So... .24?

[KerbMav]

Having missions is not the same as having a storyline - I reckon it will be more like Wing Commander Privateer / X : "So, this is the universe, go play around - and if you run out of ideas or want to make some money by the side, here are some things you could do."

[webkilla]

Good points all around. If anything, satelites you launch and place various places as part of contracts might be set up in such a way that they remove themselves from the game after a set amount of time... or they get a seperate tracking type icon that you can turn off when it comes to the tracking station? I dunno, but I wouldn't being able to see everything you've launched as long as its meaningful. Currently there's no real reason to put up satelites. Perhaps a Comm. satelite might reduce the science-penalty you get if you transmit science data, if there is a satelite around Kerbin and the planet you're in orbit about?

That said, I at least hope that once the contract and money systems are both implemented that it would be possible to mod for a more restrictive and less sandboxy style of gameplay - simply to offer up some challenge in optimization and variation in gameplay. I have a sandbox game and that's fine, but I don't necessarily want my career game to be 100% sandboxy all the time

A contract/mission type I would really like to see would be to transport a subassembly made up of a hitcherhiker module, some batteries, landing legs and solar panels... basically a paid mission to ferry a science expedition to Duna or Mün or something. Which of course opens up for later "plz come and get us home" missions

[Random Tank]

If it is randomized then your first mission might be land on Eelloo, how you going to do that?

I highly doubt there would be ONE mission availible; there will be a load of different missions from different companies. Hopefully there will be a time limit on accepting a mission; if you do accept it there will be a much longer time limit; but if you leave it it will eventually cycle round to something new.

Also, I wouldn't mind the 'Put satellite in orbit around ...' if they used the idea that someone suggested that the satellite gets turned over to the company and you can't control it anymore; you could even have an option in the settings for the sats to dissapear when turned over to the company to reduce active flights (but you leave it on for the immersion factor).

Nice suggestions on the money people; Kash is a good one!

[real]

Don't forget that the Logos from the Contest will probably be included in .24!

[MKI]

Squad has said the contracts will be generated from set lists. So the randomness must be defined to a dregree. I bet they wont be very structured. Things such as Land on _____ or get a probe above _____ or run an experiment in _____.

Theres many possibilities, and each one can be changed randomly per-game. I doubt there would be anything really structured.

[blizzy78]

As long as I can de-orbit the completely useless craft a day later, we're good.

Where's the problem in that? It's not like NASA has all the space for their own.

[Palleas]

But, most importantly, what should the money be called???

Kredits? Kerbdosh? Moneys? Kerbuds? Kerbingos?

"Booster$"

'Cauz we need more'

[Random Tank]

"Booster$"

'Cauz we need more'

Ha! That's a good one

[Dimetime35c]

Okay I'm still not clear what the heck the difference between the two is. I thought .23.5 laid the ground work for the massive update in .24. Now I'm all confused. I thought like .23.5 was adding the asteroids but not the SLS parts. So what then is .24 doing? Bug fixes, more science, more parts what exactly?

[Junafani]

.24 is going to expand career mode with contracts (missions). So we finally get some use for that mission control building!

[Raven.]

To my understanding, 0.24 will include the contracts to where you make money by doing the redirect mission (and other missions).

[Sirrobert]

SLS parts are part of the NASA asteroid mission

.24 will introduce contracts. And thus, the foundaition of the financial system

[cantab]

To my knowledge .23.5 was going to be asteroids and new parts, but in development they realised they had to do more stuff (such as strengthening the joints) in order to make the asteroid redirections playable.

.24 is expected to bring big changes to career mode.

[Streetwind]

Both the asteroid mission and .24 were being developed in parallel. Originally the ARM pack was supposed to come as a sort of "official addon" to .24, but at some point this was changed and Squad decided that things would work out better if they bundled the ARM content and a number of important core improvements into an update of its own, to be released before .24 was fully done.

From seeing the reaction of the community across the forum, this seems to have been a good decision

[regex]

Where's the problem in that? It's not like NASA has all the space for their own.

I want all the processing power in the game going to what I want to do, not managing some useless satellite that will just sit on-rails forever because I don't care about it.

[blizzy78]

I want all the processing power in the game going to what I want to do, not managing some useless satellite that will just sit on-rails forever because I don't care about it.

