Difference between revisions of "Talk:Science"

Latest revision as of 02:40, 4 January 2021

Image versus table

Hi, my justification, why I remove that image here and only leave the table:

• Better readability: You have to click on the image to get a readable version
• Easier to edit
• “Loseless compressed”: Especially the small thumbnails look awful with the jpg artefacts.

— xZise [talk] 16:43, 18 October 2013 (CDT)

Whatever table you removed, I think thumbnail images help when using this one as a cheat sheet. Ideally we'd have a graphical representation for biome/global, too.

	Kerbonaut			Capsule	Modules
	Surface Sample	EVA Report	Asteroid Sample	Crew Report	Mystery Goo Observation	Materials Study	Temperature Scan	Atmospheric Pressure Scan	Gravity Scan	Seismic Scan	Atmosphere Analysis
Surface: Landed	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome
Surface: Splashed	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	Biome	—	—
Flying Low	—	Biome	Biome	Biome	Global	Global	Biome	Global	—	—	Biome
Flying High	—	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global	—	—	Biome
In Space Low	—	Biome	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global	Biome	—	—
In Space High	—	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global	Biome	—	—

--Dory (talk) 18:44, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Formula for repeating experiments

According to the "Repeating experiments" section, when an experiment is repeated its future science potential is P - P * 0.8 where P is the current value. For ground samples on the launch pad, which give you 9.0 at first, you would expect this to be 1.8 the next time. However it is actually 2.3. Same for transmitting: P - P * 0.8 * E where E is the efficiency of the transmission seen on the blue "transmit" button. For this example that would be E = 0.5 so the next P should be 5.4, but it is 5.6. That formula is also missing a source (and google didn't yield any).

I noticed that the factor of reduction is defferent for some experiments: For crewreports it seems to be P - P * 0.627, for Evareports 0.8, for Mysterygoo 0.557 and for the Sc9001 0.715

Revised Formula

The way it appears to work is that the penalty is "science done" divided by the cap. For a crew report this is 5/8 so that's why it appears to be around 0.627 (rounding). It's actually 0.625. For EVA reports the base value is 8 and the cap is 10, hence 80%. For mystery goo the base is 10 and the cap is 18 so that results in 0.55 repeating (again, it may have appeared to be 0.557 due to the fact that KSP rounds in the GUI, though it doesn't round in the save files and you'll see that you get very tiny fractional science points). The material lab is 25/35 so that's 0.71428 etc.

The proper equation should be Y = T * S * (1 - P/C), where T is the transmission efficiency, S is the value of this experiment in this situation (base times the situation multiplier), P is the total number of points you've gained by doing this experiment in this situation (not just the last time, but the sum of all of them), C is the cap for this experiment in this situation (again this the cap from the cfg file times the situation multiplier), and Y is the yield of this experiment.

No source for this equation. But, it's in the save files more or less. Each experiment stores the science and the cap, and it also has a field called "scv" which is always equal to (1 - science / cap) and your next experiment always gives you whatever the first one did, times whatever scv was in your save file. Of course as I say it won't show up as exactly that value in the GUI due to rounding, but it will be added as exactly that amount in the save files--Akefay (talk) 23:52, 24 October 2013 (CDT)

Differential Equation

This looks like a differential equation to me. The solution should be P(t) = C - C * ( C / ( C - (S * T)))^(-t), where P(t) is the science obtained in total by doing it t times. Needs checking since I'm not confident about my maths, but at least this is correct for t = 0, 1 and infinity.

Calculate P(n+k) - P(n) for the science points you'll obtain by repeating it n times, when you've already done it k times. Or take log on both sides to calculate a particular t for some P(t). You'll only need the integer ts, though Tryourbreast (talk) 13:25, 26 October 2013 (CDT)

I don't know if you're right or wrong, but it's conceptually harder for the reader than the straight forward algebraic formula that is listed. I'd only update the page with this formula if it is more correct. --MCSquared (talk) 00:54, 29 October 2013 (CDT)

"Conceptually harder"? No, just no. Which part of it is conceptually hard at all? I didn't even include the steps on deriving it. You just plug in the value and get your result, period. Not difficult at all.

Besides, the current forumla isn't straightforward at all: each run depends on the previous run, and then the more previous run, and so on. It's convenient at calculating one step, but most of the times you want to calculate the total yield instead of each step, and this is the only way. I think it's needless to say that a equation of total yield is more useful when you want to calculate the science you'll earn, or the number of times you need to perform a experiment to get certain science.

If you still insist, though, just put both of them. It's simple.Tryourbreast (talk) 07:13, 29 October 2013 (CDT)

Now for t=0 the formula is obviously correct (${\displaystyle P(t=0)=C-C\cdot x^{0}=C-C=0}$, ${\displaystyle x}$ is the base of the exponentation). For the first experiment the current formula in the article is ${\displaystyle y=s\cdot m\cdot t}$ while yours is ${\displaystyle P(t=1)=C-C\cdot \left({\frac {C}{C-S\cdot T}}\right)^{1}=C-{\frac {C^{2}}{C-S\cdot T}}}$ which doesn't look right. Although I'm not sure what this factor ${\displaystyle T}$ is. — xZise [talk] 11:25, 29 October 2013 (CDT)

The page used to denote the transmission efficiency ${\displaystyle t}$ as ${\displaystyle T}$, which I went with it because I used ${\displaystyle t}$ for the number of times you've did the experiment, and besides, constants should be in capital letters. Also you're wrong here; the power is ${\displaystyle -t}$, not ${\displaystyle t}$.

