The start of career mode is becoming repetitive. Suggestions?

[Constan7ine]

Hey guys,

So I've been a massive fan of KSP for quite a while now. I've had ups and downs, amazing successes, and many catastrophic failures. But something's putting me off.

I prefer the game with mods, so I often have quite a few mods on. Annoyingly this means I often have to start a new career whenever a new update comes along. I don't mind doing that, I can try new things and missions I've never done before, and experience new emergent narratives my imagination comes up with.

But each time I start a new career, the first couple of hours is always the same, getting the first few tiers of the science tree by doing quick Kerbin missions, and of course landing in the moon and collecting all the science. These first few basic things I've done so many times I couldn't put a number on it. And it's starting to get really boring.

I know about mods like "better than starting manned" which would give me a fresh new career. But that's designed to work without other mods, and I want other mods.

So do you have any suggestions to keep KSP fresh? To keep it interesting for those first few tiers of the science tree before I unlock the mod parts to make it feel different?

[Javster]

Cheat enough science to unlock jets, then play as normal. Use the debug menu and press Alt for 5 seconds to cheat science.

[Jovus]

You could always use the debug menu to give yourself enough science to skip the 'around Kerbin' bits, while still generally requiring you to fill out the rest of the tech tree.

[Parkaboy]

I recently did a career save (stock only) that was a fun experience during the earlier missions. I took advantage from the fact that there are some contracts that give a lot of science to avoid going the same science collect route as always. Here's what I did:

- With just a command pod, I gathered all the science I could get from the launchpad and runway. This allowed me to unlock the first three or four nodes, giving me enough parts to build a basic spaceworthy rocket.

- Then I took all the contracts for testing parts landed on Kerbin and in Kerbin orbit.

- For the "landed" contracts, I treated those as if I was just testing the parts in my R&D facility: attached the part to a command pod, staged it and recovered the craft. Easy money and science --> useful to unlock a few more nodes, but not the main mode of advancement.

- The "orbit" contracts I treated like satellite deployment contracts: if they wanted me to test the LV-1 engine, for instance, I created a small satellite with a probe core, batteries, solar panels and antennae (and, of course, fuel tanks and the aforementioned engine). After a few launches I ended up with a network of satellites around Kerbin, each one with a different engine type, and each on an eccentric orbit going from 70km to about 1000km high. That way, I could just use the same satellites over and over again if I get new contracts to test again those parts that were already on a sat that I put in orbit.

By doing that I managed to unlock the whole tech tree while doing only two visits to the Mun and two to Minmus, and gave me a much more satisfying sense of roleplay.

[Schmonzo]

Install realistic construction time and final frontier (don't reload and permadeath) and your choice of other mods. That changes up the game in my experience!

[Wanderfound]

I share some of the sentiment, but there are still plenty of options.

* Hardcore mode.

* IVA only.

* Aircraft only (Google "the wrong brothers")

* Aircraft in IVA only.

* Hardcore mode aircraft in IVA only.

...you get the idea.

I've been staying away from career and having fun in sandbox lately, but Fine Print has tempted me back into career. Gotta learn how to fly low-tech rockets again...

[Pecan]

Sandbox

Why mess around with career-mode if you're bored with it? It doesn't make sense, it isn't interesting and it doesn't add anything so how about doing the things you want to, in the way you want to, progressing in a way that makes sense to you?

[KSK]

Beeline for probe techs first, then play a 'Better than Starting Manned' style game. Entirely possible by picking up science points from contracts and nearby Kerbin biomes.

[Superfluous J]

Do what I do: Severely limit the science you get from experiments, and eliminate the scinece you get from contracts.

Then you'll have to get to Mun and Minmus after unlocking only a couple tiers, because it's not worth the cost and effort to get 0.4 science from that trip to the Badlands.

[regex]

Don't listen to all these people telling you to limit science gain or slow down your gameplay; that's just going to lead to doing more of what you're doing, which is grinding early tech.

Get Custom Biomes and go to Ike and Gilly instead of the Mun or Minmus, and try doing that way before you would normally feel comfortable doing it. The delta-V requirements aren't that much more. Then use that science to get to Jool, etc... Don't bother with Mun or Minmus ever.

[Francois424]

If you're feeling incredibly motivated for a unique experience, modify the tech tree around (or rather redistribute the parts thru the trees. Try to have the necessary stuff to make sputnik as your first craft and decide where you want to go next.

That's something I have yet to do myself, but I'm seriously contemplating a custom modification of the stock game for that purpose. Then again you have to go into each part files and modify which research to unlock it which could be time consuming.

Another thing I have done, is aiming for science Lab and science instruments as soon as possible (with rover wheels), drop your rover on the Mun, and drive (yes, DRIVE) thru lunar terrain to get all biomes. After a 2 week's mission split in many segments of variable length of playing, I came back with nearly 3k science (thru a return lander piloted by Jeb... epic). I loved this. Tried doing it on Minmus, but driving there is quite annoying. Would have done same thing on Duna, except it doesn't have many biomes... damn.