On-rails vessels shouldn't consume any CPU time at all, because their position can be calculated for any point in time. They would only consume CPU time if they needed to be drawn, for example in the map.

[Technical Ben]

Good Christ, I hope not, I don't want the game littering up my flights in progress with random crap. Seems like they already have a more "sandboxey" approach planned that uses your own designs with maybe an additional part for testing or doing science in certain places.

A mission would probably be optional. Though if you wish to do the mission, you like have to do the mission. It will be "useless" in comparison to your own goals if it has economic/company based missions. The only ones that would follow useful play would be research missions.

[cantab]

They have already mentioned what the missions will be like in one of the streams. The missions will be like: Test SAS on the launch pad - $XX (easy), Test SAS on Eeloo - $YY (hard) or Take a gravity measurement on Eve, things like that. You dont have to take them, but you have a limited time to complete the mission if you do decide you want to take it. I like this as it allows you yo get there anyway you want as long as you have the part required.

If this is the model, then I think to make it interesting the under-test parts should be given unknown stats, and for some contracts made to be the only parts in their "class" you can use. So say you've got a contract to test some company's engine, you really are testing their engine. Until you launch, you don't know if it's going to put the NASA parts to shame or make the Skipper look good. If it's bad, you could be in for an interesting time: hope you remembered your abort system!

This could then tie in nicely if part performance is made upgradeable. Completing the contract would give a bit of a buff to the corresponding regular part.

[regex]

On-rails vessels shouldn't consume any CPU time at all, because their position can be calculated for any point in time. They would only consume CPU time if they needed to be drawn, for example in the map.

That's interesting because my game generally gets slower the more flights and debris I have. Mods might have something to do with that. Regardless, it's still a useless flight and I have no interest in seeing it floating around, so if it's hidden all the time by filters (and if I can't hide it, that's why I'd want to deorbit it) why does it have to be there?

[luinux]

It would be great to be able to install missions pack for the contract system: for example, a mission pack with the complete Gemini program, or Apollo program, or MIR construction, etc...

[webkilla]

That's interesting because my game generally gets slower the more flights and debris I have. Mods might have something to do with that. Regardless, it's still a useless flight and I have no interest in seeing it floating around, so if it's hidden all the time by filters (and if I can't hide it, that's why I'd want to deorbit it) why does it have to be there?

Because... donig milk-runs helps pay for your big fun rockets? I dunno - but I wouldn't mind seeing at least mods allowing for that kind of gameplay

[regex]

Because... donig milk-runs helps pay for your big fun rockets? I dunno - but I wouldn't mind seeing at least mods allowing for that kind of gameplay

Look, I really don't have a problem with small, crappy missions to fund what I want to do, or with the game giving out set payload missions as options, especially if I can ignore them, and I don't have a problem with them being persistent so other players can RP a rich LKO full of useless television satellites, but ffs it shouldn't be mandatory that I clutter up my nice, clean, exploration-oriented save with utterly useless junk. If someone wants all that junk, more power to them, but why should I have to suffer through it?

[webkilla]

Look, I really don't have a problem with small, crappy missions to fund what I want to do, or with the game giving out set payload missions as options, especially if I can ignore them, and I don't have a problem with them being persistent so other players can RP a rich LKO full of useless television satellites, but ffs it shouldn't be mandatory that I clutter up my nice, clean, exploration-oriented save with utterly useless junk. If someone wants all that junk, more power to them, but why should I have to suffer through it?

That's why I said I'd like for there to at least be the room so that modders can add that kind of gameplay into the mix - but if contracts are only implemented to the point of saying "land on planet X" or "do a mystery-goo reading in orbit of moon Y" then I'm just afraid that modding in more complex missions won't be possible

[regex]

That's why I said I'd like for there to at least be the room so that modders can add that kind of gameplay into the mix - but if contracts are only implemented to the point of saying "land on planet X" or "do a mystery-goo reading in orbit of moon Y" then I'm just afraid that modding in more complex missions won't be possible

Why would it not be possible? Look around at the mods already made for this game, basically anything is possible, it just comes down to how much time someone is willing to spend on programming it.

[Eric S]

On-rails vessels shouldn't consume any CPU time at all, because their position can be calculated for any point in time. They would only consume CPU time if they needed to be drawn, for example in the map.

I agree in theory, but in practice people have shown that they do have an impact (or at least did in the version of KSP tested). I'll see if I can find the thread where this was discussed.