Mobile Science Lab

[Der Anfang]

How does it work, exactly? I remember in 0.90 and pre 0.90 that when you processed an experiment, it's scientific value would increase slightly. If I recall correctly? Anyway, I have a crap ton of science from my voyage from Minmus, and then built a station in the Eve-Gilly system, and transported all that data there, and gained new Eve-Gilly data as well. Now I am noticing that you can gain science per day, but now there also seems to be a size limit to the amount of science you can utilize... or something like that. That's where I am confused because now it doesn't let me process most of my data because not enough data room.

Could somebody tell me what is going on, exactly? How exactly does this work, because I don't remember this stuff, so the mobile lab features must be quite new. And how can I utilize it to the best of my advantage? Does it work at all like it used to where processing data offered an increased bonus in science reaping?

While the daily science is nice, not sure how it is generated, much less do I understand the "X/500 Science" thingymajig. It seems to increase over time, but makes zero sense to me as to what that actually means.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Der Anfang

[Warzouz]

If your ship is equipped and you have a scientist on board, you have a special option when reviewing the sceince data which allow you to research it. If doing so, the data value is added to your lab and you can keep or transmit the science then.

The lab will then process the data (500 max) into science at a daily rate (depending on you scientist experience). This science can be transmitted to Kerbin.

PS : this should be in to gameplay forum.

[diggzakk]

after put some of your science to process, it will be added to the maximum data, over the daily rate of science and transmit these science to kerbin, you free up again this data storage.. i have actually quite the same mission like you, just that i dont have all the minmus data in the orbital lab, i think i have 24 experiments left.. and its allready 100 days there, it takes quite a lot of time to revert the date into science and free up the storage to put more science in to process, more xperienced scientist will speed up the process, processed data can be transmitted right away, or take the data and bring it home with a soft landing

[MrOsterman]

I've read that the biggest problem with the science stations is that they take a long time to process. Dollar for Dollar you can probably return the experiments for recovery and do just as well just as fast.

For me?  I love the use of the stations so that when I do send a long term trip somewhere (like sending a probe/ ship to Duna) I can come back to a pile of science waiting for transmit.  And it just ~feels~ right.

[Warzouz]

That's true. Stripping Mun and Minmus for Science will unlock the whole techtree. No need to use the lab. It's quicker that way. But I use mobile lab afterward to turn science into cash.

[Red Iron Crown]

Moved over to Gameplay Questions.

[Snark]

Going back tot he OP's question:  Gee, I don't see why this would be confusing.  It's perfectly simple. You click a button to turn science into science, but not too much or the lab is full, but you can put as much science into the lab as you want as long as it hasn't been turned into science.  Then it gradually turns the science into science, unless it fills up the science but you can fix that by transmitting the science (which is way better than transmitting the science, because when you transmit the science you only get a small percentage of the science, but on the other hand if you transmit the science you get all the science), which turns the science into science that you can spend.  What could be simpler? 

Kidding aside, yah, it can be quite confusing.  The main source of confusion is that there are several different things called "science" that need to get converted around.  There are three different "things" to keep straight:

• Science results.  These are the things that your science instruments generate.
• Science data.  This is what gets instantly stored in the science lab when you click the yellow "research" icon on a science result, to get the science lab to start doing its thing.
• Science points.  These are what you can spend in the R&D facility to unlock tech nodes.  The science lab's job is to gradually convert data into points over time.

Now that we've got the terminology straight, it becomes easier (and less confusing)  to talk about how the lab works, as long as you never refer to just "science" without qualifying which kind you mean. 

Here's how the science lab interacts with the things above:

First off:  You can store science results in the lab, by stashing them there with an EVA kerbal.  There's nothing special about this, it's just like stashing science results in a command pod or crew cabin. Note that there is no limit to how many science results the lab can store, so you can use it as a convenient bottomless pit to stash your science as you wait to process it.

The next step is to convert the results into data, so that the lab can start doing its thing.  This happens when you click the yellow "process science" button on the science result UI.  (Note that the science result doesn't have to be currently stored in the lab itself to do this; you can do it for any science result anywhere on the same ship as the lab.)  The conversion from result to data is instant, it happens when you click the button.  Here we run up against the lab's first limitation:  the lab can only store 500 science data at one time.  And that's not a super high ceiling.  If you go to, say, the Mun with a full complement of science instruments, you can easily pick up enough science results in one biome to exceed the 500-data limit, and the problem only gets worse if you go biome-hopping.  That's not a showstopper, though, it just means you can't process them all at once.  Just stash all the results in the lab, process as many of them into data as you can to bring the lab up to its 500-data limit, and then from time to time "top it off" as the data points are consumed and more space becomes available.

It's also worth noting that after you convert the science result into science data, the science result is still present and un-consumed.  In other words, once you've pressed that yellow button, you still have the result and the science lab doesn't need it.  So at that point you could physically return the science result back to Kerbin for yummy science points, and you also get the goodies from the lab as described below.

Then you tell the lab to start research.  When you do this, the lab gradually starts turning science data into science points over time.  The rate at which it does this is determined by a few factors:

• Amount of data stored in the lab.  The higher the amount, the faster the rate at which the lab converts the data into points.  So you want to keep your lab topped off at close to its 500 data limit as possible, in order to get the fastest return on investment.
• Amount of crew.  You can run a science lab with just one scientist, but if you have two of them, it goes faster.
• Experience level of crew.  The higher level your scientists are, the faster they will convert data into points.

Note that these factors all affect the speed with which science data is converted into science points, but not the conversion rate.  Science labs always convert exactly one science data into five science points.  The only thing that changes is how many points per day.

That brings us to the other limit you can bump up against:  the lab can only store 500 science points at one time.  (The fact that the number "500" is the same for both data and points is one of the factors contributing to the confusion between the two.)  So if you've got your science lab researching, and the science points fill up to 500, then it will stop processing and just sit there until you transmit the science points.

This brings us to the final step of the science lab lifecycle:  transmitting.  (Yet another source of confusion, because now there are two meanings of the word "transmit".  There's transmitting results, i.e. what you do by clicking the little blue satellite-dish icon, which yields only a fraction of the science points; and then there's transmitting the lab's science points, which is fine and good and necessary, and doesn't lose anything.)  When you transmit the lab's science points, they become available to you to spend in the R&D facility to unlock those yummy tech nodes.  It also clears them out of the science lab so that it will have more point space available, so that it can continue converting the data.

And that's pretty much it.  Summing it all up, here's the way to use a lab most efficiently:

1. Create science results with instruments.
2. If necessary (i.e. if the ship-with-instrument isn't the ship-with-lab) use an EVA kerbal to transfer the result from the instrument to the ship-with-lab (could actually be in the lab, it's a convenient place to stash them).
3. Press the yellow "research" button to convert the results into data stored in the lab.  Try to get it as close to the 500-data limit as possible.
4. After researching a science result into data, you can go ahead and physically return the science result to Kerbin as usual.
5. Tell the science lab to start researching.  Make sure the science lab is fully staffed with the highest-level scientists you have available.
6. Periodically revisit the lab over time for maintenance.  Each time you do this, you do two things. First, transmit its accumulated science points (so that you can spend them in R&D, and also to clear out space so you don't bump up against the 500-point limit).  Second, research some more results into data (to try to keep the lab as close to its 500-data limit as possible, to maximize the rate at which it converts data into points).

 

Edited December 22, 2015 by Snark