I posted this on Reddit also (link) Let me start off by saying that Science has been a great addition to the game, and many thanks to the devs for fixing the scene transition issues. Having said that, I believe there are a few things about the Science system that could be tweaked. (Kudos to the following two threads that got me thinking in the first place. A lot of my ideas are a combination of these two, plus some added thoughts) Thread 1 Thread 2 Right now, it is possible to max out your Science for, say, an EVA Soil Sample, simply by collecting, entering your ship, transmitting the data, and repeating this several times. There is currently no benefit to returning the samples back to Kerbin. This seems wrong. Science should be broken down into two different types: - TRANSMITTABLE - Research that can be returned to Kerbin via antenna with no loss of Science. - PHYSICAL - Research that can be returned to Kerbin physically with no loss of Science, or that can be transmitted back to Kerbin with a lower maximum cap than if it were to be returned. TRANSMITTABLE data would be the following: Temperature, Gravity, Acceleration, Pressure, and Crew Reports. This data should experience no loss over an antenna, and should be given the same amount of Science whether it's returned to Kerbin or not. Crew Reports should also include a new part, a Camera. This would allow probes to take a "Crew Report" and send the data back to Kerbin at 100% efficiency. PHYSICAL data would be the following: EVA Samples, EVA Reports, Mystery Goo, and the Science Lab. This data should experience a loss over an antenna, but more importantly, there should be a maximum amount of data that can be collected over the antenna for these data types. The data would need to be physically returned to Kerbin to reach the maximum value. This would ensure that there is a reward for bringing the ship (and crew!) back safely. (For example, if a total of 100 Science could be collected from Mun rocks, you could never exceed 40 from transmitting the data. To get the other 60, you must return them to Kerbin) I'm proposing that EVA Reports be PHYSICAL data because more information will be learned after a thorough debrief once the Kerbal gets back to Kerbin. I'm proposing another new part for PHYSICAL data, a Scoop that can be attached to a probe that can collect a soil sample, in the same way a Kerbal can collect a sample. In order to make the Kerbals still important, only Kerbals can perform EVA Reports (and plant flags!) Different antennas are still useful in this scenario if the small one is only able to be used within the Kerbin system, and the larger ones work further out. Having to return samples every time may seem a little "grindy", but another suggestion I have then is to rework the diminishing returns aspect of Science and award, say, 67% of the total amount the first time an experiment is performed, and 33% the second time. This then provides a nice bridge to another system that I would love to see: Space Stations and Planetary Bases. Introduce a new part, a Science Bay, that must be manned by several Kerbals, where soil samples, experiments, and EVA reports can be returned for full credit. This would make Space Stations act as more than just expensive gas stations, and could be the cornerstone for bases on the Mun, Minmus, and beyond. This would be even more useful when biomes are added to all of the other planets and moons. TL;DR - Require soil samples, experiments, and EVA reports to be returned to Kerbin to get full credit, and cap the amount of Science these award via transmission to a lower value than this maximum. - Remove the transmission losses for the small sensors (i.e. Thermometer, Barometer, etc). - Add a Camera and Scoop for probes to perform more science.
So... with the exception of new probe parts, this pretty much happened. Thanks Squad! EDIT: Actually... not sure why things like thermometers have a transmitted Science cap.