Second Lab part

[Geo793]

I always wanted to use the science lab, but I always found it too bulky for anything thing except for large interplanetary missions. I would like to see a second lab that is smaller then the other one designed for smaller missions in mind. It will not give as much benefits as the large lab would, but its smaller size and lighter weight can be very helpful for early manned missions to the Mun or Minmus, and as a light weight choice for other small bodies in the solar system like Gilly or Bop. It could also be unlocked in the 3rd science tier.

What do you guys think?

[Tw1]

For a while, I've been considering altering an LLL part, but it's hard to say if it would be balanced. Surely getting to use the goo things again is something that needs to be a challenge for the game mechanism to be interesting. Aside from roleplay, I'm not sure why you'd need the lab when Kerbin is just a burn away. But, with your kerbin system missions, why not leave the labs in orbit, and take the data to be proceeded after landing? It would be simpler to design.

[KNSA Scientist]

I think that would be nice, and that it could only refresh experiments once as a consequence for being smaller.

[Deathsoul097]

I think we might be better re-imagining the science lab system.I think that the current one should be buffed to up science gain to up to 80-90% through transmission, and placed slightly later in the tree, while a smaller (1.875m-ish) lab resembling MOL should be in the same spot as the current lab, but offer science gain up to 50-60%, with a lower mass (1.5T maybe?)

[Wallygator]

^That.

In practice all science which consist of "data" should be transmitted at 100%. Science which is materials based needs to be brought back to a base or lab. The idea of a smaller lab is great. Agree it might need constraints which make it slightly less usable than the full blown lab unit. Good idea.

[Ruedii]

I think a second smaller lab might be good for special science related to the mission system that will be set up later. It could be capable of this, as well as cleaning out experiments, but it's capability of processing experiments for transmission should be limited. (The best restriction could be on surface samples, because these can gain a lot of advantage by landing a ground base with a science module.)

[LethalDose]

I always wanted to use the science lab, but I always found it too bulky for anything thing except for large interplanetary missions. I would like to see a second lab that is smaller then the other one designed for smaller missions in mind. It will not give as much benefits as the large lab would, but its smaller size and lighter weight can be very helpful for early manned missions to the Mun or Minmus, and as a light weight choice for other small bodies in the solar system like Gilly or Bop. It could also be unlocked in the 3rd science tier.

What do you guys think?

I think it's large and difficult to use for a reason. Its, at best, usable during the mid-game (set up an MPL station with a dockable lander over minmus and go nuts).

I wouldn't add another smaller part. I would move it further up on the research tree, since it's pretty useless without docking clamps and headache to launch with tech in the same tier.