Is hard career more grindy?

[lugge]

Hi there,

I played hard career in 1.0.2. Yes, it was hard and grindy, but after some time I reached a point where I had lots of money and science and I felt like in sandbox mode.

Now, I started a new hard career on 1.1.1 and it feels... well, just grindy.

I complete contract after contract and cannot even think of upgrading VAB or unlock Poodle engine and big tanks.

In 1.0.2 I managed to unlock everything I need for munshot.

In my current game, I feel the only way to get poodle for munshot is by getting a poodle-test-contract. Otherwise, I have no idea where to get 180 science for poodle and big tanks.

Did they change the multipliers for hard career?
Whats your opinion on this?

[mk1980]

i also started a new 1.1. career with hard settings (except for the no reverts/reloads - that would make it too frustrating for me)

i didn't have much problems with the early career. frankly, i think you may be overengineering your stuff. you certainly don't need poodles for a mun shot. i landed on both moons with just the 45 research point nodes unlocked, so it's definitely doable. once you've done 1-2 landings you'll also be able to unlock stuff like the OKTO probe core so you can send a scientist to minmus and grab multiple biomes in one go.

from there, funds are the main bottleneck in my experience. the settings are relatively harsh. especially the double cost for facility upgrades coupled with the reduced contract rewards. takes a lot of effort to get enough cash for a fully upgraded KSC.

the final upgrade of the R&D is currently the "paywall" i'm working on. 3,4 million funds is a lot.

satellite contracts are probably among the most economic ways to make money. 50-80k reward for a satellite that costs maybe 5k baseline (+whatever the cost of the required science sensors is) is quite good. tourist missions are a bit harder to make profitable. i developed a small tourist shuttle that can get 4 dudes to the minmus or mun for about ~15k per launch. that works all right, leaves a bit of profit.

also, station/outpost contracts can be quite lucrative. you get something like 180k funds for (basically) landing/orbiting a 3 ton vessel (if you use the 2 seats passenger cabins), so that's also a convenient way to get money.

 

it feels a bit grindy lately, but i kinda enjoy how it forces me to come up with cheap and viable solutions. normal difficulty is a bit too generous for my taste.

 

[bewing]

Even in hard mode, there is a lot of science available on Kerbin. The harder you make traveling off-world, the more important all the Kerbin science is. The Kerbin science is grindy too, of course -- but you can probably find those 180 science points pretty fast, for very little kash.

[KocLobster]

2 hours ago, bewing said:

Even in hard mode, there is a lot of science available on Kerbin. The harder you make traveling off-world, the more important all the Kerbin science is. The Kerbin science is grindy too, of course -- but you can probably find those 180 science points pretty fast, for very little kash.

I absolutely agree with this. Just the science alone inside the KSC is a lot, probably about enough for your needs.

6 hours ago, mk1980 said:

frankly, i think you may be overengineering your stuff. you certainly don't need poodles for a mun shot. i landed on both moons with just the 45 research point nodes unlocked, so it's definitely doable.

+1 I also agree with this. You make it sound like the poodle is an absolute must for reaching the Mun? (which is definitely not the case)

I usually play moderate or hard, and it can be a bit grindy, but that is just my personal preference. It can be toned down too depending on how exactly you play.

Generally, funds are the bottleneck at that point and I always sort contracts on the funds reward because I need so much money. Plus, once you're able to reach Kerbin's moons, you're able to start getting science in much larger quantities with biome hops & science experiments, rather than from contract rewards. At that point I generally go for the contracts that give the most funds over anything else.

Sometimes getting enough funds can be a little bit grindy, but I love this game and enjoy it anyways. I personally haven't noticed things being more grindy in 1.1.2 than in 1.0.5.

[Nich]

Well first off there is your mistake.  Mun flybuy can be accomplished with 0 tech and no facilities upgrades (assuming just a command pod).  Hard + grinding = normal mode.  For safetys sake I like to have terrior at least for Mun and Minimus.

My last play through on hard was amazingly easy

Mission 1 Launch pad science

Mission 2 Runway science

Mission 3 Vertical launch for Flying, high atm, low space

Mission 4 high orbit science (I was trying flyby but came up short)

MIssion 5 Flyby

Upgrade launch pad