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What is purpose of Mobile processing lab


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Does is some kind of Space Station i never used this module. I just wonder does we ever get some kind space station i mean different experiments that can make tech points?

One of the most important features is it allows to to re-use experiments after transmitting them that normally can't be re-used like the mystery goo canister. It can also give you a bonus for transmitting I believe.

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1. Stores experimental results, including duplicates. (Most capsules can only store 1 of the each type.) 2. Increases the value of transmitting data. 3. Resets goo pods and materials bays, which otherwise would only be good for 1 use.

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Does is need kerbal to operate, can i use it in unnamed missions?

you need TWO kerbals to process the data and clean the instruments (which means if you plan on bringing them back, you just as well bring the science with you, unless you're running out of time on a contract or something). I personally don't find it very useful in most places, though they can be useful if you reuse ships in the Jool system. It will also become a lot more useful when they add biomes to other planets in .26

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Probably answered but I want to make sure...Is this only duplicates or can it store triplicates, etc.?

There's a concept known as the zero-one-infinity rule that says that if it makes sense to allow more than one of something, there's no reason not to allow as many as the underlying architecture permits. The only limit on how many same-situation runs of an experiment you can store in a lab is your own patience.

(If you wrote a script that just ran an experiment and stored it in the lab over and over again extremely fast, you might be able to bloat your save file enough to get the game to crash. I don't consider that a design limit of the part.)

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you need TWO kerbals to process the data and clean the instruments (which means if you plan on bringing them back, you just as well bring the science with you, unless you're running out of time on a contract or something). I personally don't find it very useful in most places, though they can be useful if you reuse ships in the Jool system. It will also become a lot more useful when they add biomes to other planets in .26

It's important to note (before you send that ship to Jool) that not only does it need 2 Kerbals in the LAB, it needs either one more Kerbal in a command module or a probe core so you can control the ship while the two scientists are in the lab. Those lazy scientists won't start working until you tell them to, and you can't tell them without that 3rd Kerbal or probe core.

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The lab will really show its worth come the addition of more biomes in later releases. As I and others have already demonstrated with the Mun and Minmus, having an orbiting lab combined with an ultralight science lander that visits every biome in turn can really cut down on the overall cost of gathering science from a given body.

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I made a munar science truck named "Eureka" with the mobile lab. When I finally sent Jeb to pick it up after much roving, I had quite a lot of science points, let me put it this way.

Obviously if you don't like rover, or roving for that matter, this is not for you :)

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This is a mission I did a while back in which I went to Eeloo, then packed 3300 science into the lab module for return to Kerbin, leaving the lander and science instruments behind. Although the lab itself is fairly big, and requires 2 kerbals and a lot of electricity to operate, it's a good way to re-use science devices and store multiple science reports without having to retain all the science devices and sub-ships of the mission.
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1. Stores experimental results, including duplicates. (Most capsules can only store 1 of the each type.) 2. Increases the value of transmitting data. 3. Resets goo pods and materials bays, which otherwise would only be good for 1 use.

However an large ship tend to have an command module and a hitchhiker module anyway.

The problem is that you can not store data from material labs and goo containers and reuse them. You can only transmit while connected or docked to lab for an small increase in science.

If you could dock your lander to mothership with lab, then gather the data and restore the material and goo modules for reuse the lab would be useful for Mun and Jool missions at least.

As its now Its pretty wasted except as a cool part.

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Processing lab is practical also in Mun and Minmus motherships. You can have a small lander and land on one or two biomes at a time and rendezvous to mothership to reset scientific instruments and refuel the lander. If we get more biomes to other planets too, as rumors say, the processing lab would be even more valuable part of stations and interplanetary motherships.

I do not understand what is the idea of increasing of transmitting points. That would make sense, if it worked when lab is unmanned, but if there are two kerbals somewhere there are also a return ship and you can get full science points.

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The problem is that you can not store data from material labs and goo containers and reuse them. You can only transmit while connected or docked to lab for an small increase in science.

If you could dock your lander to mothership with lab, then gather the data and restore the material and goo modules for reuse the lab would be useful for Mun and Jool missions at least.

As its now Its pretty wasted except as a cool part.

But you can - EVA out and pick up the experiments from mat/goo and store them like any surface sample - same for any gravioli readings etc.

I do not understand what is the idea of increasing of transmitting points. That would make sense, if it worked when lab is unmanned, but if there are two kerbals somewhere there are also a return ship and you can get full science points.

If you are returning the data anyway, then there are only two instances transmitting makes sense:

1. You are not going to a. land the lab back on Kerbin or b. land two capsules with doubles of each experiment - here, transmitting an experiment after processing it in the lab and then packing one more and bring it back to Kerbin nets you more science than just a single return.

(Without modding (using new parts or changing existing ones to hold science reports) you would need two capsules to bring up two different surface samples.)

2. You are establishing a colony/base and do not plan on returning any Kerbals (soon) - here, tranmitting is the only way to make use of the science gathered at the colony/base.

As of now you can get all science points a certain experiment offers by returning it (several times) to Kerbin.

What if: Certain physical experiments (surface samples foremost) would require a lab to properly conserve the samples to get full science, instead of returning these experiments granting all points?