[Aragosnat]

Just use default starting parts for as long as you can or just play like you normally do.

Also... It is possible to get to Minmus, land, get a science (depending on how long you want to stay, you could walk to all the biomes on Minmus to get 1 soil and the 2 EVA reports) and come back. Just be warned you will not get the Explore Contract Mission to do Minmus if you get to Minmus before getting the Mün Contract.

[cantab]

I second regex's suggestion. Just don't go to the Mun or Minmus. Pretend those dirty rotten Kerbiets have beaten you to them and the way to regain some honour is to go further.

You won't strictly speaking need custom biomes for it. If you don't have them you'll get a somewhat stiffer and more varied challenge, going further with less than you otherwise would.

[Constan7ine]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. This discussion has made me extremely excited to play career mode again.

I've had a think about it and I've realised that what's happened is I've ended up with best strategies for the start of the game. Ship designs and flights using limited parts that I've basically learnt of by heart. This is probably why I've gotten bored.

The solution I is, as some suggested, to constrain myself and disallow the use of my usual spacecraft designs and flights.

I also really like the idea of giving myself some starting science from the debug menu. It would allow me more options early in the game that I can explore, and provided "cheating" is enriching my experience I think it's okay.

[Superfluous J]

Don't listen to all these people telling you to limit science gain or slow down your gameplay; that's just going to lead to doing more of what you're doing, which is grinding early tech.

Get Custom Biomes and go to Ike and Gilly instead of the Mun or Minmus, and try doing that way before you would normally feel comfortable doing it. The delta-V requirements aren't that much more. Then use that science to get to Jool, etc... Don't bother with Mun or Minmus ever.

Weird. When I went to Ike and Gilly (one biome each) and all the other non-mun-or-minmus planets with limited science gains it didn't feel like grinding at all. It was actually quite challenging and fun.

Of course, I like limiting myself as much as possible. If you don't want limits, play sandbox so you can do whatever you want.

[Moonfrog]

I try and do things differently. For example when I first played and started getting good at the game, I was bti concerned at being obsessed with everything being as small as possible. Now I just build stuff that looks fun to build and use my expertise to overcome the extra weight put into the craft.

Right now I built a lander, that has two sets of engines, one for travel in space, but then when it lands, it fires 3 engines to stop its vertical speed and decrease horizontal speed. Rather than using the same lander designs from before. Also never built a spaceplane to go to the mun before, but that is something I will attempt to do in my new career.

[regex]

Weird. When I went to Ike and Gilly (one biome each) and all the other non-mun-or-minmus planets with limited science gains it didn't feel like grinding at all. It was actually quite challenging and fun.

OP was lamenting the science grind early on so I suggested not limiting science gains. OP was also lamenting how boring landing on Mun and Minmus early was, so I suggested s/he do something different. I really wasn't dogging on your play style or anything, not sure how you got that from my post, which was really meant to say "If you don't like science grind, don't limit science gains".

[Superfluous J]

OP was lamenting the science grind early on so I suggested not limiting science gains. OP was also lamenting how boring landing on Mun and Minmus early was, so I suggested s/he do something different. I really wasn't dogging on your play style or anything, not sure how you got that from my post, which was really meant to say "If you don't like science grind, don't limit science gains".

Sorry to imply that I thought you were dogging on my personal style, I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that you can enjoy having low tech nodes and not consider them "something to get past" but instead something to experience.

Your method will skip them so you don't have to grind. My method will utilize them for fun so you don't have to grind.

[Linear]

Like regex idea of skipping kerbins satellites, however also agree with just going sandbox.

[Sky_walker]

Nah, sandbox is just for toying / testing stiff you don't want to test in a 'real game' (moving files around directories works wonders).

Each on his own, but I for one got burned out in sandbox mode after 2 days. Never comming back.

[Pecan]

...This discussion has made me extremely excited to play career mode again .... and provided "cheating" is enriching my experience I think it's okay.

It's your game, there's no wrong way to play it as long as it's fun for you :-)

The important thing is that you have been inspired again.

[Spatzimaus]

The way I kept it interesting was just to add more limitations on myself, ones that fit thematically with the game. As soon as I reached the first parachute tech, I required that every vessel I launched be fully recoverable, because of the economic system. For the first few rockets that just meant adding a chute to the designs, but as I progressed a bit further it made things very interesting. I've now got SSTO heavy boosters with probe cores, chutes, SAS, etc. designed to lift a cargo up to orbit, leave it there, and land back near KSC with nothing expended besides a bit of fuel. It's a lot harder than making yet another asparagus rocket design, but it's also a lot more fun.

Honestly, if you've played the game for a long time then there isn't much that'll keep the first half-dozen techs from being boring, but that's maybe an hour of play, tops. Once you unlock a few of the more interesting parts, you can set these sorts of limits on yourself to keep the rest of the tree far more entertaining.

[Madrias]

I was inspired by the "Wrong Brothers" for my new Career save, and I'm having lots of fun with it. It's hard, but fun.