Maximum Science

[MinerEdgar]

What is the maximum amount of science you can obtain? Not in one mission but in one save.

[Superfluous J]

It would take an annoyingly large number of calculations. Annoying enough that I won't bother doing it.

However all the info you need seems to be contained on The Wiki Page for Science so if you want to load it all into Excel or something, report back here what that total is

[Streetwind]

Currently, that number is finite.

However, starting with 23.5, the Asteroid Redirect Mission, the amount of science available per save becomes infinite. The reason is the fact that each asteroid provides unique science, and the game will generate an infinite amount of asteroids for you. Just timewarp a bit if you need more.

Of course, by the point you can reliably intercept most of the passing asteroids you'll likely be nearly done with the tech tree anyway (and the tech tree can easily be completed using Kerbin, Mun and Minmus alone with thousands of points to spare).

[Tex]

I'd go with Streetwind's answer.

Science is just (basically) a measurement of your progress. Once you fill up the tech tree, Science points are there to show you how much you're capable of, a sort of achievement system if you will.

[blizzy78]

Science is just (basically) a measurement of your progress. Once you fill up the tech tree, Science points are there to show you how much you're capable of, a sort of achievement system if you will.

Who needs science points for achievements when you can have the real thing? (see signature *cough*)

[Martijn404]

Around 60.000, without repeating the same tests multiple times.

Take note that some mods do add science-functions so its possible to go over that number.

In my current save I have about 57.000 collected. Of this I had 16k from the Kerbin system and 20k from the Jool system. The other systems give from 2k (Dres) to 7k (Eve and Gilly).

Edited March 27, 2014 by Martijn404
corrected data

[Kasuha]

Of course, by the point you can reliably intercept most of the passing asteroids you'll likely be nearly done with the tech tree anyway (and the tech tree can easily be completed using Kerbin, Mun and Minmus alone with thousands of points to spare).

You need less dv to intercept an asteroid than to land on Minmus. And you don't need to redirect them to get science.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Kasuha

[Streetwind]

Oh come on, that's a best case scenario that's only ever going to happen if you get an asteroid that passes Kerbin counterclockwise within 100km on the equatorial plane, and you know it

Although admittedly, now that I think about it, dV requirements really are somewhere in the ballpark of Mun and Minmus missions for the easy picks, and not much higher for the hard ones if you can avoid the mistakes that they invite. Hmmm. Kind of disappointing, I was hoping for more variety in mission profiles.

[Kasuha]

Oh come on, that's a best case scenario that's only ever going to happen if you get an asteroid that passes Kerbin counterclockwise within 100km on the equatorial plane, and you know it

Difference between prograde and retrograde orbit is about 350 m/s and these are extreme cases, general inclination initial orbit is anywhere between that. Landing and return to orbit on Minmus is around 350 m/s as well, but always the same value. Majority of asteroids is going to take less dv than Minmus. Of course, some skill is needed.

Another thing is, an asteroid is not that much science. One Mun biome is about 500 science, one Minmus biome is about 700 science (rough values from memory), one asteroid will generate some 60 science if I'm not mistaken, maybe more if you get it through more situations (interplanetary/Kerbin high/Kerbin low) but still not as much as moons.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Kasuha

[Superfluous J]

Do we know how science will work with Asteroids? Must they be clawed to the ship? can you get temperature readings? How "near" them do you need to be? You can't land on them, so there must be just one biome, "Near asteroid 3X-125" or whatever.

[Starstrider42]

The most natural approach (at least, in terms of not confusing players) would be to let it work like any airless, single-biome planet. Clawing would count as landing, etc...

I don't actually *know* that this is the approach the devs are taking, mind you, it just seems reasonable.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Starstrider42

[Rakaydos]

The maximum possible science, even now, depends on how early you unlock the science lab and how often you use it.

[Starstrider42]

The maximum possible science, even now, depends on how early you unlock the science lab and how often you use it.

?????

The science lab does not change the maximum amount of science you can get from a location; it just changes the number of missions needed to do it.

[Rakaydos]

Going to double check really quick, but I believe "Refined science" is over and above the normal maximum. So if you transmit refined science and return the normal science, you can get over 100% of the normal science.

[Oarc]

I do not think that the science lab allows you to get more than 100% of the normal science. It just increases the amount you can transmit. Not beyond 100% though. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, to answer the OP of this thread. If you don't count recovery experiments, and you don't count the asteroids (which haven't been released yet), then you should be able to hit ~75000 points. (Not the best accuracy, still got a few bugs to work out.)

I'm basing this calculation off my own utility (http://oarcinae.us/ScienceParser/kspScienceParser.html). I can't guarantee my calculation is bug free, but that's definitely in the ballpark if not exactly correct. If you find a bug in my code, I would LOVE to know thanks!

Edited March 29, 2014 by Oarc

[cantab]

Difference between prograde and retrograde orbit is about 350 m/s and these are extreme cases, general inclination initial orbit is anywhere between that. Landing and return to orbit on Minmus is around 350 m/s as well, but always the same value. Majority of asteroids is going to take less dv than Minmus. Of course, some skill is needed.

Are you factoring in the need to match speeds with it? I expect getting any science would be impractical, if not impossible, if the thing's flying past you at several hundred m/s.

[Rakaydos]

Are you factoring in the need to match speeds with it? I expect getting any science would be impractical, if not impossible, if the thing's flying past you at several hundred m/s.

The videos have demonstrated a fairly impressive impact tolerance on the asteroids. A deliberate lithobreaking to match velocity, then after matching velocity to turn the claw on it and SCIENCE!, might be a good way to get asteroid science easilly.

[DMagic]

The most natural approach (at least, in terms of not confusing players) would be to let it work like any airless, single-biome planet. Clawing would count as landing, etc...

I don't actually *know* that this is the approach the devs are taking, mind you, it just seems reasonable.

I have yet to actually see anyone do any asteroid science in any of the videos, but from what I've heard from several scattered places science can be done on an asteroid at each planet. So my guess is that asteroids are one or two extra experimental situations (probably asteroid grabbed and asteroid near, or something like that) that can be done around any planet/moon. Since they aren't actually planets (they don't have SOI's, it sounds like they are vessels not CelestialBodies, they don't have gravity etc...) it seems unlikely that they would be treated as such by the science system.

Treating them as planets would require lots of changes to how science reports are generated and my guess is that they would go for the simpler method of adding on a few experimental situations and a few vessel situations to go along with them.

I'll be interested to see how it works though. Especially considering that the scenario described above would break my own mod, though it should be easy to fix.