Science, it's boring, how can it be made more fun?

[StrandedonEarth]

...that is Acme Rocket Company wanting some idiotic test.

What comes to mind is "Load a Coyote^Tm into a lander can and hit the Roadrunner^Tm currently at X, Y, Z coordinates moving at velocity v"

[Vallius]

I usually consider test contracts fun challenges to try unorthodox designs (as long as I can get at least as much money out as I'd put in), so I see no problem with them. Some of the newer contracts give me a special incentive to go to certain locations, and specifically grab samples from them (so that helps give me an incentive to link science missions). But yeah, we seriously need a mapping system in 1.0 or soon thereafter. I don't want to have to guess if I'm hitting the same biom twice on interplanetary missions.

[Tw1]

So the science system will receive some improvements with 1.0. It's probably not a complete overhaul as some of the suggestions above, but it's better than nothing.

IDK, they haven't talked about it so far. A few tweeks will make little difference when the system itself is flawed.

We've got good gameplay happening for the construction and flying parts of space travel, but very little that makes staying on the surface worth spending more than a few minutes. Any spot on another planet would be a treasure trove of valuable data with the right equipment.

And orbiting and surface bases could be the sites of a lot of valuable research.

[Wanderfound]

Things that are exciting in real science:

* Getting to play with insanely expensive high-tech toys.

* Using materials that will kill you (and maybe everyone else nearby as well) if you're careless.

* Experiments where months of work can be messed up by bumping a test tube at the wrong moment, or leaving something on the hotplate for a few seconds more than you should have.

* Occasionally realising that you know something that no-one else in the world knows about.

* Discovering that other people are taking what you found and doing cool stuff with it.