Let me restate the equation again: ${\displaystyle P(t)=C\cdot (1-\left({\frac {C}{C-S\cdot T}}\right)^{-t})}$. If C, S and T are all positive, then the equation reduces to ${\displaystyle P(t)=C\cdot (1-\left({\frac {C-S\cdot T}{C}}\right)^{t})}$ Tryourbreast (talk) 01:58, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

Ah darn, I didn't notice that the exponent is negative. So ${\displaystyle P(t=1)=C-(C-S\cdot T)=S\cdot T}$. But your formula doesn't take the celestial body modifier into account. Although I would guess you only need to multiply it to the transmission efficiency. ${\displaystyle P(t)=C\cdot \left(1-\left({\frac {C}{C-S\cdot T\cdot M}}\right)^{-t}\right)}$

Personally I'm also think we should show both formulas. As only your formula can give you the science yield without knowing how much you yielded before. — xZise [talk] 04:54, 30 October 2013 (CDT) Note, I fixed the formula for t=1 — xZise [talk] 05:51, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

Well, since the step equation has been changed again, let me fix the total yield equation: ${\displaystyle P(t)=C\cdot M\cdot (1-({\frac {C-S\cdot T}{C}})^{t})}$. Note that the asymptotic limit (doing the experiment infinite times) is ${\displaystyle C\cdot M}$.

Also, note that you do need to know how much you yielded before you calculate the total yield, because what you can get is the difference ${\displaystyle P(n+t)-P(n)}$, where n is the initial times of experiments you've done. When you've never done any science at all, it's ${\displaystyle P(t)-P(0)}$, and we have initial condition ${\displaystyle P(0)=0}$, so we can simply calculate ${\displaystyle P(n)}$ instead. When n is not 0, however, you need to subtract something.Tryourbreast (talk) 05:01, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

Okay your formula doesn't get you directly to science yielded with the n^th experiment, but you simply can take the difference of the n^th and (n-1)^th while you need to calculate all previous results (and not simply only the result before the n^th) with the formula currently given. Actually shouldn't ${\displaystyle y=P(n+1)-P(n)}$, where ${\displaystyle y}$ is the result from the formula in this article and where ${\displaystyle p}$ in that formula is equal to ${\displaystyle P(n)}$? Unfortunately I don't have enough time at the moment to verify this. — xZise [talk] 05:51, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

Yes.Tryourbreast (talk) 06:09, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

I'm pretty sure

${\displaystyle y=s\cdot m\cdot t\cdot (1-{\frac {st}{C}})^{i}}$

is the incremental equation you're looking for. I've added it to the main article already -- if that was a no-no, feel free to remove it -- but my testing thus far shows it working well. It was derived using the difference equation for exponential growth/decay as presented on Wikipedia, where the equation ${\displaystyle x_{t}=a\cdot x_{t-1}=x_{0}\cdot a^{t}}$ is true. The incremental equation first put in the article is of the first (iterative) form, while the equation just added is of the second (non-iterative) form. NivvyDaSkrl (talk) 10:54, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

But we're talking about the total yield equation... What you've said was irrelevant. Also, the capital/small letter issue on that page still exists, so I fixed them. Tryourbreast (talk) 11:30, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

Ah. Sorry. I didn't intend to be irrelevant; I apologize. NivvyDaSkrl (talk) 19:08, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

Perhaps this will redeem me:

${\displaystyle \sum \limits _{i=0}^{n}smt(1-{\frac {st}{C}})^{i}=smt{\frac {C(1-(1-{\frac {st}{C}})^{1+n})}{st}}}$ where ${\displaystyle st\neq 0}$. 10:52, 31 October 2013 (CDT)

And it simplified to ${\displaystyle mC(1-({\frac {C-st}{C}})^{1+n})}$, which is basically what I've derived above. Except in here it's ${\displaystyle P(n+1)-P(0)}$, which becomes ${\displaystyle P(n+1)}$ Tryourbreast (talk) 11:05, 31 October 2013 (CDT)

Eh, you're right. I should have read better. I'll think twice before attempting to contribute next time. NivvyDaSkrl (talk) 14:39, 31 October 2013 (CDT)

Data Scale?

How does the Data Scale value being listed for each experiment type tie into the formula? --MCSquared (talk) 00:54, 29 October 2013 (CDT)

I did some tests with the laboratory and it appears that the data scale is basically Mit/science point. See also Template_talk:Infobox/Part/laboratory#Resource_cost. — xZise [talk] 09:05, 13 February 2014 (CST)

Discussion on added equation.

I've added another form of the equation, based on the difference equation solution for exponential growth/decay equations on Wikipedia. It replaces "total science obtained" (${\displaystyle p}$) with "number of experiments already run in the past" (${\displaystyle i}$). I think it's worth adding; when finding the amount of science one will get from running an experiment for the nth time, it's no longer necessary to solve the equation for the other 1 through n-1 experiments previously run. It's also much more spreadsheet-friendly. NivvyDaSkrl (talk) 10:45, 30 October 2013 (CDT)

Analysis of save files and in-game science results.

