Bonuses/maluses instead of pure science

[Flef]

Hello guys,

I find the carreer mode a bit too much repetitive. It is all based on grinding science and Money. Moar and Moar.

An interesting thing would be to have bonuses/maluses, to get some features by visiting the biomes, collecting samples instead of science.

I mean if a kerbal is visiting the Farside Crater and collect samples, the samples could grant a +/-X% on something. Like "hey this sample is so shiny", "The Kerbal holding the sample is suddenly striked by a vision, the kerbal gets +10 stupidity points" or a "the sample helped us to create better testing devices : -10% cost reduction on Junior Lab". Instead of X science points once at Kerbin or transmitted at 100%.

That kind of things that could grant slight bonuses/maluses (and "why not!" cool texturing like green command pods!) on the parts and kerbals instead of brute science.

only the mission completion should bring science and money to the player in carreer mode

what do you think of this?

[thereaverofdarkness]

I like having the field experiments give science, in fact I think they should be the best way to get it given that the best real-world science is done either in field experiments or in labs performing further research on stuff that started in the field. But I would like to see the research become less boring and grindy.

One thing I thought of would be to give the first biome's research on a new planet the most science, with a diminishing return as you visit new biomes due to you having a lot of knowledge about the planet already. Another cool thing could be massive soil samples, in which you could select how much material you wish to hold but it'll increase the mass of your ship. That way, having a larger rocket could improve the amount of science you get from soil samples (at a diminishing return on the volume, of course). And some soil types may be more or less dense. Also, excess soil that has been heavily researched and isn't valuable for science might be something you could sell--another way to collect extra funds. This could last a lot longer than the scientific value before a particular sample type diminishes significantly in value, but might take a lot of volume and mass to accumulate a significant wealth from it, especially if you aren't managing your cost margins very effectively!

I also was thinking that the experiment tools should be available early on, but without giving the top amount of science for their use. Later unlocks, instead of giving you the tools, could give you research methods that enable you to collect more science when using the tools. This, along with earlier structural elements and docking ports, will grant a better permanence to your huge spacecraft and stations, allowing you to continue using those old scrapheaps instead of having to dispose of and replace everything just because you unlocked new tech.