In Career mode, will time matter?

[Poddster]

Just curious.

Does anyone know if time will be important in career mode? e.g. Can we still waste 4 years waiting for optimal hohmann transfer points?

[KerbMav]

I think at the moment nothing at all is known about anything regarding career mode - at least I didnt find anything on my search for planned final release features.

[bsalis]

Only time will tell

It will be interesting how time-warp will work within career mode, especially with tech tree advancement.

It has been indicated that you will be expected to run multiple missions, and not just time-warp years to visit, say, Jool, before beginning the next mission. The assumption being I suppose, that your space program will have ongoing expenses that you need to keep doing missions for revenue.

[Sirrobert]

Only time will tell

It will be interesting how time-warp will work within career mode, especially with tech tree advancement.

It has been indicated that you will be expected to run multiple missions, and not just time-warp years to visit, say, Jool, before beginning the next mission. The assumption being I suppose, that your space program will have ongoing expenses that you need to keep doing missions for revenue.

So probably heavy use of the Kerbal Alarm Clock

[Pontiac]

That is assuming mods are allowed in career mode.

[cwm33]

That is assuming mods are allowed in career mode.

If mods aren't allowed in career mode, I would have zero interest in playing that mode.

[Eric S]

That is assuming mods are allowed in career mode.

A fairly safe assumption, as the devs really haven't shown much interest in restricting mod usage.

[CaptRobau]

I'm not sure if it would be in or out. Doing multiple (separate, not joint) missions to even make ends meet, might be too complicated for newcomers. I imagine there'd be a lot, a lot of lost missions.

[malkuth]

Time already is in the game.. and is kept track of. A lot of mods like the Kerbal Time clock use it..

For instance in the Tracking Station it gives you a current number of days and years passed since you started the game.

Now what they plan to do with the time in future no idea..

I can only hope that things like supplies, oxygen, age of kerbals, retirement are all kept track of eventually. Supplies and life support will add a huge amount of things to do in game when and if its added. Rescue missions... Pfft.. Supply mission to keep them alive for another 6 months.. Thats what Im talking about!

[Themohawkninja]

Under the assumption that the resource chart will be implemented as is, it does mention needing purified water for life support, so I'd say yes.

That doesn't mean I agree with it though. I would like to not have to add a whole bunch of extra food/water if I want extra leeway with my missions.

[msyblade]

I imagine you will need to be productive while waiting for the optimal Jool transfer window.

[KerbMav]

I think time pressure in KSP wouldnt work - some things cant be rushed or are prone to fail if rushed.

Aging astronauts/limited resources (for keeping Kerbals or ships alive/usable) wont really work either - 100% recycling of air and water in manned pods and very nutritious (no need to refill) astro-food should be accepted as a game mechanic, tech should not degrade to warrent replacement or repair (outside of missions at least) - at a certain number of stations/bases/ships things can get out of hand and become a bit dull if you have to fly to every single place to deliver new water cans, wipe the lavatory and change light bulbs.

Kerbals shouldnt age for the same reason. But maybe they get skill levels some day, so when stationed and trained at certain posts we may want to transfer him to a new missions to make use of his highly trained skills. ("Come home son, your space agency needs you!")

The only limited resources in space should be fuel and energy as it is now, of which energy should be used more - for crew pods e.g.

I am very curious how much money will be a limiting factor - do we get pocket money regardless of our achievments or can we go bankrupt, unable to do anything and having to start all over again?

The mining/resource system could provide the player with rare alloys (enabling to build some special/lighter parts), fuel (to supply far away outposts easier, or maybe cheaper tanks in the VAB), alternative fuel for futuristic engines maybe, tradable resources to build up the budget for new missions, scientific breakthroughs to win favor or new parts ...

Very long deadlines would work though, so you would have to dedicate most of your time and resources to a priority project - "high level" missions most likely - and had no time for missions "that pay the rent", preparation being needed before accepting these challenges.

Or time in another form:

Salvage/rescue missions of failed/stranded privateer experiments or retrieval of scientific experiments before it leaves orbit of/crashes on - so no real time limit but the option to "buy time" by slowing down the inevitable until the real rescue can be done (or a successful one ...)

Eco-Kerbals asking for environment friendly transportation using up no more than x amount of fuel, no "nuke-drive", salvaging x % of parts (in mass not counting payload) or the like - a number of next missions accepted/completed to be done under certain conditions

A kind of "mission board" comes to mind, with varying difficulty levels/rewards - some needing specific tech to be completed, some requiring a kind of "good standing" with government or corporations - or filthy rich individuals ("Build me a house on Dune, so I can finish my new bestseller!")

Some missions might reward the player with unique parts - valuable technology worth to be looked after and returned back to base (parts recycling is announced) after every mission it was used.

Or the missions comes with a special part as payload: (no real use, higher level missions might have bigger, heavier, unbalanced payload parts to be delivered) - such as satellites or survey/mapping probes, space factories/mines (producing stuff not used/produced by the player in a resource system to come), prefab houses for runaways ...

This mission board could work alongside a Tour of Duty: missions to be completed to open up new missions, gain new tech etc. - the first ones being some kind of tutorial - skippable for experienced/impatient players or restarts, granting everything at once - the next having some kind of storyline and building up on one another. But I would not let go of the sandbox aspect completely - like in the X game series the player should be able to walk away from the story and do other also rewarding things.

And maybe I should have put this into a new thread over in the suggestion forum.