Early campaign so very boring.....

[Kerba Fett]

I've been playing KSP for a long time. I've built large space stations and landed on other planets. I've built VTOL's, spaceplanes, and all sorts of space craft. A few months ago I decided to take some time away from the game to play other stuff. Had a great time with Assassins Creed 4, GTA 5, Splinter Cell blacklist, and the new Batman game.

Now I'm trying to get back into KSP in the campaign mode and it's SOOO BORING.......

I'm now at the point where it takes 90 science to unlock new nodes and I only gain about 10 per flight because I've already observed the goo and done EVA reports on the ground, in low altitude flight, in high altitude flight, in orbit, and after landing.

All I see in the near future of the campaign is dozens of tiny boring flights trying to unlock the parts to make this game interesting again.

This is worse than grinding for XP in an MMO.

Is there ANY fun to be had for an experienced player in the campaign? Is there a way to generate massive ammounts of science quickly?

Or has my time in the sandbox ruined the campaign for me?

[SkyRender]

It can help to do comprehensive missions to speed things along. For example, take the time to get EVA reports from orbit on a large number of Kerbin biomes for your earliest orbital launch. Then go to Minmus and perform multiple landings at multiple sites for a huge amount of science. Take advantage of biomes, and you won't be stuck wanting for things to do in Career mode.

[LethalDose]

It sounds like the trouble you're having is from doing extremely low-yield science missions. Head off to the Mün and Minmus and you'll be swimming in science.

[Captain Sierra]

Get all three Tier 2 nodes and a Mun mission is easy as cake. The Mun has 8 biomes for sake or repeatability. Set down in one of the craters. Land on the near side to kerbin, land on the far side. A single Comprehensive Mun landing can net me hundreds of science in a single biome.

[Rocket Farmer]

I'd agree with the posters above. For me in this latest run it went like this. I am no pro and I know others do its better but this is what I would consider a "normal" level.

1st flight: Kerbals wander around base site doing "science" on te launch pad etc. takes about 10 minutes.

2nd flight Launch into high kerbal orbit and return.

3rd flight: go to minmas. Land in 4 biomes and return home.

4th flight: go to mun. Land in 5 biomes and return home.

5th flight. Duna and Ike with return.

6th flight: Pol, Bop & Laythe landings with flybys of tylo and vall. Return home.

Science is maxed and then some.

[Vanamonde]

I think the issue you're having is your goals. Yes, if you're used to zipping anywhere you want on short notice, campaign is going to drag. But if you take it as a challenge to build wiith different design objectives and a limited selection of parts, it can be quite interesting.

[Markus Reese]

Yup, career definitely favours a more slow, and mission plan style of play. I found it is best to do more detailed mission plans just from a roleplay standpoint. Oh, and with Minmus having biomes, if you want alot of science, grab yourself a multi lab jr science vessel and hop to a few different biomes. Tons of science and will be quick into interplanetary. Should get at least a few nodes a mission if you plan it out. Also, you can transfer results to your capsule by right clicking any science module or lander when on EVA

[Superfluous J]

All you really need to get to Minmus is the decoupler you get for 5 science, then you can build a moderately sized rocket to take a ship there and land it. Take a crew report and EVA report high above it, low above it, landed on it, and then an EVA and surface sample from the surface. That should get you several hundred science.

If you aim your landing for a lake near sloped ground that goes up to a plateau, you can store your EVA and surface samples in the pod and jet your guy over there with his jetpack fuel. Get EVA reports above and landed on the sloped ground and the plateau, and get a surface sample from each. That's another couple hundred science.

Career mode isn't about doing stuff you could just do in sandbox. It's about achieving science with limited parts.

[The Destroyer]

Head to minmus, it's easy. Do samples. Fun and easy!

[G'th]

The way I did it without it being a numbing grind fest was to first get your freebie science (remember to get EVA reports both while on the capsule ladder and when on the actual ground)off the launch pad the grassy area next to it. That should unlock 2 or 3 nodes. Then you can build a functional rocket and start your suborbital hops to different biomes. Keep experimenting with early parts and you'll eventually hit orbit which will net you a good amount of science.

One you get partway into the third column of nodes, you should be able to do flybys (if not straight up orbits) of Mun and Minmus, which if you plan it right will net you stupid amounts of science depending on how low you can get your periapsis (as you'll get science from the different altitudes) and whether or not you decide to put yourself into Munar/Minar orbit, which will also net you more science as you get EVA reports from the different biomes.

From there, landings on both moons. Standard stuff. After that you should be ready to go interplanetary. Just breaking Kerbin's SOI will give you a good boost to grab a node or two if you bring enough experiments and return them to Kerbin. From there, its the same procedure. Flybys, orbits, then landings. If you have mods then the game can get really interesting at this point, as you'll have unlocked enough to start digging into some of the really neat toys that some mods have.

