Hardest thing in career mode is...

[SkyHook]

I suppose the most difficult part of Career mode would be booting it up. It's a delayed sandbox mode with very little use to experienced players. With that being said, stumbling around without solar panels or large command pods is pretty challenging lol.

[nhnifong]

Making light, compact ships without the cubic strut

[John FX]

I guess I'm alone in finding career mode almost too easy. I find everything up to the 45 cost tier is roughly balanced for new and experienced players, but after that it seems really easy for a more experienced player to blast through the tech tree just by visiting the Mun or Minmus. I should make a suggestion about that.

Nah, I did some science on the pad and runway, shot a rocket into the stratosphere, did an orbit, went to mun and minmus in one trip, then duna and eve in two trips at the same time, then everywhere.

6 launches and I have most of the tech.

That`s a bit easy.

[Danish_Savage]

Making names for all the new class'es of interplanetary ships that I make when the old ones get outdated.

[darthWes]

Mun/Minmus science pickups - Sure you can go polar and chain-eva report for a few hours... Also similar problem with surface samples from said biomes...Wish there was a way to map out the biomes and mark the ones you've collected and/or not chain-eva-report. It's just time consuming/not enjoyable/work when all I really want to do is pick up the science from the moon(s) and go home.

[42undead2]

A) Geting Science

Getting Science

C) Getting Science

Did I mention getting Science?

[vetrox]

I suppose the most difficult part of Career mode would be booting it up. It's a delayed sandbox mode with very little use to experienced players.

Basically this.

I liked it at first. But once i got skippers i decided taht I prefer sandbox. Purley because i will be halfway through a career mode mission and think. I want to put a base on this body. I wont have all the parts unlocked so i qill jsut quit and go back to sandbox. Yes I could just grind science until i get everything i need but why do that when i have sandbox just a click away.

I do love the first few tiers where u try and use as little as possible to get as far as possible.

Cannot wait for economy to be introduced. I'm not playing ksp much atm whist i wait for it. God i miss the days when just getting into orbit felt like the biggest feat in the world!

[Sabreur]

Making light, compact ships without the cubic strut

This right here! I never realized how much I used that thing until I played career mode. Getting to the last tech tier was such a hapy moment. Mainsail engines? Forget it. Large probe core? Don't make me laugh. Cubic strut? HELL YES, TAKE MY 550 SCIENCE.

[BlackBicycle]

Oh sure. There are several but I use this one: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/53192-0-22-TreeLoader-Custom-Career-Tech-tree-Loader-1-0

There are 4 or 5 trees inside the mod to choose from. I selected Yagnit's and I really like it. It forces you to space quickly as the SP available on Kerbin is very small. Parts are laid out in a way that makes sense. Science cost scales up quickly.

There are other trees that are more historical and even harder. I haven't tried any of those though. This one is good for my skill level (which I would say is beginer to intermediate)

The stock tree just has stuff thrown into it. To me it's pretty obvious that it's a placeholder until they have time to really flesh it out.

Noted, thank you.

[palioxis1248]

Finding the motivation to obtain the thousands of science needed to unlock those last few useless parts of the tech tree (mk3 cockpit, mk3 fuselage, big probe body, etc.etc.).

[BubbaWilkins]

Nah, I did some science on the pad and runway, shot a rocket into the stratosphere, did an orbit, went to mun and minmus in one trip, then duna and eve in two trips at the same time, then everywhere.

6 launches and I have most of the tech.

That`s a bit easy.

Considering you can't spam transmit.

You can't repeat experiments without the lab.

And you don't get full credit for anything you don't return to Kerbin...

I think you have not been through a fresh start in .23.

[Dave Kerbin]

Considering you can't spam transmit.

You can't repeat experiments without the lab.

And you don't get full credit for anything you don't return to Kerbin...

I think you have not been through a fresh start in .23.

I can fully back up John FX, you can get the science without spamming or using weird piloting tricks (like using solid boosters as makeshift seperators or landing on the nozzle of engines). The only important thing is going for the science parts first. If you've got a bit of experience, especially experience in developing lighter ships instead of mainsail monsters, then going to the Mun with the first few techs (get everything up to the Science Jr) is pretty straight forward and nothing fancy.

Check out my .23 career here. I'm doing roleplay so I didn't do any of the Kerbin spamming (ie collecting soil samples from the launchpad) and I have been following a set of predetermined roleplay missions instead of a pure science grab. Right now I need to rerun one of my missions that crashed into Moho (first time there, way more delta-v then I calculated), but with my 9th mission (Dres) already on a return course to Kerbin it will bring in enough science to complete the entire tech tree. Even after my Mun landing I was starting to struggle to figure out how I would avoid unlocking LV-Ns and other advanced tech too soon.

[LarryWallwart]

the hardest thing is repeating boring tasks to get more science.