I'm attaching a text document showing a mathematical analysis of the science value of repeated experiments. It doesn't refer to a science "base value" such as is included in this wiki at all. The base values (sbv) are situational and coincide with the chart of biome/situation science multipliers (except for vessel recovery and asteroid samples). The base multiplier that the wiki gives are products of the data gathered in Mits multiplied by the current data value of the first experiment. If this is the formula to use for the main science wiki page, the "base values" of the experiments should be called something more like "initial recovery value" and the data size in Mits of each experiment should replace the base value because the data size and science capacity are only variables that changes by type of experiment.

"Analysis of scientific data collection recurrance in Kerbal Space Program 0.90 Beta

With each iteration, science gain equals data gathered (e.g. 30.0 Mits) multiplied by the current data value.

Current data value is listed in the research tab under the R&D sector. It also can be calculated to be equal to the product: scv * sbv / dsc (these values are stored in the "persistent.sfs" savegame file at the bottom of the tech tree).

The "scv" variable can also be calculated as a percentage of science that is unresearched. scv = 1 - ( sci / cap )

If a science multiplier is used in the difficulty setting, that multiplier is also automatically factored into the "current data value."

For example: multiplier = 1,000,000.0 dsc = 10 sbv = 0.3 scv = 1 current data value (Science / Mit) = 1000000 (multiplier) * 1 (scv or 100% unresearched) * 0.3 (sbv - experiment while landed at Kerbin) / 10 Mit/Science (data scale) = 30,000.0 Science / Mit

Using a million times multiplier such as this example can be useful for testing predictions of exact science values because the game does not round whole numbers. This generates something like 90,909.1 as opposed to just giving a 0.1 value which would provide very little insight as to the mathematical origin.

There is no data on effects of using a leveled scientist to boost science gain (KSP 0.90 Beta). The reason for this is that actually testing these predictions using a level 5 scientist produce the exact same results as using a pilot to perform the same experiments. This is also true of using transitted data at a data loss; the loss of data is not affected by having a leveled scientist perform the experiment and transmit the data.

Notes follow:

surfaceSample@KerbinSrfLandedLaunchPad sbv = 0.3 Science multiplier = x1 cap = 12.0 data size = 30.0 Mits dsc = 1

1st iteration science = 9.0 sci (total) = 9.0 scv = 0.25 current data value = 0.075

2nd iteration science = 2.25 sci (total) = 11.25 scv = 0.0625 current data value = 0.01875

3rd iteration science = 0.5625 sci (total) = 11.8125 scv = 0.015625 current data value = 0.0046875

4th iteration science = 0.140625 sci (total) = 11.953125 scv = 0.00390625 current data value = 0.001171875

mysteryGoo@KerbinSrfLandedLaunchPad sbv = 0.3 Science multiplier = x1 cap = 3.9 data size = 10.0 Mits dsc = 1

1st iteration science = 3.0 sci (total) = 3.0 scv = 0.2307692308 current data value = 0.0692307692

2nd iteration science = 0.6923076923 sci (total) = 3.6923076923 scv = 0.0532544379 current data value = 0.0159763314

gravityScan@KerbinSrfLandedLaunchPad bsv = 0.3 Science multiplier = x1 cap = 6.6 data size = 60.0 Mits dsc = 3

1st iteration science = 6.0 sci (total) = 6.0 scv = 0.0909090909 current data value = 0.009090909090909

2nd iteration science = .54545454545 sci (total) = 6.5454545454 scv = 0.00826446281 current data value = 0.000826446281

recovery@KerbinFlew bsv = 5 Science multiplier = x1 cap = 6 data size = 1 Mit dsc = 1

1st iteration science = 5.0 sci (total) = 5.0 scv = 0.166666667 current data value = 0.83333333

2nd iteration science = 0.8333333333333 sci (total) = 5.833333333333333 scv = 0.027777777777777 current data value = 0.1388888888889

3rd iteration science = 0.138888888889 sci (total) = 5.972222222222 scv = 0.0046296297 current data value = 0.023148148"

Total revamp on the equations

Now basically it's more complete than you can ever imagine. If any problems or questions arises, though, please drop it here.Tryourbreast (talk) 05:36, 4 November 2013 (CST)

I've changed the inverse forms to be a bit smaller. I mean there are a lot of formulas now. Should there be another article only about those formulas? — xZise [talk] 13:54, 5 November 2013 (CST)

Is that really a lot? It's not even occupying one-third of the page or so. Besides, spliting the forumlas will actually make them harder to find, I think. Accessibility issues.Tryourbreast (talk) 20:52, 5 November 2013 (CST)

"Biome" for lower atmosphere thermometer and KSC, Landing Pad, Runway and Shores biome when not landed.

After testing, I have found that temperature data yields points at each biome on Kerbin (and presumably on the Mun as well) rather than just once, as previously shown. The initial points at each biome on Kerbin is 5.6 (then 1.4 then 0.3) with a max possible of 7 per biome. I made the necessary change to the science table.

Also, KSC, the Landing Pad and the Runway don't show as separate biomes except while at the "on the ground" height. I'm not sure how to show this on the existing table, however. For lower atmosphere, upper atmosphere and near space (in the case of EVA's): Kerbin Shores, KSC, Landing Pad and the Runway are all one biome.Langkard (talk) 22:19, 4 November 2013 (CST)

I can only answer to the second paragraph: Isn't this already described below the table about the celestial body modifiers:

Another possibility would be in the biome article which is about the different biomes. The table you editing does only say if a scientific experiment depends on the current biome or not and not if there are more biomes than at different heights.