Doing it this way (and making sure you get yourself all the science you can from wherever you are. EVA and Crew reports from all kinds of places, positions, and altitudes are your bread and butter) gives you a good progression that's not too grindy and dull but also not handicapped by the low technology you'll have. Its also mostly realistic if you're into that sort of thing.

And remember, if you're ever in a stump (using my approach its usually somewhere between orbits and landings that you want science but can't get it), always go for probe impacts on various bodies. Bring as many experiments as you can reasonably put on a probe, load it up with batteries and solar panels, and crash it into one of the Moons (or even some other planet or other planets moons). You can pop experiments at various altitudes on the way down and transmit before you impact the surface. Won't get you the full science (and you'll have to land to get the rest), but with the high base science, the transmitted values will add up to a good enough boost to get a node.

Another good way early on is to go interplanetary early and go for Kerbol, ie, the sun. You should be able to easily push a probe into solar orbit. As with good flybys, get your periapsis as low as you can so you can get the different science values.

[nats]

I find it boring as well - but more for the fact that its doing science for new parts! Why? How the heck does science create new parts? New parts should come from research labs, employing technicians, buying materials and using funding. The only thing you should get from carrying out mission science is some prestige and that should provide more funding to the program. I dont see how science is related to parts manufacture at all. It all seems very contrived to me the way it is presently. I think Slitherines Buzz Aldrins Space Program Manager does the whole space program thing far better. But hopefully the end game will be a lot more interesting after they have introduced some of the other game elements like economy and contracts.

[Streetwind]

There's a different solution too, you know. You could play sandbox mode.

This is not meant condescending in any way. The simple truth is that the two game modes are different and will appeal to different player types. If you are someone who enjoys having all parts at your fingertips and building completely freeform, then career mode is simply not offering the experience you're looking for. You shouldn't force yourself to do it because somebody said that it is the only "right" way to play KSP. There is no one single "right" way.

I personally enjoy career mode, but I most definitely don't look down on sandbox players. They're usually the people coming up with super-creative designs that blow my utilitarian rigs out of the water, and that's pretty awesome.

[m4rt14n]

If you want u can ignore the aerodynamics and space station parts and just gun for rocket and science part nodes. It'll get u faster science and just come back for the rest later

[FlamedSteak]

Career mode is really built with new players in mind.

It's a method of slowly opening the tech to them rather than just dumping all the parts in their lap and going "Now land something on the Mun."

I know I find the early career a little tedious, as I'm sure NASA would if Congress said they had to cut costs by using only Mercury-Redstone launch vehicles.

My beef with the career mode is that science is nothing more than clicking a few buttons. You can drive a rover 10km in any direction and not discover anything new about the planet.

I just wish their were more biomes scattered and dotted in every area, not great tracks of land that literally take hours (possibly days) to traverse by rover.

At the moment roving is an utterly pointless pursuit, other than just the challenge of it.

Edited January 21, 2014 by FlamedSteak

[Caelib]

I've got a save where I've unlocked almost the entire tech tree and I've never left Kerbin's sphere of influence. It is fairly easy to get 1500+ science in one trip to Minmus ... my recommendation is to unlock all of the science equipment as soon as possible and avoid 2.5m rockets until you've fully explored Kerbin and its moons.

Of special note: dont be tempted to transmit low-yield science from Kerbin and its moons Transmit 100% science yields, such as Crew Reports because you can only store one at a time. Everything else, bring it home!

[merendel]

my recommendation is to unlock all of the science equipment as soon as possible and avoid 2.5m rockets until you've fully explored Kerbin and its moons.

While I agree on aim for science producing nodes first I actualy like being able to send up larger rockets fairly early on. One thing I've been doing recently is what I've dubed my shotgun missions. Normaly right after my first mission to a moon I have enough science to unlock most of the major science producing parts and some larger rocket parts. I then make a lander cappable of landing on mun, doing science and then returning to kerbin. Instead of launching these 1 at a time I use the larger parts to send 4-5 landers all at once. takes quite a bit to lift those larger payloads but the delivery stage gets them into orbit of the target and I drop them 1 at a time, get science and setup a return.

I can normaly clean out both moons of the majority of their science potential with a pair of such missions to each (each pod has 2 of each experiment and a transmiter to send the first soil sample) Saves quite a bit of time only haveing to do 4 launches instead of 20.

[Pipcard]

Transmit 100% science yields, such as Crew Reports because you can only store one at a time.

Actually, you can store multiple crew reports, but they have to be from different biomes/locations.

