A possible solution to biome exploitation in the future.

[jfull]

I think we all want to see biomes added to all bodies in the solar system that have varied terrain; like Duna, Vall, Eve, Laythe, etc.

Biomes encourage repeat missions and/or long range surface exploration.

However, with the addition of more biomes comes increased potential for biome exploitation. Even if more tech tree nodes are added in the future, any sort of science-optimized mission could quickly give us more science than we could ever use.

Even now, we can sent a mission to land on Minmus, run all our experiments, then just "hop" to one of the 9 other biomes and do science there for the same value, and then just rinse and repeat for thousands of science points. The biomes even extend into low orbit, giving even more opportunities. It doesn't quite make sense that data from each of these biomes should have the same scientific value as the data you collected at the first landing.

Now, some people have proposed that each biome you do science in should give less science than the last one you visited. This is one potential solution, but it does seem to reduce the significance of having many biomes on a planet.

What I am suggesting is that, first of all, the science returned from all biomes everywhere should be reduced (perhaps by 25-50%).

However, the very first time you run a specific type of experiment on a particular planet/moon, it should get a large science points bonus (perhaps double value). You could continue to do science in the other biomes for their full value (though that would be less than what it is now), but you wouldn't be able to get that "first time bonus" again with that particular experiment.

The ground biomes, the low-orbit biomes, as well as the "flying over" biomes would all be handled separately, meaning that getting the bonus for first mystery goo observation in low orbit of Laythe wouldn't prevent you from getting the bonus from running it while flying or being on the ground.

I feel like this would be a much more realistic approach to science than the current model, since observation of particular regions of a planet should give valuable information, but in general, we learn the most about the environment of the entire planet from the very first observations taken. It would also encourage players to send new missions each time they unlock a new experiment, so that they can get that experiment's particular bonus.

Feel free to discuss this or point out any gaping holes in my reasoning. If I wasn't very clear in my explanation, maybe I can clarify it.

[Tw1]

Personally, I think there needs to be more use for science points in the future. That way even if the tech tree full, it still won't sit there. Perhaps science could refresh somewhat, every so often, so that points can still be collected after you've exhausted all the points, so you still have a supply of them long term. It's useful to have more data and run fresh experiments.