I've also edited your original comment to avoid that the MediaWiki treats your comment as code (leading whitespaces). I also shortened the very long header. — xZise [talk] 11:06, 5 November 2013 (CST)

Thanks for fixing that for me. It's been a long while since I edited anything on a wiki. I find the section below the Celestial Body Modifier table to be somewhat confusing. It talks about the change to the modifier for those 3 biomes, but it doesn't really specify that above ground level (or an EVA to the ladder while landed, which counts as a low atmosphere height) the separate biomes for KSC, the launch Pad and the runway actually cease to exist, counting instead as all Kerbin shore once a craft has launched. Even a few meters off the ground above the launch pad, etc., any science done will only count for Kerbin Shores. I suspect Squad made it this way because it would be difficult if not impossible to differentiate between them at any altitude above more than a few hundred meters, ending up causing frustration for players trying to nudge their spacecraft one way or another to find the difference between the launch pad and the runway while high above them. It's really not important and changing anything to make the distinction about the KSC area biomes might just end up being more confusing.Langkard (talk) 05:44, 7 November 2013 (CST)

But as I said, this is a biome/Kerbin thing and it should be noted there. I mean you have a valid point, but this here is about the science in general and I don't know where this could be added here. — xZise [talk] 10:29, 7 November 2013 (CST)

0.23 Transmission Efficiencies / Processing Bonuses

A comparison of my values from a Mun East Farside Crater landing with those on the page on 2014-01-02

Mystery Goo my transmission efficiency 30%, 40% in table; agree with table processing bonus of +15%

Surface sample transmission efficiency 25%, 50% listed on page; processing bonus +12%, none listed on page

Materials study values both agree

Temperature 50% transmission efficiency (60% on page), agree with +25% processing bonus

Electric usage for processing 250 units for Materials, 300 units for Surface sample, 100 units for Mystery Goo

To clean and reset experiments: 430 for Mystery Goo and Materials

Should I go ahead and update the page with the new values, or do other people want to check them? — Preceding unsigned comment added by ‎UltraOne (talk • contribs)

Thank you for that summary ;) I'll try to do some experiments and verify it. But I'm wondering if the transmission efficiency is equal to the transmission cap or if it is the “efficiency” (some experiments needs to be redone to fully “mined”). Although I guess it is the transmission cap, I will try to check that as well. — xZise [talk] 07:16, 3 January 2014 (CST)

Unfortunately I was yet only be able to do a Mystery Goo™ Observation and Materials Study and verified those values. I did a temperature reading but unfortunately I didn't made a screenshot or checked the value. And as I don't have any laboratory yet in orbit I can't verify all those values. But I try to check those values time after time. — xZise [talk] 14:55, 3 January 2014 (CST)

Okay I have now updated all transmission efficiencies (for the experiments, not the Crew/EVA Report and Surface Sample) by using the part.cfg of those parts. It appears that xmitDataScalar holds the transmission efficiency as it agrees with your measurements and mine (I had all except the Gravity Scan and Atmosphere Analysis). It also appears that the usage for processing is BaseValue*10 (in the part.cfg of the lab is a RESOURCE_PROCESS definition with an amount of 10 E). It also appears that that the processing bonus is calculated by using the dataTransmissionBoost of 1.5 and multiply if with the efficiency (so 50% more data can be transmitted back). As I don't have a lab currently in orbit I can test it but it would work with your values. What I don't know is how the electric charge usage for cleaning and resetting is calculated. — xZise [talk] 05:39, 10 January 2014 (CST)

1.0 Lab Processing data

With the release of version 1.0, the mobile processing lab no longer provides any boost to transmission efficiency. It now produces on-going science collections over time based on the amount of data available for analysis. This requires a discussion and a fair amount of research before an understanding of the process can be shared.

What I have so far (speculative)

Processed data gained from an experiment equals 125% of the science gain (e.g. a crew report from low orbit is worth 5 science and can be processed in a lab to generate 5 * 1.25 Mits of lab data, or 7.5 Mits rounded to an even 8 Mits in the science report's dialog box).

A mobile processing lab landed at Kerbin appears to process 1/6th of the amount of data from experiments, even if those experiments were performed in a flying or orbiting situation. My early tests where performed on the ground using a science multiplier difficulty setting of x3. I was offered 1 Mit of data for processing a crew report at the Launchpad, and 2 Mits for an EVA report "while flying over Kerbin's shores" (sticking my head out the window of the pod). The rest of the data that I gathered is in the history of the main Science page. Note: The value of 225 Mits for an asteroid sample stood out enough that I felt like I had made a mistake when I entered my results. It turns out that 225 = 75 * 3 (I was using a science difficulty multiplier of 3), and 75 = 60 (science gain from an asteroid sample from any situation) * 1.25. A crew report from space near Kerbin (with a x3 science difficulty multiplier) offered 15 science and a processing value of 19 (15 sci * 1.25 Mit/sci = 18.75 Mits).

Upon further investigation into experiments while landed at kerbin, I decided to use a science difficulty multiplier of 1 million, and found that for processing experiments while landed at Kerbin, the data gained in Mits is equal to the initial science value of the experiment (not necessarily the current science value) multiplied by 11 and divided by 80 or divided by 7.2727273 (no idea why this is).

Processing data in the lab always costs 10 electric charge per Mit of data. I'm leaving the specific values in the tables, although I think that those values are going to become obsolete now that we have Mits of data for each experiment and an up-coming section on processing labs.

