I think career mode should be reworked substantially - here is my idea

[Tw1]

I think a lot of us here agree that any arbitrary limits would kill the feel of this game, where you can attempt anything you like as with what you have on hand, and the only other limitations are your own abilities.

I personally hope the other reasonable limit they could/will probably add, budgets, will be balanced well so you can try a variety of things. Perhaps could use the resources you have to go to Duna, or to Eve, or send probes further out, but it's your choice what you do.

But though the proposed method is lacking, the core idea deserves some attention:

Science should be the goal, the driver of the story. The game should in my opinion support what many have been doing in the sandbox mode for a long time already, i.e. support discovery, not grind.

This is a reasonable point. Currently, science collection is just for the fun of it once you've finished the tech tree. I enjoy collecting every last bit of data I can, but mystery goo might become just a gimmick after a while.

How could they keep the game about the science?

Perhaps science will be linked to budget, and the more valuable science you bring back (total, per cost, per mission, per time, etc,) increases the budget available.

Over time, you'd either max out the budget, or collect so much science that budget increases become very slow. Perhaps science can be used to complete profiles of each planet, which you can look at, or maybe science can be used to reveal special features of a planet, which could then inform future missions.

One possible problem is the diminishing returns- though it makes sense when unlocking stuff, it'll be a little disappointing when a mission to the Mun has no scientific value. That makes click to collect science, like with the Goo, a little less interesting in the long term.

More science experiments, that give you data you can keep, (a big display of all the rocks you've collected, measurements taken,)

or things that give you something to do (hitting golf balls, science lasers, chemicals you can pour on the dust) could keep science interesting for the long term.

A data collected screen, (as a tab on the current science collection record) would be more interesting than "Sample from Mun- 0.0 science value" and active experiments will be an experience in their own right.

I find a lot of the fun in this game comes from roleplay, and using your imagination. After all, science is not something you get, it's something you do.

Pre-0.22 science experiments.

I think that is something the developers should keep in mind. As long as it feels like our kerbals are achieving something, it's cool.

If there's going to be any sort of "punishing the player" going on, it should be for not doing what they've agreed to do, not for "not being ready" for something they've clearly demonstrated they are perfectly ready for.

If they do have "missions" that you have to do, this is how I'd like to see it done. You declare what you aim to do, then attempt to do it. You could change plan part way, and there would have to be a system for dealing with that. If you fail, (however that is defined), then you loose reputation, get no/less money, etc.

But I prefer just going and doing science.

There are plenty of games in the style of "Run (insert business activity here) and make millions!" I hope kerbal doesn't make earning money a big goal.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Tw1

[Sirrobert]

If they do have "missions" that you have to do, this is how I'd like to see it done. You declare what you aim to do, then attempt to do it. You could change plan part way, and there would have to be a system for dealing with that. If you fail, (however that is defined), then you loose reputation, get no/less money, etc.

But I prefer just going and doing science.

There are plenty of games in the style of "Run (insert business activity here) and make millions!" I hope kerbal doesn't make earning money a big goal.

Personally I see the missions as a big list of things you should do, like a quest log.

Than you shoot up a rocket to the Mun, but overshoot and end up in Kerbol orbit. 'o well, might aswel do that other mission instead'

A simple 'no money until you complete' would probably be enough, as you lose money on a crash because rockets themselves cost money

[Merinsan]

If we're not NASA then anything can apply. To have a successful campaign in the game you need to keep it somewhat on rails and lead it to the end.

I find it funny how everybody comes with complaints against my idea but nobody comes with alternative solutions to problems it is trying to solve. Maybe you just don't see the problem? I do. I basically stopped playing KSP after I finished the tech tree because I don't see any further challenges.

I'd much prefer to be able to define the ending the way I want it. I don't want to be railroaded into a specific ending.

Also, don't take criticisms of your idea personally.

A lot here don't like your idea (myself included), and don't think it would improve the game. Just because we don't offer alternative solutions does not mean we don't recognize an idea that we don't like. For example, I am sure you yourself would recognize that to control the human population, culling is a bad idea - you don't have to offer an alternative to recognize that.

I'd like to see where the Devs take career mode.

I know money is coming.

Missions are coming.

Resources are coming.

How it all fits together, I don't know, but I can't complain about it yet since it doesn't exist. And this is the main point, Career mode as it currently stands, is not actually a career mode. It's simply a first step on the way to career mode.

By all means, offer suggestions, but don't expect everyone to agree with you. The Devs will take what they think is good, and leave what they don't like.

[Paul Kingtiger]

I'm hoping that science will also be used to generate 'public opinion' and funding in later releases. That way, once you have unlocked everything there is still a reason to be conducting science.

[stormy1997]

Sorry, but I generally dislike your idea. You don't need the game to make you RP (role play a space program step by step), you can simply do it yourself. That is what I did in .22. Sure, I could get 3000 science in two missions, but I don't really want to. I launched a bunch of different missions increasing in complexity and it was quite fun. I really don't like the concept of all of the universe being completely closed at the start, feels way too restricted and I'm not in control. Here is the thing: KSP is a singleplayer game. If you want to zoom through the tech tree, fine it's your playthrough, if you wanna take 200 missions to max it out, that's fine too. Maybe what they could do is have certain parameters for a mission that would get you more money (when they add money), but you are in no way restricted to those parameters.