More interactive science experiments

[vetrox]

So a quote from myself from an earlier thread

I also had a thought. We could do with some more interactive experiments. Just as an example (made up on the spot whilst i sit here at work at 7:00am after getting in at 4am last night after alot of booze) packing onto the side of your ship 3 seismic detectors which you have to setup in a triangle of a certain size with each point being 1km apart and then detonating some sort of explosive in the middle for the sensors to detect and then getting an actual reading so we can learn actual physical properties about a planets surface. This would add a whole new layer to things. Think about it, more EVA interaction, a use for rovers, a purpose to exploring the surface, the decision to take a rover with you or just huff it on foot. Again, I refer to Take on:Mars as whn you finish a contract on that you get a little insight to some of mars's properties.

Although the above is just a random suggestion but overall what I would love to see from future updates to the career is something like the above.

Any experiment could be accepted really but the experiments should add the necesity for more EVA and rover use (which tbh you can quite happily play without). A reason to actually explore planets and get out of your ship rather than just right click and get science.

A really nice bonus that could be achieved from these more in depth experiments would be learning some of the physical properties of the bodies in the kerbol system. Being able to lean about the different surface compositions and chemicals that make up the atmosphere. Although this data could be completley made up. It would certainly add some more nerdy discussion in the forums such as "why is x planet so hot if its atmosphere is made up of y". Im sure the more qualified members of the community would be able to give some input to this type of stuff.

So to summarise. More in depth experiments (doesnt have to be silly in depth) leads to more EVA/rover purpose and a reason to explore the planets.

Feel free to agree or disagree or even make your own suggestions. They dont need to be anything crazy in depth but something to add to the "lore" of the kerbol system and make gameplay more immersive and sciency.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Vanamonde

[Alex_Leonardo]

Very good. They have different biomes at the moment, but it would be cool to have these "in-depth" experiments.

[S4qFBxkFFg]

Another similar idea would be that you would have to continually take readings for certain experiments to get more useful science. Someone in another thread said that taking one reading at one particular location is virtually useless in comparison to taking lots of readings spread out over some range. Examples could be taking thermometer readings once every five minutes over the course of a planet's day, or once per day over the course of its year, or once per second during parachute descent.

I don't want to suggest the player would have to right-click on the part and log values that often, just that they would have to activate the science instrument, set a logging frequency, and ensure that it was powered and had sufficient data capacity for however long they want the experiment to run.

[Sidneyia]

I like the idea where you need to use more than one ship/craft to make the experiment. The controlled explosion could give information about the inner structure of the planet such the substances and its proprieties, the existence of liquid or gas bubbles, etc.

[Tex]

I also think it would be quite interesting if new animations were added to working with the experiment modules themselves, such as the Kerbal on EVA actually using a microphone or speaking as he makes a crew report, or actually picking up a surface sample and putting it in a bag. They did it for planting flags, right?