Basic questions about the science lab

[xcorps]

[played a lot, but not since Dec]

New Career.

I've done some reading and checked a few long threads, but I still have some doubts as to the usefulness of the Lab, so help me out here.

I understand that I need:

Lots of power

A pair of Scientists, the higher the level the better

Experiments that get processed by the lab.

I toyed around with it in orbit around the Mun, and the science return was .5 a day, and it required too much micromanagement due to less than optimal power generation. I've advanced a bit and I'm confident I can land a Lab on the surface of Minmus.

I plan on doing the following:

1) Mat bay

2) Bar Reading

3) Temp Scan

with a pair of level 2 scientists.

Will crew reports, eva reports, and surface samples add to the efficiency of the lab or should I build to return that data?

What kind of daily return on the science can I expect? Will it be over 1?

Does the science get generated when the Lab is not the active ship?

Regards!

[FancyMouse]

One important point that will answer many of your questions: Data->Science conversion rate is directly proportional to your existing data amount.

So

>Will crew reports, eva reports, and surface samples add to the efficiency of the lab or should I build to return that data?

Yes because they add up the amount of data, thus adding up the rate

>What kind of daily return on the science can I expect? Will it be over 1?

May or may not. The total science you can get is the same - better/more scientists just make it happen sooner.

>Does the science get generated when the Lab is not the active ship?

Yes

[xcorps]

Thanks!

[basic.syntax]

This thread has a lot of posts discussing MPL

Check it out, and be sure to read every post by RoverDude.

You may learn more than you thought you wanted to know

[cybersol]

A few points to add:

1) You can add your data to the lab and still take it home (or even to another lab). So plan on moving it to a capsule and bringing it home.

2) You can use more than 2 scientists too boost if you have other modules on board

3) It won't ever be a ton of science per day from Mun or Minmus. I personally was underwhelmed because I usually have 5-10 missions in flight and never really fast forward much.

Ninja'd, but I will second that thread if you like knowing the details

[mrklaw]

I think you need a pilot too (or is a probe core enough?)

I'm getting around 0.95 science a day wih two 1* scientists and a full 500 points of data to process.

most annoying thing for me is data overflow. I landed my lab on minmus and filled it up really quickly - you get big bonuses from many of the experiments - 170 on one. So it doesn't take much to fill it up to 500. At that point you can't preprocess any more experiments and therefore can't get them back for instant science. and you can get science on minmus really quickly with biome hopping.

i think I'm going to do two trips - one to just bring minmus biome science home for instant unlocks, and then another trip to stockpile tons of data in the science lab (which will then take years to process)

[cybersol]

A probe core is enough. I would definitely fill the lab and bring back the science ASAP. My minmus hopper mission returned 4000 science when I really needed the boost.

[Sharpy]

Personally, I'm feeling the lab is game-breaking good.

I built a lander for Minmus with a lab, but before landing I planned to do some orbital science.

Just from gravity scans alone I filled up the quota of 500 storable data within several minutes. Considering the rate at which it was being processed, it would be years before the landing, so I sent a space bus filled with scientists, attached it with a klaw to the orbiting lab, and every few game days I come to collect... the 500 data would convert to 2500 science. Some ten biomes to perform the scan, that's some 1000 data. 5000 science points just for orbiting Minmus. Now when I land, there's about 8 experiments per biome. Seriously, get a lab, a MK3 passenger cabin, a service bay with a bunch of science equipment, enough solar batteries and a bunch of scientists, and the whole science points meta-game becomes moot.

I'm slowly running out of the new research to buy.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Sharpy

[Monthar]

Don't bother putting 2 labs on the same ship. All the data you try to process will go to the lab closest to the command module. There is no way to get any data into the 2nd lab. Therefore if you want a space station with more lab capacity, make sure each lab module's section of the station can undock from the rest of the station. Then you can undock whichever lab doesn't have data, dock the lander to it, fill it's data banks, undock the lander and redock the lab to the main station. repeat for any other labs until they are all full.

My plan for a multi-lab station, after learning the above, central core with a main engine, Lf-O fuel, monoprop, RCS, power generation, batteries and habitation. The core is for refueling operations. Lab modules with monoprop, RCS. Every section will have a probe core and docking ports, both regular and Jr. Landers with a Jr. The core will have also have a Claw for missions to build a station onto an Asteroid. Labs will dock to the core with the regular docking port and the lander can dock to the labs with the Jr docking port. The I can just undock the lab after the lander docks, fill it's data banks, redock the lab/lander combo to the core, refuel the lander. Then repeat with the other labs if I still have data to process.

[mrklaw]

Oops. Ignore.

[justidutch]

...

Will crew reports, eva reports, and surface samples add to the efficiency of the lab or should I build to return that data?

What kind of daily return on the science can I expect? Will it be over 1?

Does the science get generated when the Lab is not the active ship?

Yes, all science you do will add to the efficiency of the lab. There is a limit of 500 data units to the lab, and the closer you get to that limit the more efficient the lab is. But the location of the lab also plays a part. A lab on the surface of Eeloo will be way more efficient than one in orbit around Mun. You can also return the same experiments when you are done processing and sending the results.

In my career so far I have only one lab set up, it's on the surface of Ike. At its peak efficiency it is generating just under 1 science per day, and as it uses up data that daily rate decreases. The lowest I've seen it is around .7 per day, when there was about 150 data left. I would expect that your daily rate will be over 1 when you are landed on the more exotic bodies.

Yes, science gets generated when the lab is not the active ship. It would be enormously annoying otherwise! I sent my Ike lab up with only a few of those oxstat solar panels, because thats all I had unlocked at that point. The things takes a few hundred days to process all that data, and it seems like a pain to have to wait that long for the payoff. But it isn't really; I'm doing lots of rescue and tourism contracts in the meantime. That lab has given me several thousand science points and it still has more data to go.

[Monthar]

Upon further testing with two labs on one station I learned the data banks of the second lab can be filled after the first lab is filled if the second lab is the only one current manned. If you have two labs on one station with four scientists, two manning each lab, all the data you process will go the the lab closest to the command module, or the first one placed in the VAB/docked if they are both the same distance from the command module. Let's call this the primary lab. In order to get data into the next lab you have to unman the primary lab. If you don't have another crew compartment these two scientist can move to, you'll just have to send them both on EVA. Then you can precess more data and have it fill the databanks of the second lab. You could have as many labs as you want on a station as long as you don't have any full labs manned when you want to process more data. Once you're done processing all the data you have, you can then man all the labs again and start doing the research in all of them that have data and are manned.