Allow R&D Archives access in Sandbox mode

[Eleutherophile]

Personally, I love the science aspect of the game. The text which appears when you complete an experiment (e.g. "The goo escapes into the water!" when observing goo in Kerbin's water) is extremely interesting and makes collecting science feel exciting and fresh, and the archive's "collecting" aspect gives us a new incentive to explore. The archives are, however, inaccessible in Sandbox mode due to the R&D facility being locked. The Archives should be unlocked for Sandbox too! This change, though seemingly minor, would add a whole new dimension to the Sandbox game and would offer incentives to keep exploring when science Points are worthless. The Kerbal System is interesting and vibrant, full of surprises: let us enjoy it fully!

Edited November 1, 2020 by Eleutherophile
Silly me, the archives already exist outside of sandbox!

[Okhin]

That's what you got in the Archive tab of the R&D view, right ? Or am I missing something ?

[Eleutherophile]

44 minutes ago, Okhin said:

That's what you got in the Archive tab of the R&D view, right ? Or am I missing something ?

Thank you! I wasn't aware of that! However, I don't think you can access it in sandbox, can you?

[Okhin]

I have no idea.

[computercat04]

That's actually a great idea!

[Fraktal]

Seconded, with an additional tidbit: we should also be able to view the tech tree in sandbox mode so that we can tell which part is on which node without Alt-Tabbing out to look at the wiki, in case we're using the sandbox to design and test craft for career use down the line and thus need to keep tech nodes in mind when picking parts.

[JadeOfMaar]

You can create a science game and use the progression cheats to unlock the tech tree right away. Science mode is officially called "Science Sandbox" somewhere, inside the persistence file, I believe. 

[Eleutherophile]

13 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:

You can create a science game and use the progression cheats to unlock the tech tree right away. Science mode is officially called "Science Sandbox" somewhere, inside the persistence file, I believe. 

Thank you, but this suggestion is a) About regular Sandbox mode where R&D is locked, not science sandbox, and b) about the Archives section, not the tech tree. Archives should be available in sandbox mode too, to allow collecting of those fun text results. This would give more meaning to Sandbox mode.

[DarkBrave_]

On 11/1/2020 at 11:24 AM, Eleutherophile said:

Thank you! I wasn't aware of that! However, I don't think you can access it in sandbox, can you?

You can't sadly. I decided to create a save and use cheats to unlock the tech tree, so I could have a reason to put science on my craft.