So i can manage science data 3 times?

[Cucumbor]

Am i right in thinking of data this way: i can use data 3 times and every time i will get science points:

1. Transmit data (will send part o science)

2. Recover data (will get data left of "Transmitted" data

3. Use science lab to analyze data in new way and transmit it.

So totaly i can get about 130% od science (45% Transmit, 55% recover, 30% science lab). Is this work this way or am i wrong?

Edited August 3, 2015 by Cucumbor

[eddiew]

I believe that if you transmit then recover, the recovery value is reduced by the transmission value, leaving you with no net gain.

Science lab however is definitely a multiplier; drop your results off at it, then recover them, for many lovely sciences.

[Streetwind]

I believe that if you transmit then recover, the recovery value is reduced by the transmission value, leaving you with no net gain.

Correct, transmitting is just "I cannot wait for recovery (or do not plan to recover this) and I want some science right now!". You still get the full return if you just recover and never transmit.

The mobile science labs though are special. And the percentage you see in the UI doesn't mean anything, by the way. That's a leftover from when the lab had a different function. How exactly it works today is a little complicated, but the abridged version is: based both on the experiment you're sending to the lab and where the lab is at the time*, a certain amount of "data" is generated and stored in the lab. Every point of data is worth 5 science points. There must be scientists working in the lab to slowly turn data into science, which you can then transmit home. (Don't recover your lab, it is not a regular experiment and will not yield any science upon recovery.) So, depending on how much data you get out of the experiment, you may get a very significant amount of bonus science.

* The highest yield is having a lab landed on the surface of a body and then feeding it experiments from that same body. I.e. crew reports from the Mun fed into a lab landed on the Mun. The only exception is Kerbin, where having the lab on the surface is worthless for obvious reasons.

[Sharpy]

Yes, you are wrong You underestimate the lab

Before that - if you don't transmit, you receive the full science at recovery, so if transmit is 45% and recovery after transmit is 55% then recovery without transmit is 100%. Also, experiment transmitted can't be recovered unless you collect it again - e.g. if you transmit your surface sample, you need to pick another to deliver it to Kerbin. This is not the case with the lab - the experiment after being "processed into data" is returned with the option of processing into data removed - you can then remove it from the lab and deliver to Kerbin.

Now for the lab. Recovery of a soil sample for Minmus is worth some 150 science points. The same sample submitted to a lab in Minmus orbit will yield some 180 data points. Each convertible to five science points, for a total of 900. That means you can get some 700% of science - 45% transmit, 55% recovery, 600% laboratory processing.

[More Boosters]

The lab is ridiculously overpowered and you can easily fill out the tech tree by just going to Minmus with it a few times. The time-based mechanic doesn't mean much when you need to time warp for interplanetary missions anyway.

[eddiew]

The lab is ridiculously overpowered and you can easily fill out the tech tree by just going to Minmus with it a few times. The time-based mechanic doesn't mean much when you need to time warp for interplanetary missions anyway.

I'm inclined to agree that it is a bit OP :/ Doubling your science would be powerful enough, but it seems to be nearer to four or five times higher, and you can still recover the original experiment data.

Then again, it's easy to edit your save file and dial science down to 10-20% once you have labs. Now you have a reason to be bothered taking all your returning missions to the lab it before landing. Or taking a lab on all missions - you could discard it before coming home

[plotz]

That whole lab thing completely flew past me. So maybe I should put some of them back to orbit, Mun, Minmus now... Pre 1.0 they were a bit meaningless, as it was easier to just shoot a Kerbal to a body and back...

[Sharpy]

As long as you are squeamish about multi-arrow timewarp they aren't game-breaking. Simply you face a situation "I need that part NOW!" and you go on a roundtrip around your labs to collect the overdue science and reload them with new experiments - and they don't break the game, just provide a resolution to a tight spot.

500 science points take a good couple months of gametime. Just don't delay stuff "until the lab is done with them".

...actually, now that I think about it, I believe I'd have already finished my science tree if not for the lab. It sits there in Minmus orbit with some 50 experiments on board, about 2/3 of them processed so far, and still a good year or two from finishing the rest, and since I can't just remove the completed ones and leave the ones that can be processed into science, they still sit there awaiting delivery to Kerbin after being processed into data.

Edited August 3, 2015 by Sharpy