About biological discoveries

[Avaruus]

Hi Commanders!

I've been exploring since a long time know, but I still haven't discovered any biological elements by myself. So I am wondering: can we know if a stellar body has biological elements using the FSS and/or the DSS? At first, I thought that it would be the case, since we can learn about geological sites with a simple FSS and locate them with a DSS. But after scanning hundreds ot bodies in many different system types, I still never encountered any biological element. I tried to land on several bodies which could contain biological stuffs (according to the Codex descriptions) but I miserably failed at finding some.

Of course, I could simply fly to the biological discoveries rumored in the Codex (and I will do it quite soon), but as long as I haven't done it, I need to ask the question because I would really enjoy to find some by myself.

So, does anyone know something about it?

 

[Factabulous]

hundreds. lol. they are 'quite rare'. Except bark mounds. They are annoyingly common.

 

[Non Grata]

Near nebulas I think. I don't know, I can't really be arsed with them. Have found two or three accidentally though.

 

[MoonRacer]

Biological elements: Brain Tress and similar - they are found with the FSS, but there is a caveat!
The FSS tells you if there are geological and/or biological sites on a planet or moon, landable of course. You have to wait ages for the 'Scanning' to stop, then you have the information. You still need to DSS the planet to actually find the locations, but now you know on which planets in a system you have to look. And probably your patience is very thin in the meantime, because every of the scans will make you wait 10-25 seconds. If you do not wait them out, the planet is discovered, but the information about biological sites is lost. Why? Because - independent if you wait ages for this or stop it prematurely the information is NOT entered into your system map. The only way to check is to reopen FSS and check the bodies (with no wait time).
With geological sites the information is in the system map, not the number you waited for in the FSS, but at least the fact, that there are any.
With biological sites you are out of luck, you need to go and map with the DSS, then the information is also entered into the system map. And you know the exact locations from this point on.

The rest is pure luck. I just came back from a 2500 ly journey into the Outer Orion Spur, and found at least 5 systems with biological sites (one of them a first discovery), all of them Brain Trees. In the direction towards Sag A* you also find biologicals of a different kind. But they are quite rare.

 

[Avaruus]

hundreds. lol. they are 'quite rare'. Except bark mounds. They are annoyingly common.

Well, you teach me something, i had never heard of Bark Mounds. Thx

PS: I don't know why I wrote "hundredth".


@MoonRacer
Thanks a lot! So my first guess was right, biological scan globally behaves like geological scan. For the record, I am always waiting 'till the end of the entire scan (the 10-25s). But there's one thing I'm not sure to understand: I cannot get the biological information if I don't double scan with the FSS? Or even if I double scan with the FSS, I always need to scan with the DSS to enter the biological information into the system map? In other words, FSS is almost useless for biological data, only the DSS gives specific info and enter data into the system map?

 

[MoonRacer]

If I remember correctly (I have the game since February 2019, so always with FSS) then the FSS scan was entered into the System Map. It is in the left hand tab (second tab) under information for a body you hovered over, on the top you find the usual description and data. The data include the type of geological POIs, if any, or 'Nothing'.

At the end of the list there are geological and biological sites listed, but only their number, not the locations. I think before the April Update this was entered after a completed FSS scan of a body. Now it is entered after a DSS scan of the body, and since biological sites (in contrast to geological POIs) are not mentioned in the description or data the information is hard to see until you actually map the surface. It still is contained in the completed FSS scan, but impractical to find, since you need to throttle down and open the FSS.. And a good memory is needed to remember that there were any during the FSS scan.

There was a bug report about exactly this, which I confirmed, but since I cannot find it now, it may be deleted. I will not report it again, it makes no sense - we have now around 220 pages in the reports, and no indication that they do something. Except nerf and fiddle around in the background on the servers.

What do you mean with double scan? If you are nice and patient and wait, it should report in FSS on top right the number of geological and biological sites, if any. This is your only hint that biological sites exist on this body. Since it is not entered into the System Map, you need to remember, which body it was, or you look it up in the completed FSS scan, which you always can refer to. Then you need to fly out and DSS (map) the body. After this you will know the locations of all sites, and as a 'QoL bonus' it will be entered in the system map at the end of the data tab, where it should be after FSS. And if you fly near the body, the locations will be visible on the planet (switch off the Analyze Mode, or the blue scan grid will hide it). Now you can target one and try to land.

Also - to complete the list of 'dirty' tricks: If you have found the umpteenth occurrence of Brain Trees, you do not need to land, if the planet in question has a gravity of less than 1g or so. You can carefully fly near the surface at 50-100 meters or so, stop and hovering the ship and try to scan it with your ships Composition Scanner. This works fine, especially in cases where the site are in very rough ground where you cannot land safely. If it is not new to you it will bring only a 2500 Credits voucher.