Edited by KerbMav
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On-topic:

You can get all you need from a wiki page here: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Mobile_Processing_Lab_MPL-LG-2

Almost on-topic:

...if there are two kerbals somewhere there are also a return ship...

Well... I do not want to disappoint you but... No. Just no.

Having Kerbals somewhere will not mean there is a return ship. Tell this to kerbals in my surfaces bases on Tylo and Eve. They will go home some day, but I need those science right now, at least as much as we can transmit, cause we do not have enough technology now to return them.

But anyway, see my signature. They will not be forgotten.

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Just as a possible use case, here's what I did with the lab last time: I built a (landed) station on the Mun, which included a lab module. In addition I sent up a rover that had two goo and two material science modules. Now, after using all of them, the rover was sent back to dock with (ok, it actually was clawing into) the station, to store all science data there, and to get the non-reusable parts cleaned. Afterwards, the rover trip to the next biome could start. In a previous save I did something similar, with an orbital lab and an ion powered lander. Needless to say, that both missions brought back an incredible amount of science, enough to max out the tech tree...

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The problem is that you can not store data from material labs and goo containers and reuse them. You can only transmit while connected or docked to lab for an small increase in science.

Oh yes, you can! You need to go on EVA, though: a Kerbal can make the rounds of all instruments and "take/collect data" (right-click the instrument with a Kerbal being nearby). The results can then be stored in a Pod (right-click pod while on EVA, or just board it), the instrument can be cleaned and re-used. There was a time when all of this was on the Wiki page, but someone has decided to "improve" it by turning it into a collection of data tables.

screenshot75.jpg

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I tried making a lander for Minimus with a lab, 4 materials and 4 goo. The idea being it lands, collects 4 sets of data (diminishing returns but I believe the 4th time is the last attempt you'll get any science for), processes it all, stores it, resets all the canisters, and then flies to another location. In practice it was heavy (only really need 1 goo and 1 materials if the lab's with you) used more fuel than I anticipated and I don't think ended up being any better than my previous trip of 2 landers that separated from a single booster/transfer stage and each carried 4 goo and 4 materials.

I was thinking next time I'd try the lab in orbit and a lander that docks with it to offload science, but I'm liking the idea of a lab on a rover. Presumably though it needs to be pretty heavy duty as it'll need fuel and engines to get it back to orbit or kerbin. How long does it take to circumnavigate Minimus in a rover?

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One goo + one materials bay: 350kg. One lab: 3.5 tons. So strictly speaking, the lab becomes interesting if you want to bring home more than twelve results. But who's gonna be strict about it? Taste and preferences are just as important.

I don't enjoy roving on Minmus -- you can make insane speed in the flats, but going up and down the hills and slopes is treacherous and takes a lot of attention. Making suborbital hops doesn't cost much dV on Minmus and is my preferred way of moving around. IIRC, touching off every biome on rocket power will cost you less than 4000m/s.

On the Mun, rovers are easier to handle, but there's few spots where you can drive from one biome to the next. Those crater walls are serious obstacles.

So, unless you enjoy rovers in and of themselves, I advise against a science rover. Then again, my vessel was designed as a lander first, with the lab turned sideways and outrigger tanks for a low center of mass. Wheels were slapped on as an afterthought. See here and there. The wheels are comparatively lightweight, and if they save me the occasional jump they have paid their fare. Or in the case of Duna, they allowed me to land at low altitude (good parachute utilisation), then drive to the nearest peak for the launch (free altitude).

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I find the lab kind of "meh" given the current mechanics and biome situation.

The "reset" function is only useful if you plan on doing more than 11 pairs of materials bay and goo experiments - which basically means only for cases where you visit more than 5 biomes (lets assume you do 2x experiments per biome).

In fact, the break even point is even beyond that if you use an orbiting lab (as I do), because you can use disposable mat and goo bays, and you don't have to haul them back up to orbit to be reset (and I lack the patience to rove all over the mun)

The transmit boost function: convenient, but pretty irrelevant, mun trips are short, and once you've unlocked the tree, you're not in any rush to get more science.

It would be best used for 1 way missions, but that seems incompatible (to me) with Kerballed missions. "Leave no Kerbal behind" and all that...

That said.. I use it for RP reasons. ie the lab is my hydroponics bay for long missions... or something like that (I don't play with TAC), or its just cool/additional "living space"

Or I transmit data because I'm well past caring about how much science i have.

Also, I've changed the .cfg files so it has a 2.0x transmission multiplier rather than 1.5x

I also upped the transmit % of goo and mat bays to 35% and 25%, so with the mobile lab, I get 70% and 50% transmission (also, 100 for the thermometer, and 90% for the seismic scan and grav detector).

In that configuration, I'm happy with it... ascend to orbit with 2 of each experiment, process and transmit 1, store the other, reset modules.

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If you take the same lab to different places (most notably Mun, then Minmus or vice versa) you get significantly more savings than sending new ones to each planet. Getting from Mun to Minmus (or vice versa) costs a LOT less than going from Kerbin to either, and that savings alone is worth using the lab instead of bringing all those extra containers.

When Biomes show up on every single planet, I could see transferring it from planet to planet as I send a new science lander tailored to each one.

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