Sandbox or Career?

[Robbii6]

Just wondering what you guys think, because whilst playing today i realised i wasn't doing the fun stuff i used to in sandbox, because i was that focused on getting science. So from that i think i might go back to playing sandbox. That's my opinion, what's yours? No disrespect to the devs because what you have done is great and its enjoyable!

[WillHop]

I like career because it gives me the opportunity to design missions in a way I wouldn't previously have done, but when i'm about 3/4 of the way through the tech tree I try and complete it as soon as possible so I can focus on projects that won't need science

[Javster]

Sandbox is the "classic" gamemode, so-to-speak. I like it for messing around and mod testing.

Career is where I actually play.

[RocketPilot573]

Career because it has the science reports (other than, the R&D is CLOSED) (I finished the tech tree long ago).

[Ascension Islander]

I'm thinking about starting a career but editing the save file so that I start with 2000 science. I don't find the beginning of the tech tree as fun as I used to

[Pecan]

Sandbox, because career - at the moment - is just about unlocking parts so you can eventually ... do exactly what you can do in sandbox.

Interestingly, after I had voted there were exactly the same number for career and for sandbox (7 each) with more voting "both as good" (10). At this stage of the voting they seem to be right regarding popular opinion :-)

[ETA: At 33 votes all options are tied.]

[ETA: At 77 votes career has pulled ahead with 30, sandbox/both are at 24 and 23.]

Edited April 19, 2014 by Pecan

[TerLoki]

I still do sandbox from time to time for testing the odd idea or doing something crazy, but ever since I started my first career last patch I've been hooked. I just hope, terrible as it is, that I get more time between now and 0.24 than I did before 0.23.5 came out so I can do some of my awesome big missions I plan out.

[katateochi]

*snip i realised i wasn't doing the fun stuff i used to in sandbox, because i was that focused on getting science. snip*

This describes my thoughts exactly! Career mode made my approach all to serious and it became a quest for science and how to get science in the fewest launches rather than a quest for "what's the craziest thing I can make work". Don't get me wrong I've really enjoyed career mode, in particular the earlier stages and being forced to work with limited parts, that's a nice challenge, but what I hope to get back to now is just doing my own thing.

At heart I'm a sandbox player, but I think it is a pity that the science parts have no point in sandbox, it would be nice if you still got the messages and could still collect logs as a record of where you've been. So because of that I now rush through career and ransack Mun for its points and then get back to a sandbox style environment, but in career mode. I hope that the addition of funds doesn't make doing that too much of a pain.

[ArmchairGravy]

Career for the science cookies. The stock tree unlocks pretty quickly, and then it's sandbox play anyway.

[Jas1126]

I played sandbox when I first purchased the game but found it lacking. I enjoy the challenge of needing science (and soon, currency). I felt as though everything I was accomplishing in sandbox was, well, not an accomplishment. Sure, I achieved the goal but it felt empty to me.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Jas1126

[DisarmingBaton5]

I play sandbox more, and sometimes roleplay a "career" in sandbox mode. The beginning of the tech tree just seems weird to me. I may try some modded tech trees, though.

[Taki117]

I do career only because I like the challenge of working within your constraints while in the middle of the tech tree. I consider the middle anything after tier 3 (since you can get there in about 3 missions for the average player) its about that point where you have enough parts to Get into orbit reliably, but if you are going to Duna you need to plan rigorously, not just throw the biggest ship you can at it.

[GoatRider]

Even after you've unlocked the tech tree in Career, you can continue to accumulate Science!®

[bobcook]

I play sandbox to explore all of the different parts. When 0.23.5 came out, I built a few rockets and captured a few asteroids (and failed to capture one) using sandbox. But then I switched to career to play a more elaborate game.

[SkyRender]

There's not much difference between the two the way I play. Two missions and I've unlocked everything in Career mode, making it effectively Sandbox with science options if I want to.

[Vanamonde]

Play career until you unlock all parts, and presto! You're now playing sandbox with science parts that work.

[Kerbonautical]

I like career but I always end up reverting to sandbox. I won't put this down to the game though as I generally have had no problem with becoming bored of the career when playing stock, but I tend to play with a considerable amount of mods. Some of those mods also tweak the tech tree and these have always led me back to sandbox due to the added requirements to access these new toys.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the financial aspect will force me to create even more efficient designs (hopefully) but again I'm concerned about how this will be handled through mods as I rarely play without them now, but also don't want to be deterred from the career mode due to the requirements increasing too drastically.

[cantab]

I've played quite a bit in both. My current, though, I call "Science Sandbox". Make new career save, edit persistent.sfs to have 99999 science, unlock everything, edit back to have 0 science, and off I go with all the parts already had and all the science still to do.

[Capt. Hunt]

I play career so I can feel that I'm accomplishing something as I go.

[Fendleton]

I do both. In career mode, I limit my designs to ones that can return their crew back (in theory at least. Sometimes I make mistakes and end up ramming into Ike or sommat).....and tend to re-use designs. In Sandbox, I mess around and make my ion-powered planes and 12-engined ultra-fast crashing machines. Generally I use career more than sandbox though.

[iDan122]

Sandbox, career tech tree is still a mess, plus I wanted to go for an asteroid straight ahead without wasting 5 hours on unlocking parts.

[Tortoise]

I like career just because it gives you a bit more to do, and a bit more reason to do things.

[Pecan]

77 votes is hardly a representative sample of KSP players but from the comments here would it be fair to say that career mode is doing exactly what it was designed for; providing purpose and guidance to those that want it, leaving sandbox for those that don't. Look like more of us should make use of both and get the best of both worlds :-) (if only there was time for both!)

[Javster]

I've played quite a bit in both. My current, though, I call "Science Sandbox". Make new career save, edit persistent.sfs to have 99999 science, unlock everything, edit back to have 0 science, and off I go with all the parts already had and all the science still to do.

You could also calculate the EXACT amount of Science! required to unlock the tech tree and save yourself step 4.

[Eric S]

I do both.

Very much this. It depends on what I want to do. If I have a specific goal in mind, I'll usually do it in sandbox. If I don't, I head off to career. I like the challenge of the limited part selection in the tech tree and trying not to duplicate my previous missions exactly changes things up at least a little, but isn't necessary if I've got some big plan in mind.