Still need to thoroughly investigate the rate of science that labs generate per Mit of data stored. It's a very small value; with my laboratory maxed out with a total of 500 Mits of data, the science rate was labeled as 0.1350 Science / day. Actual operation of the module used 5 units of energy per second and produced roughly 0.12-0.15 Science per hour. It's possible that the science per day is a typographical error that should be read as science per hour. Data values less than 500 Mits showed a distinct pattern of roughly 0.00027 science/day per Mit of data stored (this works out as exactly 0.1350 = 0.00027 * 500). Landing the vessel at Kerbin did not change the rate of science generated. Does not appear to be affected by the laboratory's situation.

On another note, the laboratory's science storage is capped at 500 science. Landing and recovering a laboratory with science stored did not reward any science points. It appears that lab science can only be collected by radio transmission.

Water behaves a little special

Today I've tried to max out all research on Kerbal Kerbin, and found out one thing: After having splashed down in water you can't do an atmospheric analysis nor a seismic scan (the latter makes sense, though), even if you build a raft to make sure everything is above water level. May someone confirm this? M3tal Warrior (talk) 12:07, 9 March 2014 (CDT)

According to the table at the top, is the seismic scan only on solid ground possible. But nothing about the atmospheric analysis. And btw it is Kerbin. Kerbal is the species. — xZise [talk] 15:53, 9 March 2014 (CDT)

Of course it's Kerbin - silly me. This was mainly about the atmospheric analysis, the mentioning of the seismic scan was just for the sake of completeness. Ah, and I just found out there's a difference between a surface sample on the shores in water and on land. So you have to do two surface samples at the shore biome. Maybe we could mention that too.--M3tal Warrior (talk) 16:11, 9 March 2014 (CDT)

See biome about that shore thing. But this got me thinking: Is the surface sample (or maybe all biome dependent?) in the water different from the at the land (like another biome)? On Kerbin there is only the Shore biome, so it can't be really tested. This would also explain why Eve and Laythe have a “water” biome. — xZise [talk] 17:02, 9 March 2014 (CDT)

Nope, it's not an extra biome - I figured it out. Water and shores behave different depending on how you get the surface sample: If your spacecraft is swimming while taking a water surface sample, the message is

• You have taken a sample of the water. It appears to dramatically increase the surface humidity of anything it touches.

However, landing with extended landing legs with the same craft on water lets you take a surface sample even without your Kerbal touching the water, which then yields this message:

• You scooped up a sample of the surface. It's a very humid sample, you hope the equipment has been properly waterproofed.

In the Tracking station the craft still is reported as "splashed down", but the report after recovery is filed in the science archives under 'Srf landed' and treaten totally different by the game (max. SP 12 instead of 16 for real splash-downs). Same with shores. Standing on the shore leads to

• You took a sample of the soil. It's very muddy and sandy. There might be a body of water nearby. (Srf landed; max SP 12)

while swimming right next to the beach is

• You have taken a sample of the water here. There are bits of vegetation in it, suggesting a strong likelihood that there is land nearby. (Srf splashed; max SP 16).

This just alters the surface sample, not the other researches. Even with a landed craft on water you can't do seismic and atmospheric analyses. I'll try to land next to a river next time and try to get a sample, let's see how that works out. Done. Grasslands has a splashed down extra too when swimming in the river, and I found out there's even different EVA (SP 2.4 / SP 3.2) and crew reports (SP 1.5 / SP 2.0) for landed / splashed down. Guess all other biomes have them too, although I'm not totally sure with mountains (as they're pretty often replaced by highlands in lower regions). M3tal Warrior (talk) 10:12, 10 March 2014 (CDT)

A question which I'm asking me is, does this affect only the experiments a Kerbal must do? Or do the others yield additional results? I mean you already found two which behave differently. And thank you for sharing your results. I love it, when you can do “experiments” with the game itself. — xZise [talk] 12:05, 10 March 2014 (CDT)

As far as I've seen there's no difference in the other experiments - I've landed and splashed with my research drone (all 7 experiments times 3) at the shores, which didn't yield different results (except for atmo & seismic analyzer, which don't work in water) nor additional files in the science archive. I mean, shores could be special, but I doubt it. As for the other biomes - I got 7 covered, but haven't found a highland/mountain lake yet. Think I found out everything about that - now for a gigantic space station ;) M3tal Warrior (talk) 15:47, 10 March 2014 (CDT)

Tables about the science gains gone

Hi, I guess this was accidiential or with a bigger plan behind it. But this diff completely removed all tables and info about the experiments. I've reinserted since it appears that they weren't added somewhere else. If there is a bigger plan behind please let me/us know.

Oh and btw. highlighting in a table should always be additional as there are (color-)blind people (okay I would say KSP is almost impossible for blind people) which might not be able to see that highlighting. I didn't changed that as it is already stated in the text above, but consider that highlighting tables shouldn't be the only way to tell readers something. — xZise [talk] 07:04, 13 March 2014 (CDT)

Removing those tables was entirely accidental. As for color highlighting, if including "(only in atmosphere)" in all relevant cells doesn't introduce too much clutter in your opinion, I'm fine with it. --Brendan (talk) 03:55, 14 March 2014 (CDT)

I much prefer having the highlighting (in a light color) as it made seeing what was atmosphere-only at-a-glance quite easy. I agree that it needs to be indicated in some other way for disabled browsing, but italics instead of highlighting doesn't at all solve that problem for blind people; there are better ways of doing disabled browser compatibility if that was a serious issue here. Including it in the text of the article (which it already is) is the best way. I think including "(only in atmosphere)" in every cell is a lot of clutter in this case. - Verdauga (talk) 10:00, 17 March 2014 (CDT)

