Science system in .23 [Discussion and possible suggestion]

[Wampa842]

I attended the last bit of KerbalKon yesterday when Tanuki explained how the new science system is going to work. If you haven't heard of it yet, the jist is this: you can only perform an experiment on a certain instrument once. This means you can't watch the Mystery Goo float around, send it back to R&D, then do it again and again before returning. You experiment once, send the results, then it's done, you can't use that again until you "refuel" it at an orbital science lab. She had to cut the stream short, though, so we didn't see it in action.

I think that's not the best way to implement experiments, but this is just my opinion. Now, here comes my idea:

All instruments should have a multiplier value: material weariness.

On the first experiment, the multiplier is 1: experimenting yields 100% of the base science. If you perform an experiment, this multiplier is decreased by a certain amount, so on the second experiment, it only yields a percentage of the base score. Each time you perform an experiment, this value is decreased. For example, 60% on second experiment, 36% on third, 21% on fourth, and so on and so forth. Eventually you would reach a point where no experimenting can be done on the material (not necessarily 0%), then you would have to "refill" the instrument at a science lab.

Another idea that came to my mind while writing this up is the equipment weariness. This would be another multiplier, which is not reset on "refilling". Performing an experiment would decrease this by a little, eventually breaking the instrument. When this happens, the kerbonaut would have to repair it on EVA in a similar manner to broken rover wheels, making manned experimentation more rewarding than probes.

This is just an idea, feel free to post your opinion, possible questions, and what you would add/modify/remove from this idea.

Other ideas are also welcomed!

[Jordanpumah]

well the only downside to your method would be the fact that most of my goo probes are uncrewed, stationary outposts (they hop around a bit), I suspect many other players do the same

so yeah, atleast with the way Tanuki described it, I can (probably) use 4 containers and get tons of SCIENCE!