Yes, another career mode idea...

[Waxing_Kibbous]

Firstly apologies for posting this but it's been rattling around in my head for a bit so I'm posting here just to get it out

This involves a more structured, dare I say more game-y, approach to career mode. I read somewhere that Harvester was against random planets because he wanted the community to have a common experience, which makes a lot of sense. I want to apply this thinking to career mode.

The contract system would have several tiers requiring a player to unlock a tier to get to the next (like I said, more game-y). Each tier would require X reputation points to advance to the next.

Each tier will have a set number of contracts that are always the same. These are the only contracts that give rep and allow advancement. But, these contracts also act as challenges- each contract would have 3-4 difficulty levels, ranging from easy to Jeb mode, giving more rep as they get harder. Many factors can be involved, eg. craft cost, tech level, part count, dV, time, and other limiting factors. So, for example one could do 5 contracts on easy difficulty or 2 on Jeb mode to unlock the next tier. Other notes: The permanent contracts will always be available as challenges, but once a tier is unlocked no more rep is gained from doing lower tier challenges. Also, there will still be random contracts, but these are for money only. Doing things that are beyond the scope of the current available contracts will act just like a sandbox mode, so World Firsts and Science still apply but nothing else.

Pros: Offers a choice for an easier game for beginners but also difficult challenges for pros, plus a common experience for all players to brag about/compare notes/help out others on. This can also increase playability by allowing players to retry missions later on at a harder level, and can add an actual end game to shoot for. This would add more of a puzzle solving aspect for those of us who like to have some hard limits imposed to solve problems. It would also add a more coherent structure to career mode in that the set contracts can cross into multiple tiers, eg. adding to a station, refueling from a specific base, etc. Above all, there would be the fun of insanely hard challenges built into the game.

Cons: Would take quite a bit of time to create/balance. Players who want a lot of freedom would get even more annoyed with career mode.

 

So there it is, some will like it, some will hate it, and it will never happen anyway

 

[Andem]

So something akin to the stsrter contracts for every tech/rep milestone... I like that. My only quip is that other contracts would become the anmoying side-quest from old RPGs.

[Guest]

On 3/12/2016 at 0:57 PM, Waxing_Kibbous said:

ranging from easy to Jeb mode

Otherwise a decent idea for a more guided career.  A sort of "how to get into KSP" mode.  It's not the controlled career I'd want but would be great for a tutorial intro.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

17 hours ago, Andem said:

So something akin to the stsrter contracts for every tech/rep milestone... I like that. My only quip is that other contracts would become the anmoying side-quest from old RPGs.

Hmmm maybe, but they could also be seen as a way to grab money or crew if one is struggling with the rep contracts.

Again though, the devil is in the balancing so you are looking at a pretty non-trivial problem.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Waxing_Kibbous

[Andem]

45 minutes ago, Waxing_Kibbous said:

Hmmm maybe, but they could also be seen as a way to grab money or crew if one is struggling with the rep contracts.

Again though, the devil is in the balancing so you are looking at a pretty non-trivial problem.

True. So long as they don't degenerate into fedex quests, I'll ve relatively happy.

[Enceos]

@Waxing_Kibbous Did you try the Strategia mod? It has some features you're listing.