More Duna Biomes?

[eddiew]

Very simple one this; as per title, I think Duna needs more biomes. It seems to only have 4 (maybe 5) and yet it is the first interplanetary location that most players are going to look at getting surface samples from. Eve seems to have twice as many, and yet you won't be coming back from there until you're deep into the game (if ever). Looking at Duna's varied surface, it is ripe for more; that nice big canyon is obvious, and the poles could be separated into north and south for two new ones right off the bat.

I guess you can argue that Ike makes up the other half of biomes for Duna's SOI, and in fact it has more biomes than Duna itself - but who wants to drive a rover around on Ike...

Cheers

[Tex]

That Ike point is a good one indeed, but honestly 5 biomes is plenty to do all the science from Duna. Add in Duna's atmosphere and the space around it, its a pretty big science well once you consider its point multiplier.

[Alshain]

It's also one of the few places where rovers work incredibly well due to it's lack of water, gently sloping sands (mostly), adequate gravity, and relatively small size.

More biomes there would mean more opportunity to make use of rovers, which are sadly not very useful in this game.

I would prefer more biomes on Duna and less of a point multiplier personally.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Alshain

[eddiew]

That Ike point is a good one indeed, but honestly 5 biomes is plenty to do all the science from Duna. Add in Duna's atmosphere and the space around it, its a pretty big science well once you consider its point multiplier.

Don't get me wrong, I think science gain in KSP is an order of magnitude too high already. If I play with the stock tree, I play at 10%; but this can be balanced out. Really I just want reasons to go to Duna more than a handful of times. For such a prime target for player's first interplanetary runs, it seems neglected in terms of what you can do when you get there...

It's also one of the few places where rovers work incredibly well due to it's lack of water, gently sloping sands (mostly), and adequate gravity.

That's one more why it should have more biomes - driving 200km between them would be more financially favourable than launching two missions, but most bodies make this concept impractical. Sure, you can kind of rove around on Mun, but since wheels are kinda deep in the tree and hard to deliver, you may have used all the biomes up by the time you can put a rover up. Players will almost certainly have rovers around for Duna though - but why bother if there aren't that many biomes to explore? :S

[Tex]

That's one more why it should have more biomes - driving 200km between them would be more financially favourable than launching two missions, but most bodies make this concept impractical.

Aha, but what if you land your missions on the border of the biomes? Perfect reason to use rovers to drive a couple of kilometers to make sure you're in the biome, and you get to save the cost of the extra mission.

Plus, do remember that contracts for exploring Duna and other bodies will give you further reasons to go there and set up new stations, bases, or send more science back.

[eddiew]

I do try to land on borders where I can - but that's only two follow ups to the initial landing. And the game doesn't want to tell me where the borders are so I have to 'cheat' with MechJeb landing targets.

And I turn off contract science because it makes it too plentiful I guess that's my fault for altering the parameters of the game; there's still plenty of money to be had from contracts, I guess I just need to hold out for some exceptional seismic surveys to give me a point for a rover

[r4pt0r]

Duna needs its own version of Olympus Mons