The Career is obviously suited for more causal people, but basically not great for anyone which has an aviation knowledge. For example, the VFR patterns, which are plotted, are completely unrealistic and with total disregard to local procedures. And since I am a hardcore flight simmer with thousands of hours on an online networks, this is making me refuse to do anything in the career.
The solution for this would be, to create a “professional” mode of the career, where the Sim wouldn’t hold your hand with anything. For example, wouldn’t tell you how to do the tasks (plot a visible route which you have to follow), but only tell you what needs to be done. For example, to make a sightseeing flight above something, but ending it there. Not telling you how and where to fly. And regarding some regular IFR flights, let the pilot do all the planning, and just tell him where to fly. The end.
And through this, to give an option to disable the individual elements which are in career mode. For example. the ATC. Since I fly on an online networks, I would like to communicate with the online ATC, and to completely ignore the internal one. Same goes for the path where and how to taxi, etc…
Yes, you would lose the control over a significant number of potential penalties, so theoretically it could be also considered as an “easy mode”, but I think it would be a fair exchange.
I agree with the sentiments but we’ll have to wait for careers to be opened in the SDK and a third-party solution. In another thread, the MSFS Team made it fairly clear that this is what it’s going to be.
Although I like the idea, it most definitely wont happen any time soon. Surely not in MSF24. They’d have to entirely rebuild career mode from what it currently is.
All we really need (please devs, listen to me) is a way to be able to set up our own “missions” or “jobs” outside of career mode without any hand holding. That’s what we needed to begin with. I said it when career mode was first announced. I didn’t want to play through career mode missions, I just want to be able to set up cargo missions and go for it. Or spawn a wildfire on the map and put it out however I choose. No hand holding, no “go here, do this”, no ranking my performance. I simply want to set up scenarios and do them any way I choose to. Just like Free Flight but with the necessary assets in place to do a job. The ability to do that would be great for all players. From casual players to hardcore simmers.
They should bring back proper flight lessons with exams, can’t they port those over from FS9 somehow? A single (very wide) VFR circuit as PPL check ride is of course not realistic.
Apart from a realistic career mode, I would like a sandbox mode as well. I already have a career in real life, just want to have fun. It’s stupid that some mission are locked behind a career.
I second that! Ever since they announced this sim I’ve been eagerly waiting to do some sling loading. I don’t want to do a ton of meaningless sightseeing flights in the default Cessna and all the other ■■■■ they have hidden this behind.
Ok, thanks. Career mode will remain casual game mode forever then, and folks will have to rely on completely external solutions. It’s a shame because there are a lot of resources inside of the missions that would be great for devs to access.
They were taking some feedback in the sprawling career mode thread, but only if it was about specific issues within the existing system. Didn’t sound like they were too interested in general opinions on the design or skill levels required.
I believe you are misinterpreting the post to which you linked. I was describing how to provide general feedback (about any topic) in a way that is useful for the dev team to action. We require specific and constructive comments. Vague statements like “Career mode sucks and is only for casuals” is not actionable feedback for us. Instead, we were asking players to write why they believe it’s only for casual players and doesn’t appeal to core simmers and to use specific examples to explain that opinion.
I have already given up on career mode. I need to earn 10.000 more credits to do the instrument rating. I won’t do any more boring missions to get to that point, I have better things to do. I already have a career.
While the devs priority should be to fix the numerous career bugs, unjustified penalties, weather conditions exceeding aircraft capabilities, unsuitable airfields for aircraft category, I agree with your idea to give the option for less handholding. This would motivate casual serious players to learn instruments and procedures in exchange for better rewards.
I’m gunna add failures to this…. As a real pilot, learning to fly was more about what to do incase of an emergency than about anything else.
Yes we need to know air law, meteorology, flight dynamics, etc. But the most important thing to know is what to do incase of an emergency in flight…. Can you safely fly the plane and put it on the ground again?
How many simmers know how to:
recover from a stall, spin, spiral dive, etc (with out exceeding aircraft limitations)
Fly partial panel (no attitude indicator, heading, etc)
Perform safety maneuvers, such as traffic avoidance, box-canyon turn
loss of an engine (single or twin)
Forced approach
VFR flight into IMC
soft field takeoff/landing
Short field takeoff/landing
Crosswind takeoff/landings
While I recognize this sim is in reality a “game” having a career mode without teaching even the most basics of how to handle an emergency in flight is a disservice to even casual simmers. I’ve seen so many planes falling out of the skies, over running runways, etc. (although sometimes it fun to watch the chaos in multiplayer from time to time).
Teaching some of the basics would likely help those in career mode to avoid crashes (not CTDs though) and “expensive” repairs.
Definingly need a “Hardcore” mode for Career mode. The way it it right now does not resemble real flight operations other than scratching the surface. What I want to see is a hardcore mode, where all the handholding is gone, and you are just given a task to complete. How you do it is up to you.
Some examples I would like to see in a hardcore mode:
No more blue taxi ribbons or boxes in the sky.
No premade and preloaded flightplan. Plan and file it yourself.
No more aircraft with always enough fuel to complete the task. Calculate yourself how much you need and make sure to refuel prior departure if needed.
You are free to operate the aircraft as you wish, as long as you stay inside the POH limits. So no penalties for flying non-standard, but within the limits.
If the sim can reliably detect it (doubt it) then penalties for flying in IMC on a VFR flightplan, or flying dangerously low to terrain or to slow in final etc.
Random things discovered during walk-around. If you don’t do the walk-around, it will bite you in flight.
No autostart of engines, auto shutdown etc. Skipping phases should still be allowed. We don’t all have infinite amount of time to fly the sim
Weather should pre-determined or live. But for god’s sake allow us to tone down the turbulence options. I’m in a motion rig, and with the turbulence option set to “Realistic” in the settings, its bouncing me around all the time even in clear weather.
Selecting whether to get or loose points based on following the in -game ATC should be user selectable. I use the excellent Say Intentions ATC, and would not like to loose points due to not following the in-game ATC.
What should be tracked for missions: Flight Times, Fuel used, smooth handling, landing at the correct airport, parking at the correct spot, addressing passengers, and special mission objectives (i.e. crops). Anything beyond that which can be activated for those who need it can be “bonuses”.
I don’t know if you have already realized it but the “suggested” route at the briefing screen of the mission in career mode can be completely rerouted in any way you want by the efb. I suggest also to use msfs2024 web flight planner that is easier to use and then load it into the ebf, send it to ATC and avionics (after select also vfr/ifr and flight level) and your personal route will be the one to follow on flightand atc will guide into it. So if you want a more professional career, just do your flight plan, send it to atc and you’ll be fine. I think this was available since day1 (buggy but the possibility was already there).
