What mode do you think is the best?

[Fraston]

Lol

[Slam_Jones]

Best?  No one mode is objectively the best.  They all have their merits.

If you asked which one I enjoy the most, then I would answer Career.

[Klapaucius]

I have not yet spent a lot of time in career, but I think I will ultimately spend most of my time there. Having said that:

For ship development and experimental building: sandbox

For learning the game: science. Science mode allows for gradual introduction of parts via an expanding tech-tree without being TOO complicated.  The set of tutorials that really helped me learn the game were in science mode.

For general play: I would say career.

[Cavscout74]

I started off in sandbox to get some idea what I was doing, then decided to start a science save to get a feel for the science system - but I just could not get into the science game very much.  Shortly after that, I decided to try an easy career save - and despite having much more to deal with, I really got into it far more than science mode.  I still use sandbox for testing sometimes - although missions are even better for that now - but otherwise I'm career all the way.

[SiriusRocketry]

Sandbox- so I can RP without grinding or constraints. Saying that, science is an excellent mode to play a few times, to progress differently. If I played more career games and got past the grindy bits, I guess I'd love it more.

[Gargamel]

Played sandbox for 4-5 years exclusively, mainly because that's all there was to start, and then the normal bugs with a new game mechanic, I stayed away for a bit.  But I got bored, wanted some direction in the game, and started playing career.  Haven't really tried science, as the part of career that bugs me the most is the science grind. 

Which version is best?   The one that brings me fun.  

[pandaman]

I'd agree that there isn't an actual BEST mode, it"s purely personal preference.

For me though,  i only really play Sandbox.  It's all there was when i started, so it's 'normal' for me.  I like the idea of career, but whenrver i try it the implementation just puts me off and i lose motovation.

[FireKerb]

Does the mode really matter if the end is just sandbox?

Career makes it so you have to gain money and science to get to sandbox.

Science needs science.

And sandbox starts that way.

Personal preference? Eh. They all have things that I like and dislike.

[Superfluous J]

I play Career about 90% of the time. Pretty much any time I start a new save it's Career.

I play Science almost all the rest of the time, and most (or all) of that is in a single save where I'm trying something specific, and don't want money and contracts to get in the way.

A tiny smidge is in Sandbox, where I'm either testing stuff (ships or mods), doing a challenge that doesn't have the tree/cost requirements, or (most recently) to build the ships for a Mission in Making History. Not sure if I'll do that again, though, as those tools exist within the Mission Builder. I did that for my first Mission, which I actually created before Making History came out.

But none are "best." Career is what I use most, but I also use my car the most. That doesn't mean it's the best, especially if I need to travel thousands of miles in less than a day.

[klgraham1013]

Sandbox, unfortunately.  Career mode just isn't any good in my opinion, and that's a shame.

[Hotel26]

According to the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument model, any person prefers some specific mix of four modes of thinking:

• A. Analytical thinking (Blue)

Key words : Auditive, logical, factual, critical, technical and quantitative.

Preferred activities : collecting data, analysis, understanding how things work, judging ideas based on facts, criteria and logical reasoning.

• B. Sequential thinking (Green)

Key words : safekeeping, structured, organized, complexity or detailed, planned.

Preferred activities : following directions, detail oriented work, step-by-step problem solving, organization and implementation.

• C. Interpersonal thinking (Red)

Key words : Kinesthetic, emotional, spiritual, sensory, feeling.

Preferred activities : listening to and expressing ideas, looking for personal meaning, sensory input, and group interaction.

• D. Imaginative thinking (Yellow)

Key words : Visual, holistic, intuitive, innovative, and conceptual.

Preferred activities : Looking at the big picture, taking initiative, challenging assumptions, visuals, metaphoric thinking, creative problem solving, long term thinking.

So I am gonna postulate that the predominantly-Analytical thinkers go with Science Mode.

The Sequential thinkers go with Career Mode.

The Imaginative thinkers go with Sandbox Mode.

And the Interpersonal thinkers don't play Kerbal Space Program at all.  (You know who you are!)

Personally, I quite like pigeon-holing everything. 

 

Edited June 2, 2018 by Hotel26

[GeneralMDBK]

What I have tried lately is a mixture of sandbox and career. I like the ability to have to balance funds for crafts and collecting science in missions but doing the grind every new version of KSP was a bit much since early on I struggle. So what i did is alt-f12 on a new career to give myself enough science to unlock the tree, and just enough funds to upgrade the facilities. Then just have a starting budget and work from there. Im playing with EJs style of no reverts and a separate sandbox for design and testing.

[Kaskel2000]

For me I tried career when I first brought the game and after an hour or so I gave up as I had no idea what I was doing. I could hardly get into orbit let a lone complete contracts. I tried sandbox but I was overwhelmed with the amount of parts. So I switched to science which was a great way to learn the game. Played that for the last 6 months but recently I’ve jumped into career again and am really enjoying it now I know what I’m doing (well mostly. Furthest I’ve got was orbiting Duna but never landing on her). 

 

So science for learning. Sandbox for experiments and career for once you know what your doing. 

[djr5899]

I've typically stuck to career for the better portion of my playing time.  What I later ended up doing is running a Career and a Sandbox simultaneously, using Sandbox to test out ships that I wanted to use in career....without the risk of killing off kerbals in my career.

I still use this method today, but I have my career mode a bit amped up to progress a little faster by cranking up the starting funds and adding a little extra to the science gain.  I'm still a relative noob in terms of things I've accomplished, since I have spent very, very little time outside Kerbin SOI.  After getting docking down pat over the past few weeks, I am ready to start doing some base building, mining, and additional planet exploring.

[Wjolcz]

Sandbox by far.

Career is too annoying to deal with and I really hate how science is collected. Also the fact that's it's only just another resource used to unlock technology, which is completely unrelated to it and causes all sorts of problems.

Science mode is just career mode with less things but still has the stupid science-tech relation going no.

On 6/2/2018 at 6:58 PM, GeneralMDBK said:

So what i did is alt-f12 on a new career to give myself enough science to unlock the tree, and just enough funds to upgrade the facilities. 

I did a very similar thing the last time I played career.

[Ho Lam Kerman]

I like sandbox.

Because I don't like to earn stuff. I just like to achieve stuff. For me, knowing that I can land on Duna is cool enough.

[soulsource]

I prefer Career, although I think it could be balanced a bit better, to make it more challenging.

For instance in order to get to other planets, one needs to unlock rather potent antennae (or send a crewed vessel without any radio connection - something I don't like for roleplaying reasons), meaning one has to progress quite far in the tech tree with Mun and Minmus only, leaving only a few nodes to be unlocked with science from other planets.

Money is another issue. Either you set your game difficulty to have lots of money available, then it isn't really a constraint and one could just play science mode instead, or the game starts to feel grindy almost immediately. Anyhow, I haven't yet found a setting where contract payments felt "right", meaning that one has to take care when building a new craft to stay on the cheap side, and still not being forced to do an insane amount of repetitive contracts to upgrade the buildings.

[Freds]

Career with 'play your way' mod - I like the "missions" thing, and i think kerbals should be payed by doing science. So, Play your way is perfect for me.