Carreer Hard Mode

[alacrity]

There have been a lot of threads about the click and repeat easy but repetitive nature of the current career mode.

Let me tell you that I have found hard mode. Not on the economy side (tho there are options there with mods), but the mission planning and overall goal side of things.

Let me introduce Remote tech 2. A lot of the old timers know about it. A working communication relay system that adds the requirement of having a working line of sight, or omni relay system in place to communicate with unmanned ships.

In v.22 career mode it also adds the need for mission control contact to relay back science data.

How this affects your tech race.

1. Antennas draw power whenever extended. The power pinch we all felt at the very beginning with no solar cells and limited batteries is tripled when you add antenna's that cyphon power even when not transmitting.

2. Line of sight. Antennas need a line of sight bounce back to mission control. Not a problem till you go into you first orbit... at 80km altitude, you really only have about 4 minute windows to contact the ground in every orbit, and that is only in the equitorial. Eccentric orbits can leave out out of contact for many orbits and limit contact times all the way down to seconds.

3. Just science missions doesn't work anymore. There is a limit to the science you can get done with out communication satelites in place to relay data. Even the Mun is a far push out for radio, and minmus or other planets totally out of range until you start adding extra satelites. No chance to just do science until you are all done, but launches for the purpose of setting up comms links to the other worlds becomes a requirement. no science just work.

I rate the addition of Remote Tech to career mode a crashing success (but only twice... stupiud sputniks). It has good intergration into the tech tree and really does add something.

Tell me what mods you are using to find your hard mode in career.

Alacrity

[Geschosskopf]

I find this sort of question rather silly. Career mode, at least in its present state, isn't intended to be either hard or long-term. It's intended to be a sort of tutorial for new players, teaching them the basics of the game and what the parts do in a gradual fashion, so they don't get overwhelmed right off the bat in sandbox mode.

If you're not a new player, then you don't need this schooling. Furthermore, you've been doing sandbox all along limited only by your own imagination, so are quite capable of setting all sorts of challenges for yourself. "Go to (insert destinations) and do (insert challenging tasks) using (insert part/mod limits or requirements)."

There is thus no such thing as "hard mode" in KSP. The physics behind it all don't change unless you use OP mods or cheats, it's always just a question of going somewhere and doing whatever when you get there. Adding things like Remote Tech, Deadly Reentry, FAR, life support, whatever, doesn't change this in any way. The only thing such mods do is add a few more items to your mission and/or ship design checklist. Take care of those items and it's back to business as usual.

[jwenting]

and another veiled demand to make things harder for the small core of experts while making things next to impossible for the beginners and casual players.

[Hodo]

I run the mods in my sig.

But most importantly FAR, DRE, RemoteTech2, Kethane, B9 and KSPX and KER. If I dropped B9 it would be my hard mode. But I like the look of a few of those parts so I keep it.

I have used FAR and DRE so long I honestly can't play the game without those two.

[alacrity]

So in the vein if ALacrity not totally thinking things through before launching I decided, in preperation for Mun landings, I was ready to start my commsat network around Kerbin.

Please recall I have never used Remote Tech before so I am making all the noob mistakes still.

So my first launch was Comm Star 1... Unmanned launch of a sputnik class probe as a relay for LKO and LMO communications. Thats right... the noob launched an unmanned probe, with tony engine, minimum fuel... AND NO WAY TO TALK TO MISSION CONTROL unless I was passing directly over it.

At around 63km altitude I was going to loose contact and therefore control of the ship. Thank the gods I have read wiki's and watched Manly and figured out radial in/radial out thrusting. When I lost contact I managed to get a 519km by 49km orbit. Enough altitude that on my next pass over mission control a radial in burn pushed my orbit around leaving me at 325 by 108.

So for some others... Send up you first one or two commsats piggy backed on manned ships... just sayin.

Alacrity

[rocketsBuilder]

real solar system mod + all other mods