Factorio Forums

For a rocket to return science it has to have a satelite on board or so I read. Reason given was to beam back the science results. Which sounds very thin to me.

Why not replace the satelite with a return capsule? The capsule could even have it's own landing sequence that plays some short time after the rocket start. Would make a lot more sense to have a capsule physically return space science. Think of all the cool materials in science fiction that can only be produced in zero gravity.

Note: The first rocket(s) could have a different payload to build a zero gravity factory in orbit.

For bonus points, make the returning capsule an actual game object, essentially a one-time-use provider chest, which may fall pretty much anywhere (including the center of a major alien hive).

Though with another research (which requires space science) player can build a landing beacon, which will guide the landing capsules into a predefined area, so after the first launch or two he will be able to automate the science packs recovery.

I quite like this idea.

I thought it worked like that?

I'm fine with the concept of space science being data beamed back to the surface rather than a physical entity that requires transportation back to the surface.

Two alternatives come to mind:
1) Space science is deposited straight into science labs
2) Add a satellite uplink building that outputs the space science packs instead of the rocket silos. The satellite uplink could also enable the ability to zoom-to-map for areas that aren't radar covered. (Pretty much the mod but also outputs space science)

What kind of science does one do in space, anyway? Run fun experiments in zero-g? Take cool pictures of distant stars with a giant telescope? Send probes to nearby planets to check what they're like?

Oh, sorry, it's not like any of the other "science" stuff makes any sense anyway

Slayn25 wrote:I'm fine with the concept of space science being data beamed back to the surface rather than a physical entity that requires transportation back to the surface.

Two alternatives come to mind:
1) Space science is deposited straight into science labs
2) Add a satellite uplink building that outputs the space science packs instead of the rocket silos. The satellite uplink could also enable the ability to zoom-to-map for areas that aren't radar covered. (Pretty much the mod but also outputs space science)

Big fan of #2 here. Also a fan of the whole return-capsule idea, too. That has a lot of modding potential.

The latest version of #2 I've had is that of needing to make hard drives to load the data from the satellites onto. Pop a freshly-made blank hard drive into the Uplink Station and 30 seconds later, out pops a filled drive which can then be used as an ingredient for the Space Science Pack.