Maybe I should've make it clearer, but I'm fine with any highlighting (as long as it isn't to extreme, which it wasn't) as long as there is a reasonably well explanation which works without colors. This is the case with italics and the explanation in the text. So I'll reintroduce the coloring. — xZise [talk] 03:39, 18 March 2014 (CDT)

Multipliers and Atmosphere/Space Boundaries Table

I was trying to make a checklist of the different experiments for all the bodies including surface, lower/upper atmosphere, low/high space, and the altitude ranges for them. I noticed there were a few estimates listed in the table, and that the Jool lower/upper atmosphere one was the same as the atmosphere ceiling (so must have been incorrect). I cheated myself some infinite-fuel rockets to lower into these bodies using a thermometer to see which part I was in. I updated the table, but thought I'd note here exactly which boundaries I confirmed: Jool, Laythe, and Eve's atmospheres; Pol's space. -- Mandydax (talk) 04:59, 24 March 2014 (CDT)

Celestial Body Multipliers

The table was recently edited and some values (such as the multipliers for Eeloo) look strange to me (as in, way too high). Additionally, the pages for Kerbin, Duna, Bop, Pol and Eeloo don't reflect the values on the table. I'm assuming those pages haven't been updated by the user(s) who changed the values in the table, but they haven't provided much explanation in the diffs so I'm wondering what the correct values are.

I'm a total noob with mods/cheats and I don't have the time to check each of them, but I think if someone has recently checked any of these values it would be sufficient to lean on the side of reverting these changes here or updating the specific pages. I didn't find any threads on the forum discussing changes to the multipliers either.

Just bringing this up so we can clear up the discrepancies.

--MechaLynx (talk) 22:35, 10 April 2014 (CDT)

I've added version checks for the celestial bodies who's multipliers don't agree with their pages (Kerbin & Duna). Also, for Bop, Pol and Eeloo there has been a recent edit (which was not a troll edit ) that changed those multipliers and then the change was reverted (also not a troll ) so it seems there is some uncertainty as far as those bodies are concerned. Going to those bodies is spoiler territory for me so I won't examine it myself (sorry). For anyone interested in helping, there's Hyperedit that you can use to cheat yourself into places easily in order to check multipliers.

--MechaLynx (talk) 05:11, 20 April 2014 (CDT)

Although I'm not able to contribute to this problem, I made it so that it is at least consistent. The table here and the infobox both use {{BodyData}} to determine the multipliers. — xZise [talk] 19:16, 20 April 2014 (CDT)

Dude, just saw your edit and it is _awesome_ - many many thanks for this. I didn't even know mediawiki could do stuff this clever :) and changing the superscript was also a much better idea --MechaLynx (talk) 20:44, 20 April 2014 (CDT)

Yeah this here is was quite easy. But when you look in {{Infobox/Body}} you see, that the MediaWiki software doesn't simulate a programming language. Also pages like Kerbin/Param aren't really userfriendly. — xZise [talk] 07:16, 21 April 2014 (CDT)

Okay actually Wikipedia support Lua modules but this wiki doesn't support it (and I don't expect it ever will, by the lack of administering by the Squad people). — xZise [talk] 07:18, 21 April 2014 (CDT)

I noticed that SrfSplashed has a different multiplier than SrfLanded on Kerbin, that's probably where some of the confusion is comming from. SrfSplashed on Kerbin is 0.4 and SrfLanded is 0.3. I don't know whether this holds true for other bodies with water, also i am not quite sure how to integrate that in the Table in a good way as so few bodies even have water. -- AironCel (talk) 10:18, 21 April 2014 (CDT)

Can you maybe make a screenshot to verify that and to point to it, when somebody gets them confused? It would be interesting to know if there is a difference also on the other bodies. — xZise [talk] 10:41, 21 April 2014 (CDT)

I don't have a good place to put screenshots, but for verification and other values you can look at this forum post (not by me). The values for Space High and Flying High don't seem to be used as of 23.5. The values for Splashed are though, which you can check easily yourself on Kerbin, as the ocean is right next to KSC (starting a new game and using crew report should be the fastest). I edited the appropriate field in Kerbin/Param, just so that it's visible to people until a better solution is found. It's not very pretty like that. -- AironCel (talk) 11:40, 21 April 2014 (CDT)

Thank you for that link. As it seems the values for low/high atmosphere/space are different this needs to be changed too. But previously they were identical so I merged them. I'm waiting for the values from 0.23.5 and will then update the /Param pages accordingly. From those values Laythe has also a different splash multiplier while Eve has the same multiplier for splash and landed. — xZise [talk] 14:36, 21 April 2014 (CDT)

I made a mock-up of a new table using the data from that link. What do you guys think? Nolari (talk) 04:45, 13 May 2014 (CDT)

In theory nice, but the table should use the values from the data already available (e.g. Kerbin/Param). That way it's consistent between the values shown in pages like Kerbin and here. It should also be confirmed if the game really uses different values compared between outer and inner space as well as high and low atmosphere. {{BodyData}} already supports most of the values, except splashed and recovery. So what could be done is updating Science/Row to show greyed table cells and support splashed/recovery. — xZise [talk] 05:13, 13 May 2014 (CDT)

