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[1.1.2] Station Science (v2.0: New models by SpeedyB)

ethernet

By ethernet
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ethernet

ethernet

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Posted (edited)

Development of this mod has been taken over by tomf. See this thread for more. Thanks, tomf!

 

IMPORTANT: You must upgrade KSP to v. 1.1+, or the latest version of this mod will not work

You should have KSP v. 1.1.2, and Station Science v. 2.0

 

 

 

Download
from Curse

If updating from an old version: be sure to delete the older folder first.

Source is available on GitHub.

TN4o6Mh.png

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This mod adds several large parts designed to be integrated into a permanent space station: the Science Lab, the Zoology Bay, the Cyclotron, and the Spectrometron. These heavy parts provide facilities for performing experiments. Experiments are held in small, light pods that you can dock with your space station, execute, and bring back to the surface for Science points. The Spectrometron uses the Cyclotron to analyze results from other experiments, and allows you to transmit the data home for much higher value. In addition, there are tanks for storing Kibbal for the Zoology Bay.

Video (by Scott Manley; of version 1.4)

 

 

Regarding the Mobile Processing Lab

The stock Mobile Processing Lab now provides a long-term Science-gathering capability that bears some similarity to Station Science. It is, however, not well balanced. Once unlocked, it can provide infinite science without ever leaving the launch pad again, for no cost other than in-game-time, and the player's own patience. While this isn't a major problem in practice, given the self-directed sandbox nature of KSP even in Career mode, this is not something I can meaningfully balance Station Science against.

Therefore, I intend Station Science as an alternative to the stock MPL. Feel free to use the MPL, of course, but you may find Science too easy to come by if you use both.

Tech Tree Integration

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Each experiment requires Eurekas generated by the Science Lab. More advanced experiments also require Bioproducts generated by the Zoology Bay (costing Kibbal), and/or Kuarqs generated by the Cyclotron (costing large amounts of Electric Charge). Once an experiment has accumulated sufficient Eurekas (and Bioproducts/Kuarqs), use the Finalize Results action to finish the experiment, and generate Science value in the same manner as the stock science parts. Make sure your station stays in the same location for the duration of the experiment. If in orbit, this means entirely above or below the low/high orbit altitude threshold, which is 250km around Kerbin. If the experiment moves to a new location prior to finalization, it will be aborted and you'll have to start it over.

Eurekas and Bioproducts generate while you're focused elsewhere, so you can leave those mult-hour experiments running while you control other ships, or just go to the launchpad to timewarp through it all. Kuarqs do not generate while unfocused, due to their electric charge requirement, but they only takes minutes of in-game time to reach quota if you have sufficient charge flowing in.

Experiments don't work on Kerbin's surface. Your researchers get too caught up daydreaming about going to space.

To use the Spectrometron, dock the vessel carrying the science result, or transfer it to a command pod via EVA. The results will appear automatically in the Spectrometron's context menu. Select the one you want to analyze, and wait for requisite number of kuarqs to be generated. Then, you'll be able to review the result now stored in the Spectrometron using its context menu, and transmit it at 90% via your transmitter.

Experiments

Plant Growth: see how a variety of plants grow in space. All you need is a crewed Science Lab.

Creature Comforts: see how the animals in the Zoology Bay are enjoying space. You'll need a Science Lab, a Zoology Bay, and a sufficient supply of Kibbal.

Prograde Kuarqs: use a Cyclotron to manufacture the stable Prograde variety of Kuarqs. You'll also need a Science Lab, and at least some source of power.

Retrograde Kuarqs: use a Cyclotron with enough power flow to keep it running near capacity (about six Gigantor solar panels) to manufacture the unstable Retrograde variety of Kuarqs. You'll need that power to keep ahead of the decay of the Kuarqs. You should also only run one experiment at a time to avoid splitting the output of your Cyclotron. Once you reach your quota, the decay will cease. You'll also need a Science Lab.

Eccentric Kuarqs: use two Cyclotrons, with enough power flow to keep both running near capacity, to manufacture the even more unstable Eccentric variety of Kuarqs. You'll need both Cyclotrons and that power to keep ahead of the decay of the Kuarqs. You should also only run one experiment at a time to avoid splitting the output of your Cyclotrons. Once you reach your quota, the decay will cease. You'll also need a Science Lab.

