Something like enough material in a second for generating 10-20, so just do a 10-20 second flyby and you're good.
Yes. If there's 200 probes of ammo being stored, then yes, "fuel scooping" in an appropriate ring, or at a gas giant, could give you 10-20 or so a second. So you'll be full again literally in a dozen second or less no matter what.
And with 200 probes, this is something you'd only have to do for example with every 25 fully "probed" worlds. The ammo could be increased to make it an ever rarer requirement...
Why do people keep bringing up "infinite ammo" as a logical fallacy to argue against infinite probes as if there is no infinite ammo in the game? Laser weapons are infinite ammo, and you don't have to search very hard on the forums to find threads where people talk about all-laser builds specifically because that means they will have infinite ammo.
Others are hung up on decision-making processes. "I'm out of probes -- Better farm up some more." doesn't seem like much of a decision to me.
Frontier want players to be able to freely explore the neat things that can be found on planet surfaces. Up to now finding those things is something that a small portion of the player base has the skill to reliably do. Players have lamented in the past that Frontier puts too much of the game's features/lore behind puzzles that must be solved by external means.
Infinite probes is basically FD throwing us all a bone, giving us free license to explore and find the cool things that they spent a lot of time creating via in-game means. I am 100% in favor of infinite probes.
Yes and no...
By this ethos make fuel infinite too.
And the premise of any mechanic is to allow players to have a cause and effect, choices, and reward them for good gameplay/choices. eg: My example from above - I'm in a system, and via the FSS spot a rocky planet with some POIs on it, so decide to head off to it to "probe it". HOWEVER, I also notice there's a ringed planet in the system, and by looking at the orrery map (I'm not doing much else in SC), I realise this ringed planet in basically enroute (
where I can fuel scoop more probes). Do I stop off there on the way to "fuel scoop" there to generate more probes? Or do I wait for another system (I've still got 50 probes!).
^ I've been offered choices on how to keep my probe stock up. I'm rewarded for more efficient probe usage (having to replenish them less often), and rewarded by being situationally aware and for example visiting plantetary rings to "fuel scoop" more probes when convenient and sensible.
It's interesting to me the above scenario even gives some use/importance to the orrery map...