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I have 7085 science hanging around in low Gilly orbit. Should I just transmit it all back to kerbin, or should I send a crewed mission to Gilly so that I could use the science lab and extract, like what, 36000 science????? I have a couple of mods, so my tech tree is a bit bigger... Also, the Science Lab is too overpowered!! EDIT: I am playing a science save, 200% science returns.

Hi there. I feel like a little bit of a community outsider, as I was new to the game at the end of last year, but over the last month I've been trying to update some of the Wiki's most lacking pages, hear and there. After seeing an edit to the Mobile Processing Lab page (by @EsterbanLB), I realised how wrong/outdated much of the info there was, so set about rewriting or adding it. I'd appreciate any suggestions of major things I've overlooked, or mistaken. One part I made from scratch is the engineer level research rates table (as shown below). I just made careful observations, so I'm a little wary that it might not be perfectly accurate to 3 significant figures, and I certainly don't have a nice neat equation to explain the numbers, either: I've made major edits to a bunch of other pages, including the experiment storage unit, all the radiators, and have also been trying to resolve all the thermal behaviours of the drills and convertors (wondering about heat management at different engineer levels, etc, as I asked about here). But I thought the MPL was a fair place to start trying to solicit some sanity checks, for a start. I hope I've not bulked out the test tooo much, but this part has a particularly large number of features and nuances.

Hi all, can someone enlighten me as to how the lab (once full of data) then empties that data to allow me to input more? My current lab has 743.943 out of 750 data stored and it's being processed at 5.0216sci / day. I'm not seeing that 743 figure go down so I can add more. Is there something I'm missing? Cheers.............MadJock

Greetings Kerbals! Guys, I have a Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2. It is orbiting Mun with two level 2 scientists inside. There is also a Pod attached to it with a level 2 pilot. When I right click the lab, I get the "Level up crew" button. If I click on it, I get the message: "No astronauts onboard are ready to gain experience." Any ideas on how to use this option? My intention is to have an alternative way to level up my astronauts (all of them, not only scientists), instead of traveling with them around to gain experience. Thanks a lot and fly safe!

I'm confused on how the MPL works. according to the information i've been able to find(sparse at best..) i should be able to set one of these up on kerbin somewhere and get science from my experiment data. but when, for example, i do a crew report from the tundra, even though the data is worth 5 Mits in the experiment, i get 0 data in the lab for it. it's a brand new lab, never done any experiments before. i am playing version 1.1.3 x64, pretty heavily modded, in science mode, but i don't believe any of my mods change the behavior of the MPL. not on purpose anyways. am i doing something wrong? did squad change the MPL in the last update(1.1.3), and i missed it? did a mod break my game? or is this thing just useless on kerbin? some people say the science you can get from the launch pad is game breaking, but i really don't see how that's possible if this is it's stock behavior

Over the past few weeks I have seen a few people asking how to use the Mobile Processing Lab. Here is a tutorial I put together that I hope will help make it clearer.

I have a question for all the players who have put a Mobile Processing Lab in LKO to grind out science points from Kerbin data. Anyone who has actually done this probably knows that there is a trick involved. You have to get the science experiments from the ground into the MPL. Method 1 involves either launching the MPL with an SSTO, or launching the experimental data up to an MPL (in orbit) with an SSTO. Either of these makes it easy. But if you have the tech for an SSTO, then what the heck are you doing just launching your first MPL? So I think we can rule Method 1 out. Method 2 always involves somehow getting all the experimental data from the ground to the tippy top of a rocket sitting on the launchpad. My first thought on how to do it was a damned ladder going all the way up. (Groan.) My second thought was a flying bedstead .... You fly it up near the top of the rocket, turn on SAS, the scientist takes the data, then jumps over to .... Nah. So yeah, the first time I did it, I made the damned ladder all the way up the side of the rocket, boosters and all. This time through, I made a horrifying monstrosity that is a sort of mobile gantry. The rocket is on the pad, and I drive up to it with the gantry. Then climb up the gantry tower and into the MPL with all the data. Then recover the gantry. Then launch the rocket. Maybe I'll post a picture if anyone wants a good belly laugh. But this just seems so pathetic. What else have you all tried? Does anyone have something that seems like a good answer to the trick?

A lab with about 100 data, and two two-star scientists nets me about 2.2 science per day before it starts to decay. Out of curiosity, does anyone know the math: A lab completely filled, 500 data and two five-star scientists, how much science output will it have per day? I'm extra curious to know what happens with a modded lab that comes with one of my parts packs. (Tarus HCV 3.75M lab) It holds 750 data and 3 scientists but runs on exactly the same code. Max output from that?