Oh and to reduce the width of the table instead of “Orbit High”/“Orbit Low” only “High”/“Low” and “Space (Orbit)” in the row above. — xZise [talk] 05:16, 13 May 2014 (CDT)

I made the columns narrower, but I have not enough wiki know-how to link the data values (hence "mock-up" ;)). Nolari (talk) 06:45, 13 May 2014 (CDT)

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Okay, I'll look into this then. — xZise [talk] 10:58, 13 May 2014 (CDT) Okay, I've updated the table which is now in a state between both: Colors added, as well as recovery and splashed multiplier. I haven't added the multiplier characters (but only I forgot them) and it shows only one multiplier for atmosphere and space. Unless somebody can verify that those are different for low and high situations. — xZise [talk] 15:57, 13 May 2014 (CDT) Scott Manley recently released a video about Mission Controller. But I explicitly looked at the science returns of the crew reports and it seems they don't differ between high/low altitudes. I'll try to get a screengrab. — xZise [talk] 16:32, 15 May 2014 (CDT)

I made a new career mode save file and did some quick tests with crew reports and the goo container. There is a difference between "landed" and "splashed down", but there indeed seems to be no difference between "flying low" and "flying high", nor between "low in space" and "high in space". Screenshot evidence. So the format of the current table is correct. :)

As for the content of the table, I made a small plugin to extract information on the celestial bodies from the game files. It gives all the missing "recovery" multipliers, and shows some more omissions and mistakes (Eve and Laythe should have "splash down" multipliers, Moho's surface multiplier should be 10x instead of 9x, etc). (Results here.) Shall I just edit these in, or do they all need to be tested in-game as well? — Nolari (talk) 09:19, 25 June 2014 (CDT)

Would be nice if you update the table. But please do that indirectly by editing pages ending with /Param like Kerbin/Param. This will update the table here and also the infoboxes (and maybe other articles use that too). — xZise [talk] 14:37, 26 June 2014 (CDT)

Went through all the /Param pages and updated them. Please check my work. :) EDIT: oh by the way, is there a way to make sorting the table work numerically instead of lexicographically? — Nolari (talk) 02:45, 30 June 2014 (CDT)

Looks good (but I didn't independently check if the values are correct). The sorting should also work now. — xZise [talk] 05:00, 30 June 2014 (CDT)

I double-checked the values myself after I was done editing. I just meant check that I hadn't screwed up any MediaWiki stuff that I'm not well-versed in. ;) Can confirm that the sorting now works, great stuff! — Nolari (talk) 09:40, 30 June 2014 (CDT)

Tylo and Bop's near/high space boundary are reversed, but i'm glad somebody finally got to make this work Mokmo (talk)

Whoops. My script had Tylo and Bop in reverse order, so the tables looked the same even if they weren't. Good catch; fixed. — Nolari (talk) 09:32, 2 July 2014 (CDT)

Separate table for craft recovery celestial body multipliers

I have data on a few spacecraft recovery science gains that I've used to complete a table for base and cap values on each situation (pending):

Activities and situations requiring an atmosphere are italicized and colored. Each entry contains the situation base value and the science capacity as a fraction. Data scale of all recoveries is 1, and data size is 1 Mit.

Notes: I have collected accurate data on all of the recoveries at Kerbin, as well as recovery@JoolFlew, recovery@EelooSubOrbited, recovery@MunSubOrbited, recovery@MinmusSurfaced, recovery@LaytheSurfaced, and recovery@SunOrbited. The rest is extrapolated and tested data using the celestial body multipliers in the main page. This is prone to error as a result, not to mention the possibility of clerical errors during this posting. If something looks suspicious or out of place, it's worth a deeper investigation before this table is published in the main page.

Number of biomes on Kerbin

Can I ask why Kerbin is listed as having 42 biomes when the Kerbin page only seems to list 9? Kerloyov (talk) 09:48, 10 April 2015 (CDT)

Sorry hadn't realised each building in KSC is a biome! Is there anyway we can indicate in the table that there are 9 normal biomes and 33 KSC ones? Kerloyov (talk) 09:51, 10 April 2015 (CDT)

Of course you can ask ;) and maybe something like “9 (33 at KSC)”? Although you can't hardly say Kerbin's page only lists 9. Below those 9 it has another list with the other 33 biomes (which act differently as they only work in the landed situation). Oh and please add your signature after the comment. — xZise [talk] 11:18, 10 April 2015 (CDT)

Is 33 KSC biomes correct though? I couldn't find a datamined list for the KSC biomes, and i don't know how to do it myself, but every list I've seen here and on the forums only has 32 (11 buildings, 4 sub-buildings for SPH, VAB and Tracking, 8 for R&D, and KSC itsself). So, is one biome missing from all the lists, or is it just the number that is wrong? - AironCel (talk) 16:36, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

Recovering "lost data" after transmission

Some basic experimentation on the launchpad seems to show that if you transmit a new experiment home and take the transmission penalty, subsequently duplicating the experiment and recovering the data does not incur the repeat experiment penalty, but instead incurs the inverse of the transmission penalty. Example for clarification:

• Premise: We run the PresMat Barometer experiment at the LaunchPad.
  • Case 1: We recover the experiment data. It yields 3.6 science.
    • Case 1A: We run the experiment again and recover the data. It yields 0 science.
    • Case 1B: We run the experiment again and transmit the data. It yields 0 science.
  • Case 2: We transmit the experiment data. It yields 1.8 science.
    • Case 2A: We run the experiment again and recover the data. It yields 1.8 science.
    • Case 2B: We run the experiment again and transmit the data. It yields 0 science.
• Conclusion: No science is "lost" by transmitting data, as it can always be recovered later.

