Career mode: Some mission ideas

[av8r1]

So I've played a bit of career mode, both in .24 and .90, and I have a few suggestions for mission contracts.

Reduce the number of component test missions, because they're really tedious. Some are easy money, like testing a stack decoupler on the ground, but others make little sense, like testing an SRB or other lower stage component at high altitude. Instead of "one component at this narrow range of altitudes and airspeeds," maybe do "test these three components on the same rocket and recover them after flight." Test flight contracts are a part of space flight, but maybe they could be less grind-tastic?

In a similar vein, I notice that's basically all you get between orbital missions and your first Munar mission. Coming up with the science points to buy both a fuel line and a solar panel is a bit difficult.

The new "recon" missions add some neat variety, but would be better executed by plane than rocket. Having enough parts around to build a simple airplane would be appropriate.

The contract system could also be used for player training. For instance, I had no idea you could switch between multiple vehicles using the [] keys until I got a rescue mission and had to look it up. These missions would be a great place to introduce how components work and how to control them in-campaign.

On a last note, I would revamp the way the mission text works. On most of the contracts, there's some nonsensical fluff text up top and you have to scroll down to see what you actually have to do. It makes finding a contract you want to do a little more tedious. Putting the fluff text at the bottom would fix that.