Modular Science Experiments?!?

[AHHans]

A big part of the attraction of KSP is the ability to build your own vehicles. This works well rockets, planes, spaceplanes, ships, etc., but science experiments are somewhat "static": there are a limited number of experiments and they are run by simply pressing a button. Wouldn't it be great if you could build your own science experiments in a similar style?

I don't have any good idea how this could be actually implemented (yet?), but I'd like to know your opinion. Do you like this idea? Do you have have a suggestion how this could be done?

[Superfluous J]

I like the concept but I'm a bit leery on it in the game. It's already too easy to make a rocket of too many parts and get game slowdown. If those 7 science experiment parts are now 4-5 pieces each...

[Gargamel]

Science is about gathering data, and that data is gathered with a meter.  As in a thermometer, seismometer, etc.   Those are already in the game, and like things like the rocket engines, there isn't anything to assemble.   The call went out to a vendor for a thermometer, and they delivered you a calibrated, tested, gauge that is ready for space flight.   You can assemble a science package using a variety of science meters, but building your own gauge would be similar to having to build your own command pod.  Those would be very cool, but I think that lies outside the scope of the game. 

Plus, as VHM said, part count....

[Cheif Operations Director]

On ‎6‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 9:52 AM, Gargamel said:

Science is about gathering data, and that data is gathered with a meter.  As in a thermometer, seismometer, etc.   Those are already in the game, and like things like the rocket engines, there isn't anything to assemble.   The call went out to a vendor for a thermometer, and they delivered you a calibrated, tested, gauge that is ready for space flight.   You can assemble a science package using a variety of science meters, but building your own gauge would be similar to having to build your own command pod.  Those would be very cool, but I think that lies outside the scope of the game. 



Plus, as VHM said, part count.... 

Sure but suppose that you could tell the science "module" to collect science at certain intervals. It could be automated thus we would not need to constantly hit the button

[AHHans]

On 6/15/2019 at 3:52 PM, Gargamel said:

Science is about gathering data, and that data is gathered with a meter.  As in a thermometer, seismometer, etc.   Those are already in the game, and like things like the rocket engines, there isn't anything to assemble.

Well, I spent a couple of years working with engineers to get a radio telescope that does what we need it to do. So my perspective on that is somewhat different.

What one could so in the game is to have different sensors (e.g. temperature-, pressure-, vibration-sensors etc.), "modifiers" (amplifiers, filters etc.), and data recorders that can be combined to create different experiments. E.g. a vibration-sensor + amplifier + long-term recorder can measure the natural earthquakes on a planet, but vibration-sensor + amplifier + peak recorder can measure the shock-waves from impacts.

Hmmm... Maybe that would be an idea for the processing lab. Give the MPL a number of different equipment slots, that allows it to analyze different kinds of input data. E.g. an exercise machine, EKG monitor etc. allows it to process crew reports (study the effects of the environment on Kerbals). A mass spectrometer, IR spectrometer, and microscope allows it to process surface samples. Etc. It could also be simplified to be a "study Kerbals module", "study surface samples module", etc. You could also have storage for more equipment, so that the scientists can swap out the modules and reconfigure the lab in place.

Well, it is an idea.

[Superfluous J]

The big problem (for me) about this idea is that this isn't a game about gathering science. It's about flying rockets. The science is really just the macguffin of a reason you have to fly those rockets to different places. That's why I tend to like mods (and ideas for the stock game) that streamline the science gathering. I'm happiest when the last time I really think about science is before I've even clicked "launch." From that point on, my only goal is to get to the new places and then home. Assuming home is on the itinerary.

[Wjolcz]

Science gathering is silly, to say at least. I have annoyed many of the fellow forum goers with this issue many times and I am not going to do that anymore since there are mods like KerboKatz.

I feel like designing your own experiments would only add more to the already existing tediousness of the whole science gathering system.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Wjolcz

[AHHans]

Thanks for the feedback @5thHorseman, @Gargamel, @Cheif Operations Director, @Wjolcz. That's why I started this topic.

But I guess we can lay this idea to rest now.