tech-tree.

People have often said that career is a grind until you have the tech you want, then it's sandbox ... so I'm just skipping the grind.  I have played it a couple of times to make sure I can but, yeah, after about five launches I might as well be back in sandbox, so I am.

Science mode still has the same insane tech-tree, of course.  it's a good way to learn the parts for a beginner though, without all the complexity of money, contracts and strategies.  Those are irrelevant to learning how things work in space and KSP so get the basics under your belt before messing with all that extra stuff.

[Aghanim]

6 hours ago, ForsakenVoyager said:

Could some of you share which game mode you like better, Career or Science mode? And why. 

I prefer sandbox

[Snarfster]

I tend to play career. It forces me to think outside the box and work with the parts that I have available.

Quite often I wonder how on earth I got certain craft in orbit when it suddenly gets SO much easier to do the same due to newer parts, more powerful engines etc.

[Hannu2]

1 hour ago, Pecan said:

Sandbox.  Avoid the insane tech-tree.

People have often said that career is a grind until you have the tech you want, then it's sandbox ... so I'm just skipping the grind.  I have played it a couple of times to make sure I can but, yeah, after about five launches I might as well be back in sandbox, so I am.

It is true but I feel that sandbox is limited too. When you visit all bodies, make as large stations as your computer can handle, try some mods (including more planets and RSS), make some kind of grand tour, make planes and SSTO-vehicles there is no more to do, at least if you do not want to begin to invent really crazy things what game is not intended to to (submarines, trains, military things etc. (I think that there are much better games for that kind of activity)). Career give motivation to do same things again. Contracts also gives occasionally interesting ideas. For example Rally-type contracts encourage to try gravity assist trajectories even KSP's maneuvering system is annoyingly weak for that kind of things (which should be very basic things in space flight simulator, IMO).

[Streetwind]

For the longest time I held Career and Science mode as roughly equal in my personal enjoyment. But since Arsonide has been improving the contracts repeatedly, Career is growing on me more and more.

[GoSlash27]

Definitely career mode. The game pretty much ends for me once I've unlocked the tree and career adds some challenge. Working contracts gives me things to do after I'm past the hard part.

Best,

-Slashy

 

[Nathair]

Career all the way. Trying to do more with less is more fun for me.

[klgraham1013]

Sandbox with my own self imposed periodic budget.  I like having the freedom to create my own missions, while still having the restrictions of a budget.  The tech tree is to silly for my liking, and mystery goo is not science.

Edited December 17, 2015 by klgraham1013

[klgraham1013]

1 hour ago, Hannu2 said:

It is true but I feel that sandbox is limited too. When you visit all bodies, make as large stations as your computer can handle, try some mods (including more planets and RSS), make some kind of grand tour, make planes and SSTO-vehicles there is no more to do....

...but that's a heck of a lot to do.  A game can not have limitless content, and it's OK to finish them.

[Hannu2]

32 minutes ago, klgraham1013 said:

...but that's a heck of a lot to do.  A game can not have limitless content, and it's OK to finish them.

I do not even want to know how many hour I have played. But career mode is working way to give more content to beginnings of games.  If somebody does not like it, he just play other modes. I agree that career mode could be much better and I could write long messages full of futile complaining. But fact is that I still play this game after years and insane amount of hours. Worse game could not be so annoying, I would just leave and forget it.

Unfortunately there are practically no other games in this genre. Orbiter lacks many important things that make KSP so good. I am forced to find content from KSP if I want to play sane space game. Thanks to versatility and mods it is possible. There are some ingenious in KSP which I have not found from any other game.

[Mister Spock]

Career for me too.  I like the sense of progression it brings.  My main concern with it is variety, so I try a different modlist every time through.  This time New Horizons and Engineering Tech Tree are the centerpieces, and it feels very different so far, which is great.

[NecroBones]

I played primarily Science, back when that was the career mode. Since then I've done a few Careers under the new system, and have had fun with it, but after I get to a certain point I either want to just do Sandbox or do another Science game.

 

The thing with Science, is I find it the most interesting in the middle of the tech tree. It feels a little grindy at the start, and grindy again to unlock the last tier. In the middle there are many choices as to what order to unlock things, and you can do some nice high-return missions when you go interplanetary. And once the whole tree is unlocked, it becomes Sandbox anyway.