Azoth

Besides what has already been suggested, make sure you aren't using time/physics warp when you deploy them or when they reach their full opening altitude.

I tried what Commander Zoom suggested, and looking at the CFG files for the lab there is an option for data transmission rate. Open up the KSP folders, go into GameData, then into Squad, Parts, and finally science. You should see Large Crewed Lab there and simply open up it's .CFG file and scroll down until you see" dataTransmissionBoost = 1.5 " which is the default. I may experiment with how much changing it affects gameplay, but otherwise, it's an easy way to make these behemoths worth lugging on a mission.

That really seems to be it. I made a thread on it a month or so ago asking if there really was a point to unmanned missions. the best answers really were for the saved weight, for scouting landing zones, and for role playing. hopefully the next update will make unmanned missions actually useful. Until then, there really isn't much point in investing science in unmanned tech except to reach whatever is beyond it.

I think it's meant to give more throttle control as taki117 said. A bit of a pain in some situations as I had to get used to giving myself about 2-3 extra seconds to throttle up, but at the same time it makes it easier to say, smooth your decent speed during landing.

I'm pretty sure something was changed, though I really ain't sure what. Throttle seems a bit more sluggish now, and the craft I was using perfectly fine yesterday before the update was having a lot more trouble gaining speed after.

It's a bit finicky at times, but I can confirm left clicking the hatch works. Wish they had the interior modeled though, would be cool with all the windows.

I personally use a dual or tri adapter with the respective number of nuclear engines as my interplanetary stage for some craft. I have one adapter on top to connect it to the fuel tank, and decouplers on the ends of the engines (often the engine fairings won't shot up on one or two engines, but if you rotate/flip the decoupler it should work) and then add an inverted adapter to all me to attach it to the lift/orbital stages. The fuel tanks are usual 3m for most of my designs so i also add size adapters. When building these you find struts are your friend haha.

Kinda what I was getting at, though I was leaning more towards space colonization, like having a large ship with a habital area where several Kerbals could live, and over time create more Kerbals. This is sounding more like a mod suggestion then a feature suggestion now though haha.

Thought I would start a thread to show off landers that were built to collect as much science as possible. Post pictures of your craft, along with a short description of its features (it's scientific equipment and capabilities), and post a link to the craft file if you'd like. This lander has two goo canisters and two Science Jr. Enough fuel in the lander to return from the mun, bringing possibly close to 600 science if it's your first trip and do it right. Craft File: http://goo.gl/fHigZN

The other day I was making my return trip from Ike, and while waiting an long time for an encounter at full warp (I'm not very good yet so it took a while) I noticed my mission had been going for about 10 years Kerb time. I thought to myself then, what would the Kerbal Life span be, and could we implement it as a feature or mod? I personally think it would be quite cool for Kerbals to have life spans, so then you could no longer leave a kerbal on Eve , or orbiting the sun for 70 years or so while you do what ever else in that save. Would make long missions more interesting, especially if you could see your Kerbal aging or something. just an Idea/rant that I had and thought I would bring it up here. Hopefully this is the right place, as I don't think it belongs in mods or suggested features as it's really just me postulating that it would be cool and add a different aspect of gameplay. If Kerbals had a life spawn, how long do you think they would be?

Some good points made by everyone here. I'm personally not that attached to my Kerbals, though I won't say, send one into the sun on purpose, and any that I can't return to Kerbin, I plan rescue missions for in the future. I really like the idea in Tex_NL 's post, about it costing money when you lose a Kerbal (ie, death or escape from the solar system). sewerbird and 5thHorseman also got some good Ideas I never thought of. Thanks for the replies everyone!

Been playing the Career mode for a few weeks now, and with a fair bit of the Tech Tree unlocked, I've been curious about whether or not probes are worth making. They have limitations such as no EVA reports, or Soil Samples, and well, basically anything that a Kerbal does. The only thing they got going for them is that they are lighter than command pods, but it really doesn't seem worth it to make one and send it, say to Duna, when I can use a bit more fuel and put a Kerbal on the surface and get far more science than the probe would yield. Does anyone know a senario where a Probe would actually be more efficient for the purpose of gaining Science than sending a Kerbal to the same place?