Talk:Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2

IVA

I cannot WAIT for squad to make an IVA model for this! It'll probably be really cool!

       -it was added.

SUGGESTED EDIT

In the Data Value section, the phrase " but orbiting Kerbin to experiment Kerbin experiments" seems confusing to me.

1.0 revamp of functionality

Ok, that's step one done. Based the rewrite on what RoverDude wrote on the forum in response to questions and what I've found in game. Still to add is the value of using more experienced scientists but I don't have any hard numbers on that so I left it out for now. Also apologies to whomever laid out that nice table of transmission bonuses, but it's obsolete now and I'd hate for new readers to get the wrong impression. It'll be a lot of work to repeat that for all the different variables now that there's layers of bonuses on every result based on situation. --BluetoothThePirate (talk) 15:36, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Nice job, there was a bit of a void for information on how the new functionality works. Your edit seems like good step in the right direction.

Something I'm still unclear about, and isn't yet answered in the article, is how the lab and scientist boosts interact with the per-experiment cap. E.g. a surface sample returned to KSC gives about 75% of its value on first return, then maybe 20%-ish on the second, and so on, eventually giving 0 science when it's maxed out. Do any of the boosts let you go past that limit?

--Murph (talk) 17:01, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

A user on reddit compiled detailed mechanics for the lab in 1.0; I'll try to summarize it in the wiki page

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/34jysx/the_mobile_processing_lab_an_indepth_look_at_how/

VariousMetals (talk) 01:12, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for your contributions. Regarding the table: There is a version history so in theory if someone thinks this table is of use they can still use that. And it doesn't matter but if the information is not valid (anymore) then the information usually has to go. If there were a demo where it's relevant there would be a reason or if it's easy to draw comparisons then old information can stay. But just having a table with bulk of data doesn't qualify (afaik). — xZise [talk] 12:44, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Indeed, thanks for shedding some much needed light on it. I think the processing energy table actually does need to return, in an updated form. Don't worry about having removed it though, that's just a normal and expected part of the ebb and flow of a wiki, as the article homes in on the correct content.

There's a significant energy use when you initially load the experiments into the lab, processing them into queued data for research. It's basically the same as the old process for transmission boost mechanic, which that table represented, but queues them for research instead. I've only just started my first lab, but was rather surprised by the fairly huge energy usage when loading it. 1200 units of battery for a Kerbin orbital lab is not nearly enough, and it took several full cycles of the batteries to load about 360 units of data into it (a mostly complete set of low and mid-level experiments from upper atmosphere, low space, and high space).

No promises, but I'll restore and update the table if I can confirm the energy values in 1.0 for processing stuff into the lab data queue, when I have time. If someone else gets there first, it's all good. For ease of reference, here's the old table, pulled from the page history:

Experiment	Surface Sample	Mystery Goo Observation	Materials Study	Temperature Scan	Atmospheric Pressure Scan	Seismic Scan	Gravity Scan	Atmosphere Analysis
Processing energy (E)	300	100	250	80	120	500	600	2000
Processing bonus	+12%	+15%	+10%	+25%	+25%	+22%	+20%	+17%

I'm not 100% certain, but I think the transmission bonus is gone, although you can still store+process+transmit, to both load an experiment into the lab's research queue and send it back to base (or recover it back to base after loading it into the lab). A new row required is the amount of research data provided by processing each type of experiment. The energy values need to be confirmed as well. It doesn't need to reflect bonuses, I think, just the base line values and a simple note that bonuses, multipliers, etc need to be applied to them.

--Murph (talk) 13:33, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

There's still a transmission boost, but it's not a lab function anymore, it's provided by scientists in the crew. When we get around to creating detailed pages for the three kerbal jobs (which should be a thing) then a new version of the chart referenced to scientist experience would go there. Or maybe on the science page. I dunno. BluetoothThePirate (talk) 22:06, 9 May 2015 (UTC)