Kuarq Bio-activity: see how the animals in the Zoology Bay react to Kuarqs. You'll need a Science Lab, a Zoology Bay, a Cyclotron running near capacity, and a sufficient supply of Kibbal.

Looking for more experiments for your station? Try Fuel Science, by ArcaneZedric, and Orbital Material Science, by N3h3mia. Note: I have not vetted these for compatibility with 1.0.2.

Contracts

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You will start seeing contracts once you have achieved Kerbin orbit, and unlocked at least one docking port, and the TH-NKR Science Lab from this mod. Each contract requires that you launch a new experiment pod of a certain type, complete it in orbit of a particular planet or moon, and return and recover it on the surface of Kerbin.

License:

All source code and software (.cs and .dll files) is licensed under GPL v3

Everything else is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License

Version History

 

 

Edited by ethernet
v2.0 release
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HoneyFox

HoneyFox

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I've just had the similar thought yesterday night... :D

A way to make a space station useful in career mode: send cargo ships carrying experiments onto the station, do experiments on-board and then get the result back to Kerbin.

But i think perhaps we should be still allowed to use antenna to transmit experiment results back to the ground, but with a reasonable discount. This may sound meaningless if the space station is orbiting Kerbin, but if the station is orbiting other planets or even the sun, it would be much expensive to send the cargo ship back to kerbin, so here comes the trade-off.

Also, a station orbiting other planets should also get some more science points i guess?

Edited by HoneyFox
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vanlock

vanlock

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Looking good, thanks !

I know i'm anticipating a lot, but you modders will have to come up with a mod pack once there's a good amount of stable science-equipment addons :)

Instead of there being a dozen different ScienceMods floating around on the forum. :)

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ethernet

ethernet

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But i think perhaps we should be still allowed to use antenna to transmit experiment results back to the ground, but with a reasonable discount. This may sound meaningless if the space station is orbiting Kerbin, but if the station is orbiting other planets or even the sun, it would be much expensive to send the cargo ship back to kerbin, so here comes the trade-off.

The problem is that with the way transmission works currently, the "cost" is trivial, since you can just redo the experiment and transmit again. I want to encourage sending ships up with experiments, docking them, and sending them back down to reflect how we use space stations in reality. Also, the Science cap (how much total Science you can get after many re-dos out of each individual experiment) is much higher on these parts than on stock parts to make repeated return trips worthwhile.

I'm thinking of adding a lab with experiments in the future that uses up a resource that has significant mass, and I might consider allowing transmission for those results, since the resource would be a real cost.

And if Squad changes how transmission works so that there's a real cost to it (like science from transmissions caps out at a lower value than science from returns), I'd consider allowing it for the current experiments.

Also, a station orbiting other planets should also get some more science points i guess?

You will. The same multipliers that make a Crew Report orbiting the Mun more valuable than one around Kerbin would apply to science from this mod as well. You can even land the parts on other planets (not Kerbin) and make a surface base for even more science.

The base science values are much, much higher than the stock science parts, so you could be looking at thousands of science for an individual experiment returned from a base on another planet.

Also, I want to reiterate something I just added to the OP: Eurekas accumulate even while you're focused somewhere else. You don't have to sit there at 100x warp in LKO for 45 minutes.

Edited by ethernet
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HoneyFox

HoneyFox

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I don't know if it's possible to take experiment as a resource, then convert it to "material result" and "data result" with ratio 9:1 for example... and then the data result can be "consumed" to make science points for both transmitting and recovery... while the material result can only be converted to science points when ship is landed/splashed on Kerbin's ground/water.

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forsaken1111

forsaken1111

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Posted

I don't know how far you want to expand the scope of this mod but what about adding in the ability to retrieve samples from the surface of a body and rather than return them to kerbin or transmit the data, return them to one of your labs to research or use in experiments? I'd love to park a lab around moho and start bringing up samples on a reusable lander for research rather than sending expendible 1-shot craft to constantly land and return to kerbin.

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ethernet

ethernet

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I don't know if it's possible to take experiment as a resource, then convert it to "material result" and "data result" with ratio 9:1 for example... and then the data result can be "consumed" to make science points for both transmitting and recovery... while the material result can only be converted to science points when ship is landed/splashed on Kerbin's ground/water.

Kind of complicated, but it might be a way to have a more balanced system for transmission.