I think this is useful information that should be part of the main article, but I'm not sure if my limited experiment is proof enough, or how to word it less verbosely. --Kermen (talk) 00:46, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Craft Recovery

The craft recovery section and the multiplier data is no longer up to date in version 1.0.5. What started me on this path was that multipliers from Mun and Minmus were different in game but were identical on the science page. I am currently in the process of updating this section to become more accurate and comprehensive.

METHODS (Skip to conclusion for TL;DR)

The data was acquired in the Science Game mode by editing the Log data of a "launched" Mk1 Command Pod that sits on the Launch Pad in a quicksave file. To do this "Log" was located and below "flight = 0" the following scheme was used:
0 = Flyby "OR" Orbit "OR" Suborbit "OR" Flight "OR" Land (choose one), <Body>
Example: "0 = Flyby, Duna"
Please note that despite modules logging when "Escape" happens, no science is gained from this action.
"Flyby" base values were determined for each body using this method. Then "Orbit", "Suborbit", "Flight" and "Land" values were determined for Duna. The maximum science was determined by looking in the savefiles after recovering craft from Duna. Then the values for other bodies were calculated. Multiple random checks of the data encouraged me that these values are correct. Then the base values and multipliers were calculated using "Orbited Kerbin" as a base. Please note that recovery of craft from Kerbin scales differently than all other bodies (as expected).

RESULTS

In the table below the actually recorded/checked values are in bold, the extrapolated numbers are in italic. Also note Kerbol is named "Sun" in all savefiles.

Despite adding multiple situations/bodies, only the highest maximum science value recovery is listed upon recovery even if (almost) all available science has been collected from such crafts. Which is probably why this craft recovery was never thoroughly explained on the wiki.

CONCLUSION

• Kerbin is unique in the way science is earned from recovery.
• The ratio's* between science value and situation make determining multipliers possible (* not true for Kerbin)

• Per craft only the "hightest maximum science value event" is attributed upon recovery, even if this leads to 0.00 science being earned when other events (flyby/orbit/suborbit/flight) could have earned the craft recovery science.
• More data checking could be useful, although I don't expect any discrepancies in 1.0.5
• Arranging data/multipliers differently might make things clearer, please do not hestitate.

KhalDovah (talk) 19:36, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

The data I have found is consistent with the data found by an anonymous contributor, however as this user stated he/she used the multipliers in the main page and stated the data might be flawed I assumed it would be. However, it seems the multipliers on the table in the science page were not used to generate data or not in a way I comprehend. I will now start implementing changes on the Science page, please do not hestitate to undo any changes I made on this page if they seem rash, I merely wish to contribute. Kind regards KhalDovah (talk) 20:03, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Edited the Craft Recovery part of the science page. Please note that this table should be updated to reflect the more recent data, which conflicts with those multipliers. I am however, unable to do so, probably due to a lack of knowledge of how this wiki works, or perhaps due to a protective measure to prevent griefing/trolling.

I would also like to emphasize that if anyone finds a way to simplify the base values and the celestial body multipliers while being up-to-date I would strongly encourage them. KhalDovah (talk) 23:23, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Acquisition Strategies recommended Orbit?

I couldn't figure out how the Acquisition Strategies section arrived at their recommend Pe and Ap values (20km and 640km for the Mun).

I agree that a 90° inclination orbit with the periapsis at the equator is a good idea, but I imagine better Pe and Ap values would be whatever would give you a semi-latus rectum of the low-high border value. In other words, an orbit that goes over a pole at the boundary height, goes to the other pole staying above the boundary, crosses the boundary height at the opposite pole then stays below the boundary (e.g. going from north to south pole above the boundary and south to north pole below the boundary). I'd think using the values suggested would make it difficult or impossible to get the low-space science for biomes that are limited to very near a pole.

Also, for most bodies choosing an orbit around the boundary height seems to give better results then the more eccentric orbits currently recommended (which basically suggests using the lowest safe periapsis).

For example, here are some Pe/Ap values that (with the periapsis at the equator) will pass both poles at the boundary height (Pe value chosen somewhat arbitrarily to be below the boundary but above the atmosphere and the 100× warp limit; I haven't actually tried all of these):

Am I missing something? Does anyone know why 20 and 640 is supposed to be better than 25 and 107.9 for the Mun? Should the section be adjusted to give an equation for an apoapsis given a periapsis and boundary value (as I used above)?

Thanks, --Peskie (talk) 19:55, 6 November 2020 (UTC)

KSP 1.11 new "EVA Science" experiment

New science experiment added in KSP 1.11, "EVA Science". Needs to be added to table (under Kerbonaut), and new entry below the table for it.
Up to now I've only tried it in "Space Near" and "Space High Over", both in Kerbin and The Mun, as well as Landend on The Mun. It seems to be Global (not biome dependent) in those situations.
Results point to the following values:

• Requires = One Kerbonaut
• Requires = One EVA Science Kit (on said Kerbonaut's inventory)
• Base Value = 25
• Max Value = 25
• Transmission Efficiency = 100%

Note: the EVA Science Kit is NOT expended, and can be reused any number of times.
Note: the EVA Science experiment cannot be performed while hanging onto a ladder.

Please let me know if I should start adding this (incomplete) data to the page, or better wait till we have all the values and details. Thanks!