I want to propose a new mechanic in Stock to encourage the use of the part called "Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2". Instead of supplying a slow but infinite source of science points, I suggest one based on the current science gathering mechanic. Simplified version: Every SOI has a set amount of science points attainable by the MPL(doesn't matter whether you gathered every experiment or not). For arguments sake, let's say 500sci. Send a MPL into Kerbin orbit, put a scientist and lots of solar panels on it. Click the "start research" button, then after some time and lots of EC the current attained science points in the MPL will increase. At any time the player can transmit the current attained science points(to recover some science earlier if need be). The processing can only continue until the sum of all transmissions and current attained science points reaches the 500sci point limit...at least for this SOI. Sending another new MPL to the same SOI does not get any new science at all: once the 500sci has been reached, then no more MPL science can be done in that SOI...the MPL is essentially useless as far as science is concerned(unless of course you move it to a different SOI). This science is essentially like a thermometer experiment, except that it is worth a lot more, but it trickles in slowly and takes much more electricity(and the scientist and fuel to get the MPL there) Advanced version: Every SOI has a set amount of science points(dependent on the total amount of gathered science in that SOI) attainable by the MPL. For arguments sake, let's say 10% -> Let's say there is 5000sci gather-able science(thermometer,gravimeter,crew report,etc.) in the Kerbin SOI, but at the moment the player has only collected(recovered/transmitted) 1200sci. Then the MPL can only processes until it has attained 120sci. -> As soon as the player recovers/transmits more science points(let's say 2000sci more), then the MPL can continue a little bit further(until it reaches 320sci). Simplified version points 2,3,4,5,6 are all applicable here Unmentioned ideas: Scientist skill level: Should it influence the speed of processing? (time warp nullifies this anyway). OR should the skill level enable "over-processing"(instead of stopping at 500sci, a good scientist can up the limit to 550sci)? Right click menu on MPL: Show the maximum amount of gather-able science point in it's current SOI? (it's a nice way to track progress...although the R&D has a version of this) SOI: Is Kerbin SOI all the science(landed,splashed down, all binomes on kerbin, atmosphere, LKO, high orbit,etc.) except those that are within Mun and Minimus SOI? (In other words, are Kerbin, Mun, Minimus SOIs counted as 3 different unique MPL experiments?) Landed vs Orbit: Should a Kerbin SOI MPL experiment rather be divided into a Kerbin-landed and Kerbin-orbit experiment? But...why?: Both the previous and current version of MPL stock mechanics did not address the issue of encouraging players to use a 3.5ton fragile structure in space. -> "old" MPL made it sensible to use 1 of each "SC-9001 Science Jr" and "Mystery Goo" when doing a mission that required re-using these multiple times. The boosted transmission value was silly: it had such a slight effect for unmanned crafts(one-way trips usually), but adding 300 LFO to a science probe craft could very well let you even return that science back to kerbin. For manned craft, why would i want to leak out ANY science points by transmitting, when i am planning to bring back that crew? The only sensible argument is that the little bit of transmitted science could help support missions, to refuel those far away kerbals who need it. -> "new" MPL is just ridiculous: Start the game, rush the techtree up to the MPL(get solar panels, and basic rocket parts). A few contracts should get enough money for like 10 MPLs. Build a centipede of 10 MPLs, separated by decouplers, each with lots of solar panels. Put them on the runway. Use the VAB to launch your scientists, and a single kerbal to run around the KSC collecting every piece of science he can. Put this heap of science into MPL nr.1 and process it...retrieve that science, store it in the next MPL. So you fill up all these MPLs by copying the same heap of science. Start research and timewarp to the max. -> Your first Mun landing will be a Saturn V sized craft and science will become meaningless However, i understand why it works this why. Whiny players convinced devs that "career/techtree is such a grind!"...career is a mechanic that encourages players to build smart and cheap, on a shoe string budget with outdated technology. If you want to build your dreams, then use sandbox to skip the grind or slide the wonderful difficulty sliders at the start of a new game. I feel the current MPL is overpowered, i vowed to never use it until the techtree is fully researched. The admin building's funds->sci mechanic breaks the techtree as well, but that's for another thread. I was aiming for an abstract mechanic, where the player doesn't have to micro-manage everything. Where a science lab in space just "does science", sort of encompassing what happens on the ISS(NASA wouldn't make a half-way stop back from a moon landing to fill up the ISS with moon rocks, do they? ) This isn't a perfect solution at all, so please criticize and tell me everything that is good, wrong, right, bad about this suggestion.