[TeddyDD]

If you play with realistic rules and mods it is not so simple. Im thinking about sending one Kerbal in small can for a flight lasting 3 years.

[Max Grant]

The Apollo program wanted to do a direct ascent mission largely because of how difficult and risky docking two ships in space was. As for passing around fuel that's complicated even today.

Well, only for awhile. I think LOR would have won out rather quickly. If you break the problem down into "getting fuel into orbit" you rapidly realize as Houbolt did, that it's not just the best way, it's the only way.

[BubbaWilkins]

I can fully back up John FX, you can get the science without spamming or using weird piloting tricks (like using solid boosters as makeshift seperators or landing on the nozzle of engines). The only important thing is going for the science parts first. If you've got a bit of experience, especially experience in developing lighter ships instead of mainsail monsters, then going to the Mun with the first few techs (get everything up to the Science Jr) is pretty straight forward and nothing fancy.

Check out my .23 career here. I'm doing roleplay so I didn't do any of the Kerbin spamming (ie collecting soil samples from the launchpad) and I have been following a set of predetermined roleplay missions instead of a pure science grab. Right now I need to rerun one of my missions that crashed into Moho (first time there, way more delta-v then I calculated), but with my 9th mission (Dres) already on a return course to Kerbin it will bring in enough science to complete the entire tech tree. Even after my Mun landing I was starting to struggle to figure out how I would avoid unlocking LV-Ns and other advanced tech too soon.

First, I must say that I'm completely awestruck at the level of detail in which you have planned, executed, and documented your progression. Well done sir.

I think your post actually illustrates my point quite well. You may have some areas in which you could have gained slightly more even sooner, but your own progress indicates that your 6th mission netted you around 4761 of the possible 10,732 Science required for the stock tech tree. Granted, due to the nature of the tiered points required to unlock everything, that does get you quite a bit. And your next mission did net you a HUGE chunk. All that said, the level at which you were planning, designing, and executing those missions is so far above the standard trial and error as to render the entire endeavor several levels of difficulty beyond "easy mode".

It does highlight that without life support restrictions and such, that is possible to use relatively early/simple parts to reach things that I wouldn't have attempted. I would say that the tech tree is fine as is, but that additional factors such as life support should be introduced to limit the effectiveness of the early/small parts. My own craft do tend to be bigger, so while I have nearly exhausted my Science from the Mun and Minmus, I'm just now touching the surface of Duna.

[Bedwind]

The hardest thing is remembering not to invest in the aerodynamics line too much early on.

So much regret. Sure, my aircraft can fly, but they're not leaving Kerbin anytime soon...

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Picking a Name for a Rocket. And the right Flag maybe.

Everything else can be worked out.

[User Unrelated]

Right now, my hardest point is when I am stuck not really being able to/wanting to do too much more science in the Kerbin system.

I've been to Mun, I've been to Minmus, and even though there's a ton more science to be had there, those missions are sort of boring to me now.

If I want to go anywhere else, I am going to want to use an unmanned ship the first time

but I am using remote-tech, so I can't really do much unmanned-ness without some real proper planning, and usually a manned mission to get the comms to where I want them. I have some really high-gain dishes at my disposal, but I am a bit hesitant to just toss a dish on something and fly way out to Duna or something.

And i want to go to Eve, but don't have a long-enough-range dish that is rigid, and if I tuck one of the deployable ones away to re-enter, I just lose the craft... unless I go get KOS... that might be an option.

I'm sure I'll get it eventually.

Edited January 26, 2014 by User Unrelated

[MartGonzo]

The early missions without solar panels or batteries were the most tense of the whole career for me. after you get the electrical parts electric power becomes no problem.

[davieholgate]

Moon landing, stock parts, without having gained any science prior...

[rkman]

Career mode as it is is very easy.

Unless you make it complicated for yourself.

Helped by lack of documentation.

Imagine what it is like for the 95% of ksp players who do not dwell the forums.

[NASAFanboy]

The hardest thing?

I fight tooth and nail to not start manned, and start up instead by taking every scrap of science I can get by flying in the atmosphere and going around KSC. It usually takes around a hour for me to gather enough science to launch a satellite with solar panels.

[MajorThomas]

The early missions without solar panels or batteries were the most tense of the whole career for me. after you get the electrical parts electric power becomes no problem.

This.

I just went through the entire tech tree in 0.22 for the first time, as a new player, in Nov/Dec 2013. Not knowing what lies ahead in the tech tree, and not really understanding how to get science made it particularly hard to get to solar panels. Once I had those, long-term missions with much more science was easy. And going through the tech tree in 0.23 (knowing what lies ahead and how to get max. science) it's pretty easy.

That said, 0.23 appears to have made it a little harder to get science than 0.22, but now Minmus has biomes to balance that out.

[Glaivas]

The hard thing is choose what technode unlock.