transmitting science

[colin_in_space]

Usually I try to bring my science equipment (too and material bay) back home for full value.

But... It my lander brings 4 copies of each, will the transmissions add up? Then I could leave the equipment behind.

So are the science benefits of transmitting cumuinilative? Likewise, if I transmit but later recover an experiment, do I still get the Max total value for it overall? Are transmissions detrimental?

Thanks for clairifying. I remain a bit uncertain on this point.

[r4pt0r]

no, transmissions are capped. transmit all you want, you wont get it all. however returing samples nets you ~90% and returning 2 samples should get you just about 100%. you can leave the equipment behind on a manned mission, by transferring science to a command pod via eva kerbal.

however, you cannot store duplicates in the same command pod. so a stack of 2 landercans would be needed, or some other combination of pods, each holding 1 temperature reading apiece, or whatever other experiment.

EDIT: thanks, renegade, good catch. yes, duplicate means biome specific. you can have a lander take a temp reading in munar midlands, then hop into the east crater, and store both temp readings in the same command pod.

Edited August 22, 2014 by r4pt0r

[Renegrade]

however, you cannot store duplicates in the same command pod. so a stack of 2 landercans would be needed, or some other combination of pods, each holding 1 temperature reading apiece, or whatever other experiment.

For the sake of completeness, I just want to point out in this context that 'duplicates' means 'of a given report for a given biome'.

You cannot store two Mun Polar Crater temperature readings in a pod, but you could store one with a temperature reading from say, Mun Midlands or East Farside Crater or Minmus-anything or such.

Also I've heard that the Science Lab itself can contain full-on duplicates, but I've never really tested this.

(Some mods add little science containers as well)

[r_rolo1]

Yup, anything you can put a kerbal inside can store science. That is, you can store science in pods, the sci lab and the Hitchiker module ...

[colin_in_space]

Thanks guys. That is a good point about being able to move the science into the lander via kerbal. I hadn't realized that. It will save me a LOT of delta V on some of my lander desiegns. Getting the science gear back to kerbal from Eve or Duna surface adds up to a lot of delta v over time.

[Malaugrym]

Science Labs can hold unlimited amounts of data, as per the wiki. Might aid in working away from landercan spam. Just be careful about returning them, they can't take very much punishment.

[SRV Ron]

For contracts requiring science data from orbit, place a probe in orbit with solar panels, battery, antenna, and a Too Hot thermometer. While transmitting the temperature from orbit will net zero science, that transmission will satisfy the requirement of the contract netting you easy money and maybe a science point or two.

If bringing back a material bay, Goo canisters, and other equipment, you can plan to have some reserve fuel and engine to slow down landing speed at the last second to protect that delicate equipment returning to Kerbal. You can recover most of the cost by returning them rather then abandoning them. Its up to you how you want to handle those missions.

[Superfluous J]

One point: You can (except goos and jrs of course) just transmit one copy then bring a second copy home in the pod. This gets you the lion's share of the science points without all that mucking about with extra storage.

Or do what I do and just accept the returned value as "full science" for the experiment. There's still about 10x more science available in the game than you need to unlock the tech tree, even if you only bring one experiment of each type home.

[Vanamonde]

This question about how to play the game has been moved to Gameplay Questions.