Career mode isn't sounding very good.

[dlrk]

I have some definite concerns about the upcoming career mode, which, to an extent, seems to be a bit of a a 'screw you' to those of us who ware interested in complexity, realism, etc.

First off, we've got the "Kerbals before probes" issue. I get that a lot of us like the whole "Kerbals are incompetent expendables" mentality, but not all of us feel this way, I believe Bac9 said as much in a blog. I'd like career mode to at least have the option(and perhaps some sort of bonus) to focus on keeping Kerbals alive, including using probes for testing spacecraft, and one-way flights.

Second, as some people have raised, the science points sound excessively generic and gamey.

Third, if the glovebox isn't part of enhanced IVA, that's an issue, because it does not make sense for that to go outside the spacecraft.

Look at what mods are popular. It's clear that a decent chunk of the community likes realistic aerodynamics, likes fairings, wants life support, etc.

[KasperVld]

The career mode is not done after 0.22 is released, this is just the first version of the game in which you can access it. I'm not sure what the official position is on things such as life support but it's not something that can be implemented easily: think of doing a mission to Jool, then switch back to your station in Kerbin orbit and find your Kerbals dead. Doesn't really add much to gameplay that way. I'm not sure what you mean by things being too 'gamey', this is a game after all and not a simulator, this has been stated many times. Finally I'm not sure what 'glovebox' would be, could you explain that?

[AlamoVampire]

I like your words Kasper, gonna haul a portion of them into a different thread

[dlrk]

The career mode is not done after 0.22 is released, this is just the first version of the game in which you can access it. I'm not sure what the official position is on things such as life support but it's not something that can be implemented easily: think of doing a mission to Jool, then switch back to your station in Kerbin orbit and find your Kerbals dead. Doesn't really add much to gameplay that way. I'm not sure what you mean by things being too 'gamey', this is a game after all and not a simulator, this has been stated many times. Finally I'm not sure what 'glovebox' would be, could you explain that?

Life support can be implemented easily, look at the Ioncross. All that requires is a bit of planning, estimate how long your mission will be and pack supplies accordingly. That adds a lot to gameplay IMO. I consider KSP a simulator. The simulator-game distinction is a silly discussion, and like I said, you can look at the add-on forum and see that many of us want a simulator.

The glovebox is the box with globes, posted in a preview.

[dlrk]

Some of us do want a game, some want a simulator. I don't see why that latter group should be ignored.

[KasperVld]

Please don't forget that only a small part of the community is active on the KSP forums and an even smaller part uses a lot of mods. Even though you see a lot of people who add simulator-like mods on the forums does not mean that a majority wants it. You're free to play KSP as you see fit and if that's with mods that add complexity that's great, but in the end this is a space related game, and not a simulator

Edit: people who seek complexity shouldn't be ignored and in my opinion they really aren't: mods like IonCross are great, but the reason there are so many mods is that Squad has written an extensive API that allows mod makers to add to KSP relatively easily

[possum]

KSP is the ultimate sandbox, even the career mode. The easy of which mods can be added allows the game to be molded into whatever you want it to be. If you want a sim make it a sim. The game being built more as a game makes it more appealing to a wider audience. If the career mode is not the way you want to play don't play it, go to the sandbox mode and give yourself your own restraints to how you want to play. Harvester said in an interview that the dev's are constantly trying to find a balance between fun and realism. They tend to lean more toward the fun side but KSP is so easy to mod it rest with the user to make the game what they want.