I don't know how far you want to expand the scope of this mod but what about adding in the ability to retrieve samples from the surface of a body and rather than return them to kerbin or transmit the data, return them to one of your labs to research or use in experiments? I'd love to park a lab around moho and start bringing up samples on a reusable lander for research rather than sending expendible 1-shot craft to constantly land and return to kerbin.

I like this idea, and I think I have an idea of how to do it. I'll look into.

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Dangerous_Beans

Dangerous_Beans

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The problem is that with the way transmission works currently, the "cost" is trivial, since you can just redo the experiment and transmit again. I want to encourage sending ships up with experiments, docking them, and sending them back down to reflect how we use space stations in reality. Also, the Science cap (how much total Science you can get after many re-dos out of each individual experiment) is much higher on these parts than on stock parts to make repeated return trips worthwhile.

I'm thinking of adding a lab with experiments in the future that uses up a resource that has significant mass, and I might consider allowing transmission for those results, since the resource would be a real cost.

i was going to suggest you could use "reagents" as the resource, but i kind of like how you have done it now. there is only so much you can do with what you pack in initially, eventually you need more pipettes or a new strain of bacteria, so they have to send up more resources. and you can't fit all the big complex equipment and co-authors needed in the space station, so you have to return the samples so the scientists on the ground can have a look.

edit; besides, the ground staff aren't going to help you unless they can get their names on the paper, so they are not going to let you submit the papers from orbit.

i'll give this a try when i get home, it looks really good.

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fusty

fusty

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Hello ethernet! I love your mod and it's concept. I was actually just chatting with some others on how to execute Station-Based science-trickling experiments and your unattended Eureka concept is wayy better than what I had envisioned for the unattended component. Very well executed!

That said, I was wondering if you wanted some models? I've modeled a bit in the past and would like to get back into it. Check my signature for some examples of my work I guess.

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ethernet

ethernet

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That said, I was wondering if you wanted some models? I've modeled a bit in the past and would like to get back into it. Check my signature for some examples of my work I guess.

Definitely! That would be great. I'm clueless on modeling, so any help would be great. Something in the style of your Karmony parts would be perfect for the Science Lab. I'd love to see your take on the other parts as well.

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Blaylock1988

Blaylock1988

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Definitely! That would be great. I'm clueless on modeling, so any help would be great. Something in the style of your Karmony parts would be perfect for the Science Lab. I'd love to see your take on the other parts as well.

Actually on that note, this would be a perfect use for one of sumghai's station parts like his Karmony Science Module. Some of his stuff doesn't have many purposes yet.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/35043-0-20-FusTek-Station-Parts-Expansion

Edited by Blaylock1988
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ethernet

ethernet

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Actually on that note, this would be a perfect use for one of sumghai's station parts like his Karmony Science Module. Some of his stuff doesn't have many purposes yet.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/35043-0-20-FusTek-Station-Parts-Expansion

I could see using ModuleManager to add support for my mod to that module should it be installed, but for the Science Lab included with this pack, I'd rather have something functionally similar to what I have now, designed to be used stand-alone. In particular, with the hatch on its side, like the hitchhiker container. Having the hatches on the ends makes station construction awkward unless using Crew Manifest or something to travel to a dedicated airlock module, which I don't want to require.

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ethernet

ethernet

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Second alpha is up on SpacePort.

Changes include:

  • A new part: the Spectrometron. This part lets you bombard surface samples with kuarqs (from an attached Cyclotron) to analyze them to such detail that you can transmit the results at 100%. The Spectrometron is highly sensitive, and will only work in a stable orbit. It's in the same tech node as the Cyclotron.
  • The Dust Collection experiment has been renamed to the Plant Growth experiment to avoid overlap with this mod. Existing experiment pods should update automatically and transparently.
  • Result strings for each of the four experiments. There's at least one custom, unique string for each celestial body, either while landed or in orbit, or both, for the Mun and Minmus. For other bodies, the Plant Growth experiment generally has custom strings while landed, while the Kuarq experiments have result strings while in orbit.
  • The Eureka and Kuarq "tanks" in the experiment pods are now hidden while they're inactive, instead of showing as "0.00/0.00".
  • Actions (for binding action groups) for the Science Lab, Cyclotron, and the four experiment pods.

Edited by ethernet
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