Interactive Science

[Guest]

[Deleted by user]

Edited November 25, 2019 by Guest
Addition

[Atoning Unifex]

This isn't a bad idea, although it would have to be carefully done otherwise the process of gathering all science pots for all devices for each planet could turn into a boring grinding process rather than a fun thing to do.

At this point I'm reserving any more science suggestions until we see how the currency/reputation system fits in beause this is likely to mix things up a bit.

[Nemrav]

well, really, having too many experiments possible means 1 of 2 things :

1: the science in-come per experiments stays the same, people can complete the tech tree in one launch.....

2: science in-come decreases and then it becomes a grind fest.

other than that its a good idea to have SCIENCE more like an experiment...

maybe we could have a decrease in the gain (similar to transmit cost), for every experiment. So that it doesn't matter what you do on the mun, you are still "learning" about it, but as you gain more knowledge, the more insignificant new things become, and you are forced to go to minmus and then duna !...

[vger]

While i do feel that the scientific data gathering is too passive I don't know if simply adding more instruments or adding more variables which can affect their results, is the way to go.

Take manned missions for instance. While you do need to land Kerbals on worlds to get the best science, the actual act of walking on them accomplishes little. Simply step off the ladder, do an EVA report, get a sample, and take off. There should be more to do on a planet's surface that encourages exploration. Yeah, we'll get more biomes I guess, but that's still just hopping from place to place. There should be things specific to certain worlds that need to be found and experimented on, in order to get an epic increase in science.

[Guest]

[Deleted by user]

Edited November 25, 2019 by Guest

[vger]

The biome hunt already feels like grinding to me, at least to a degree. I try very hard to 'just explore' what fancies me at the time so I don't feel like I'm driving myself crazy to squeeze a couple extra science out of the Mun to get a new piece of the tech tree.

But even without expanding the planets, even little things with the science we already have could be given a little extra. Metagames, if you will. For example, you have the goo. Granted, it's a pretty silly concept, but at the same time, I am always looking forward to what interesting new thing it's going to do. Imagine if probes only gave rudimentary readings about it, but while examining it on an EVA, you get a new window that enables you to actually poke, prod, zap, etc the goo to see the reactions. Visually too, not just text info. In some cases this could border on puzzles which only unlock the science, after you've gotten the kind of reaction you were looking for.

A bit more on planetary exploration, our own solar system is full of cool examples that could be deemed 'worthy of deeper investigation.' There's water on the moon, the van allen belts of gas giants, the great red spot on Jupiter (okay, we couldn't land there, but we could drop a probe into it), the (hypothetical) ocean beneath the icy surface of Europa that may harbor microbial life. The search for life could be a metagame unto itself really. Doesn't mean new models need to be created so one of the worlds can be populated with large complex lifeforms, but just looking for something really basic, whether it be alive or fossilized, would be pretty cool. And then there's the anomalies, which while fun little Easter Eggs could accomplish so much more. For one example, granted I'm not suggesting this actually be done, because it's too much of a 2001 ripoff... what if the monolith actually did something? For starters, bury it, so you can't see it by flying around. It emits radio waves though, meaning if you establish a network of satellites, you can then triangulate its position. Flying a probe to it wont work though because at close proximity the radio waves interrupt all communication, resulting an uncontrollable probe. But a manned mission would work, and then reaching the site and uncovering it leads to some other cool stuff, and yadda yadda yadda.

[Tweeker]

I agree, science needs to be less grindy, Fixing this would require at least 2 things,

(1) adding more varied ways to get science,

for example a probe, or rover that has to be deployed and later retrieved after it runs it course.

(2) Reduce the amount of science earned to compensate for the extra types of experiments.