[Guest]

I find that mods really spice up career mode. I've been playing with remotetech, TAC life support, and kerbal interstellar, along with a few more science mods (station science, etc). They add challenge and makes progression more exciting. Although my latest save has been corrupted...right before I can take a mothership to Duna. Oh well. BTSM and deadly reentry is fun as well, just started playing it.

On stock campaigns, things can be boring until you get to interplanetary flight. Then science racks up really quick.

[Kerba Fett]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I've been trying to stick with the career mode since the sandbox is sort of a dead end. There's no real purpose in going anywhere except to do science or just look around.

I like the concept of the career mode, I just find it slow to get enough nodes unlocked to open up my build options.

The order that some parts unlock also seems a bit puzzling. For example, by the time I could build airplanes to explore Kerbin I'd already done all the science I can in the atmosphere. It also seems odd that I can build and launch planes, but haven't unlocked landing gear yet. Wouldn't that usually be a critical part of a plane?

As for your suggestions of making a trip to minmus a second or third flight, I can't imagine how you guys are managing that. That was prior to unlocking landing gear, batteries, or solar panels. How do you not fall over landing on the engine nozzle. How does 50 power get you to the Mun and back let alone Minmus?

I've managed to unlock all the 90 science cost nodes except landing gear and heavy rockets and I still haven't managed to land on the Mun and come back. I've managed to land 4 times but each ship had too little fuel to even make orbit let alone the transfer burn back to Kerbin.

Anyways, by trying to stay with small ships I've unlocked enough nodes that its starting to be fun again and if I can just manage another 20 science I can unlock docking ports which gives me orbital refueling and should make things easier.

[Superfluous J]

As for your suggestions of making a trip to minmus a second or third flight, I can't imagine how you guys are managing that. That was prior to unlocking landing gear, batteries, or solar panels. How do you not fall over landing on the engine nozzle. How does 50 power get you to the Mun and back let alone Minmus?

It's surprisingly easy. I did this shortly after 0.22 came out:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Granted, you'd need a little more to get crew reports in multiple biomes, but just what you'd get for this single trip would be worth maybe 1000 points I think, if you get all the science you can from high over Kerbin, High over Minmus, that biome, above that biome, low over minmus (on takeoff! On landing you'd risk dying getting out of the pod). If you EVA to the nearby biomes you can add a few more EVA reports and soil samples.

[Rocket Farmer]

An ideaKerba Fett if the 5thhorseman's idea seems a little to tough would be to do a mun encounter without burning to stay in the mun's orbit.

Basically get to lower kerbin orbit (LKO). From there burn for a mun intercept. It should cost about 865 DV. Try to get a nice low intercept with the mun (under 10k is ideal). Then go.

Graze past the mun getting crew reports and Eva reports from each biome (if you are mid equator you should get 3-5 mun ones plus high kerbin orbit and high mun orbit). Do all other science experiments as well.

After you clear the mun burn retrograde 5-10 DV to drop your peraposis into Kerbin. Then you glide back home with 800+ science in tow.

So in short don't circularize when you get to the mum and you get a free return back to kerbin.

[Commissioner Tadpole]

All you really need to get to Minmus is the decoupler you get for 5 science, then you can build a moderately sized rocket to take a ship there and land it. Take a crew report and EVA report high above it, low above it, landed on it, and then an EVA and surface sample from the surface. That should get you several hundred science.

You're forgetting about the cursed reaction wheels. My rockets were a PAIN to fly until I got them, and then you need batteries because power runs out easily, and then you need solar panels because even batteries are not enough.

[Superfluous J]

You're forgetting about the cursed reaction wheels. My rockets were a PAIN to fly until I got them, and then you need batteries because power runs out easily, and then you need solar panels because even batteries are not enough.

I forgot no such thing when I did this exact mission with the parts you can get with 5 total science points, and then posted the Imgur album to show how easy it is to do a couple hours ago:

It's surprisingly easy. I did this shortly after 0.22 came out:

http://imgur.com/a/Di0gT

[UmbralRaptor]

As for your suggestions of making a trip to minmus a second or third flight, I can't imagine how you guys are managing that. That was prior to unlocking landing gear, batteries, or solar panels. How do you not fall over landing on the engine nozzle. How does 50 power get you to the Mun and back let alone Minmus?

If you spend your first 20 science the right way, you have landing legs. Since it's possible to get rather more than this with an orbital mission (or perhaps even a suborbital hop)... As for power, a mere 50 units if you're careful in your maneuvers. You'll need to keep ASAS off most of the time. Transmitting of data will be quite limited, though.

[lammatt]

you can basically just use pod+chute >decoupler +smallest tank+engine>decoupler +SRB>decoupler +SRB>decoupler +SRB to get into low orbit and return for your first mission

i think you can at least get ~150science with that.

(if you cant... you are probably doing it wrong)