 

[Avaruus]

At the end of the list there are geological and biological sites listed, but only their number, not the locations.

Yep, I knew that about geological data, but I was not sure if it was the same for biological since I had never encountered one during my explorations. That is why I opened this thread.

What do you mean with double scan?

I only asked about this after reading you, because I was not sure to understand the following: "The only way to check is to reopen FSS and check the bodies (with no wait time)." But as read it again, I understand know what you meant.

If you are nice and patient and wait, it should report in FSS on top right the number of geological and biological sites, if any. This is your only hint that biological sites exist on this body. Since it is not entered into the System Map, you need to remember, which body it was

I am very nice and I do have a lot of patience. ;-) I've been exploring for months now into the deep void, I've been at the very edge of an arm of the galaxy and I must tell that I enjoy it. And I do have precise memories about what I'm scanning, I even bookmark the POI's into a system when there are many.^^


So thanks a lot, I can confirm that I aleardy do all of this. When I explore, I systematically:

• scan with the FSS
• wait until the end
• check the FSS scanning result in the top right tab
• then check the left tab in the system map (in which you can see many info like the type of volcanism, material data such as percentages, geological info, usw...)
• make sure I didn't miss something by double checking this left tab

And if something caught my attention, then I come close to the body and I use the DSS. So I do make everything right. Apparently, I am just unlucky so far with biological elements.

So again, thanks a lot for your time, I know now that I only need to be patient enough, and maybe pay more attention when I scan.

 

[Eros]

There are patterns to finding certain biological life, but there definitely is a bit of legwork and guesswork that needs to be done. Some of this can be accelerated by the codex.

Iv found space pumpkins and tube worms using information provided by the codex for example... It allowed me to search specific stellar classes and when scanning, if i was lucky and found a secondary requisite Id start being more interested in completing the full scan (id typically complete it anyway but what i mean is... if i landed in a B-class stellar system, and found a metal rich, and a water world id typically be interested to scan planets in a favourable temperature range.

 

[Avaruus]

@Eros
I have read many times about these temperature ranges, but so far I didn't really pay attention to them. Do you know where I can find some more information?

 

[Eros]

There are a few cannon articles here and there - In general i think the viable range is between 200 and 500C i think the upper limit is a bit stretched depending upon the life form. I unfortunately dont have a good source other than this forum.

So if you jump into a system and it is for example an G or K class, when you are searching, typically if you are finding most bodies to be outside the 'snow line' then it is time to move on.

 

[Avaruus]

Ok, thanks for the tip, I'll look into it and see what I can discover both on the internet and directly in game.

Fly safe!

 

[Kissamies]

The scan last annoyingly long. Tied to the frame rate, I hear. Of course you don't have to keep staring at it, but can scan other bodies in the meanwhile and then go back to it. I know the patterns of some of them. Bark mounds are annoyingly common inside nebulas, the pumpkins can be found in systems with bright stars and the brain trees are associated with the Guardian space. Also, they seem to be more common in POIs noted in EDSM and such. For example, I checked out the 8 earthlikes of the "Abyssinial Hidden Paradise" and more than half of them had Stellar Phenomena. Then I found an earthlike on my own nearby and that system had nothing.

 

[Rustnsawdust]

After you've completed the DSS surface scan, the location of the biological sites will be listed in the left-hand navigation panel, so you can target them from there. A small help

 

[Avaruus]

@Kissamies
Are you sure about that? We can move on to other bodies and the scan still operates on the previous body in the meantime?

@Rustnsawdust
Yup, that's what I thought. Thx



Little update: I still haven't found any, though I scanned several systems with A-type star. So I just guess I'm unlucky. Anyway, I have already discover many geological elements and I shall find biological ones where it is indicated in the Codex. Moreover, as soon as I come back and sell all my data, I will earn a MASSIVE amount of credits. I have scanned so many systems.^^

 

[Kissamies]

Yes, I am sure. Always worked for me. It's annoying to try to remember which bodies I need to return to. I generally assume that the inner moons of gas giants just have volcanic POIs and don't bother to return to them. Wouldn't be surprised if I missed some biologicals because of that.

I seem to remember the pumpkins being associated with O and B class. If you find a landable body on those, the chances of pumpkins are good.

 

[Avaruus]

Ok, cool, thanks a lot. As far as I know, I have never encountered any biological elements on gas giants' moons. But it is possible that I also missed something. My next goal is to target O and B class stars.

 

[Avaruus]

OMG GUYS!

Do you believe it? Now that I opened this thread and asked my questions (after months of exploration), I just discovered my first two organic structures in two different systems.^^ Some wonderful crystalline shards! So now I know how it is shown on screen.^^

But a question remains: why cannot we see the number of geological/biological sites in the left panel of the system map with a simple FSS? I think it is not very logical.