Sandbox or Career?

[vetrox]

In its current state career IS sandbox delayed.

Need some sort of currency

[samstarman5]

I feel pretty confident that career will get more fun the more is added to it. It is still a rather young gametype, to be sure. But sandbox still tempts me.

[samstarman5]

In its current state career IS sandbox delayed.

Need some sort of currency

That is what contracts is going to open the door to. Though currency may not be introduced with them. Be patient.

[Highlad]

The thing is, The two game modes are so different from each other. One is all about getting science and being efficient etc. The other is more about exploration and doing the improbable.

[Santoron]

I've only fiddled with career sporadically. Until we have currency and contracts I'll stay mostly in sandbox.

[problemecium]

The way I see it, Career and Sandbox become increasingly indistinguishable near the end of the tech tree, until Career is basically Sandbox with brownie points for doing science stuff. Some of my derpy test designs I still restrict to Sandbox-only so as to not accidentally blow up Kerbin, but a lot of times I'll start doing silly sandbox-type stuff in Career mode whilst waiting for transfer windows, etc.

[Dizzle]

Sandbox. Career is too grindy for my taste.

[MKI]

Both, Career is basically sandbox with some interesting science pop-ups and a minor grind at the start of a new game.

[psyper]

I'd be interested to see how long people have been playing ksp in relation to which option they picked. I think in kinda hit a sweet spot when I started ksp. It was about 2 months before career mode version was released so I was too advanced in my game to scrap all my achievements and start with career mode but still too early to get bored of sandbox and wanted a challenge that career gives. Every now and then I'm tempted to start anew but then I get an idea of building a new colony or a new space station and to have to start my current infrastructure (all those launches and fuel transfers from my kethane mines on minmus all to do again! Shudder) would be too daunting. I have two flotillas enroute to duna and jol and two large mining vessels training and evolving prior to a tour around the system. To scrap that and start with a few parts and digging kerbal dirt to get points seem pointless for me (not dissing career itself but its just where I am in the game)

I think when currency comes out with contracts and gets fully integrated with the kethane and life support mods I might manually edit my science to unlock all the tech tree and start from there. IRL you wouldn't see the commercial ventures such as spacex having to learn from scratch or even China and india,; in my game we'll have a fully fledge and researched space programme that is ready to take on private money to fulfill contracts and mine resources to bring back home - or rain metorites on our enemy cities, for science or something.

Edited April 20, 2014 by psyper

[Red Iron Crown]

Sandbox for me. Career, in it's current state, just makes me do a bit of science spamming before I get back to the stuff I was doing anyway.

I'll be doing a career game when 0.24 is released, to see if things have gotten better with contracts.

[Superfluous J]

Like so many others, I do both. Career when I want to play a long persistent world with lots of missions and more parts available as time goes on, sandbox when I want to do something fun (Like hooking wings to an asteroid and gliding it to a landing) or participate in a challenge, test an idea for career mode (in sandbox anything goes, I frequently pretend it's "sim mode" for KSC. Hyperediting a lander into Duna orbit is A-OK as I'm just making sure it's got enough parachutes for the job).

Neither is better than the other. They are compliments.

[The Jedi Master]

I play Sandbox because I think science is really grindy. It could really use an overhaul. I do plan to start a new Career save, though.

[mordin86]

sandbox here - career is too grindy right now.

[Nemecle]

Sandbox FTW : I consider that my "science progression" is the skill I gain in-game after severals hundred hours of playing

[Frank_G]

Career for sure. It is more challenging, offers more rewards and is the best gametype to start with when new to KSP.

I use sandbox for simulation and messing around, but in the end, i always play career mode.

I thought differently a while ago, but after taking a deeper look, career mode is the best way to play the game for me.

And i am eagerly looking forward to the upcoming features .24 will have in store.

[DocMoriarty]

Career for the added challenge. I'm currently waiting for 0.24 to start a new career.

[Valley]

I like Sandbox. I like making my own goals. I just wish they allowed the science units to work without telling me they were useless.

[Alymon]

Sandbox encouraged me to build monstrosities.

Career has encouraged me to focus more on design and explore celestial bodies more.

Neither is better or worse for me and having tried both, it has made me enjoy the game much more. And really, once I finish unlocking all the parts in career, it will have become sandbox again.

[Madrias]

I prefer Sandbox, but that's only because of the difficulty in starting Career mode.

When the fastest option to get science is to build a capsule on the launchpad, crew rep., EVA rep. while hanging on ladder, EVA rep. on ground, and Surface sample of launchpad, then return to science building to unlock better rocket parts, because I'm trying to get to plane parts.

Then there's the flaw of the useful science parts. The 2-kerbal lab is too big, bulky, and heavy for use during early-tech-tree stuff, when you need it most. There's a lack of low-end science gear, so you end up needing to do an interplanetary mission just to unlock basic stuff that should already be available, like wheels. Yeah, it sucks having to send 5 landers to the Mun in order to get enough science... oops, except that's not enough, cause you'll have to make even more landers to add even more science junk.

So you find yourself getting bored with throwing ships at Kerbin and ships at the Mun and ships at Minmus, or you make an overkill rocket to throw something Interplanetary with antennas and plan to retrieve the crew later because probes are bloody useless.

It's gotten to the point where I've been giving myself 2000 freebie science and gathering random crap from the tech trees, as well as installing mods to give me more science gear.

[NecroBones]

Career for the added challenge. I'm currently waiting for 0.24 to start a new career.

I may do that too. My plan was to stick with just this one career, but that will be an interesting challenge to take up from scratch. So I'm thinking I'll import all my flags, but start the career over.

[HafCoJoe]

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

Career is where I actually play.

Same here Javster. I prefer to be able to actually do science .

[RW-1]

I agree about the lab, and IMHO there are not enough science experiments in both total, or unlocked early enough.

I play career myself.

[Jouni]

Then there's the flaw of the useful science parts. The 2-kerbal lab is too big, bulky, and heavy for use during early-tech-tree stuff, when you need it most.

It used to be like that. In 0.23.5, we have Skippers and X200-32s in the same tier as the lab, allowing us to build simple rockets for lifting 50+ tonnes to orbit.

[Tanner Rawlings]

right now career is pretty much a dud for me, once you get to a certain point you can do everything you could do in sandbox and loses its spice, but once contracts come out i bet it would change, i cant wait for .24, trying to do my massive interplanetary ships with a budget will be fun, or dumping all my cash into a mega mission to set up a massive colony on duna (last ditch effort to save kerbal kind)

[hasty6]

Ksp i think is a game where your main world is a sandbox world, it is not like minecraft where your main world is survival and you probably never go on your creative mode, but i think it is different in ksp because career is in such an early stage once you have maxed out the tech tree it pretty much becomes a sandbox game.