So you can't be bothered to work it out for yourself, and you won't follow one of the guides that tells you exactly what to do: probably isn't for you then [up]
Huh?
I would happily work it out, if there was any working out to do.
Trying every combination of something, isn't working anything out though...
I'm fine following a guide!
not sure where you got that from, I do plan to at some point do at least a few scans, doubt I'll run through the whole thing, seems like a lot to me, and I guess I'll see for myself if I find them engaging enough to run the entire lot.
I'm just saying, it'd be cooler if there was some logical sequence of events to follow, hinted at in game, as opposed to a brute force try every combination until it works method for working it out.
To me, the only thing that makes sense for it to be a brute force method to work it out, is if these sites are some way religious (as, how would it make any sense to anyone who doesn't know about holding up the urn and the casket to the third obelisk on the.....etc, whereas, to someone who does know the traditions, this would be obvious. Wine/bread/crosses/candles?????)
Now that's probably not the case, but if it was, there could have been fragments of data lying around in various places (preferably hinted at, or guided towards by other game elements) which allowed you to piece these traditions together.
So that when you get to the sites, you could look at it, and figure out the combinations, based on what you've learned about this ancient species traditions.
As for the OP, I agree, having the bonus payout be less makes sense to me, as it doesn't try to "force" you to get all of it done.