Crew and Science Management Suggestions

[longhornchris]

So, I'm sure some of this has been posted in other dev threads but I wanted to put all my ideas in one place. Sorry if some of this is repeated, and I know some of this is available in mods.

Under crew management, I still keep the Crew Manifest mod installed because it allows me to add Kerbals on the launchpad (because sometimes I forget) and because it allows me to move Kerbals around inside my vehicle. It makes sense that Kerbals can move through Clamp-o-tron size ports or larger (no Jr ports). I follow self-imposed design rules, like Kerbals can't transfer through fuel tanks and batteries, to keep realism but I hate having to go EVA just to move from a capsule to a lander or from a lifter into a station.

For science, I have a few ideas:

First, it doesn't make sense that crew reports are a 100% but EVA reports are 50%, nor does it make sense for sensors like the thermometer to have reduced transmissions. Anything where a Kerbal is going to read an instrument should be either no transmission penalty (reduction) but should be lots of data. That said, mystery goo, materials lab, and sample returns should have a transmission loss since its more valuable to bring it back to Kerbin where the scientists can study it up close. Another option would be to have a 'lab' module that can fully exploit the materials, but require a lot of resources.

Next, if would be great to have sample return containers and data storage containers. Sample containers could hold surface samples, or mystery goo and/or material study after exposure for return to Kerbin. Data storage units could hold 'transmission' data rather than sending over a radio - use less electricity but it has to be brought back to Kerbin. Also, data could be transferred from one storage unit to another or transmitted later.

Finally, have Crew and EVA reports be Kerbal-dependent, i.e. a 2nd report from the same Kerbal at the same location has no-value, while a report from a different Kerbal would have the reduced value.

[longhornchris]

One other thing, it would be really nice to have a 2m Materials experiment for use with the larger vehicles.

[Scotius]

I don't know... it makes kinda sense. Detailed spreadsheet of data pulled from the science equipment should be a bit more...precise than a verbal report from a guy who is not even a scientist per se. At least at this point. I eagerly await the day we'll get crew specialisations, and our scientist kerbonauts will be able to give reports worth more science, than those coming from one of generic rocket jockeys.

[longhornchris]

Well, there was another suggestion I was going to make, but its a bit more long-term and would be difficult to implement. Have Kerbal traits have some impact on the mission, such as "piloting and science" so a kerbal with high science gets better data from reports, sample evaluations, etc while a Kerbal with a better pilot can do something (say more accurate SAS... this gets complicated though).

Or - have 2 classes of Kerbal - pilots and mission specialists, like we do in real life. You can't fly w/o a pilot but you only need one or you can put a probe-controller on so you can fly with non-pilot Kerbals (ex. space stations). Mission Specialists get better science from crew reports, EVAs, sample returns, etc. If/when science labs become available (for say sample analysis w/o return to Kerbin or general experiments in space) they would only operate with mission specialists in the module (along with power an whatever else they might need).