DS scan sales: 2.6x bonus applies randomly?

[Merolles]

Each planet I scan with the Surface Scanner seems to have two sale values. They are always different by a factor of 2.6 . Anytime I check how much I can sell a planet's scan for, I see one of those two values, with no pattern that I've noticed as to which value I see when. Consider the screenshots below, where I am checking the price of Founders World in Shinrarta Dezhra. First I am offered 412,064 for it; two hours later the price is up to 1,071,366. The prices of all other planets in the system are the same in both screenshots. The screenshots were taken on the same station, with the same CMDR, two hours apart (during which I did not scan any celestial bodies nor leave the planet; I rode around and out of the port in my SRV, and recalled my ship to come back -- that's it).

What this bonus is not, as far as I can tell:

• It is not the "first discoverer" nor "first sale" bonus. If it was, you would think that I could lose it if someone beats me to the sale, but I could not gain it by sitting on the data -- yet in the screenshots below the price goes up, not down.
• It is not a state-based bonus (e.g, Expansion-related). I don't believe the "Professor Palin" minor faction is even capable of entering Expansion; also it's the wrong time of day for state change, right?
• It is not faction-based, nor station-based. The screenshots were taken on the same station, with the same faction in control.
• It is not always one-way. I have seen a case where between two price checks one planet's price went down, while the price of another planet in the same system went up. The price checks were at two different stations that time, though.

The magic number 2.6 shows up in the table on wikia page about exploration: the difference between "FSS+FD" and "FSS" is a factor of 2.6 for all table entries that I checked (even though the "First sale bonus" text above, which the "FD" in the table seems to refer to, says that bonus should be 50%). So, there seem to be inconsistencies there too.

Does anybody have an idea what's going on? Is this a bug?

 

[forbiddenlake]

There's a semi-common bug where FD payout is awarded when it shouldn't be. If you sell at the higher price, do you get a congratulatory message? (Your name won't appear on the body, that would be a huge bug)

 

[Merolles]

If you sell at the higher price, do you get a congratulatory message?

Just verified: no congratulatory message, but the amount of money I get matches the higher quote (so this is not just a visual glitch).

There's a semi-common bug where FD payout is awarded when it shouldn't be.

Good to know, thanks! When this happens, is there usually a congratulatory message?
I have seen planets with two "First mapped by" entries -- I assume those are the cases where it works as intended, where the second pilot maps the planet before the first mapper turns it in. I am guessing you are not talking about those cases, but just thought I'd make sure.

 

[forbiddenlake]

Right, not two entries.

I've seen a bunch of cases where the congratulatory message pops up when it shouldn't, and my guess is that's related. I've never confirmed the actual payouts though.

 

[Horse372]

Right, not two entries.

I've seen a bunch of cases where the congratulatory message pops up when it shouldn't, and my guess is that's related. I've never confirmed the actual payouts though.

I usually see it when I get the bonus for fully scanning and mapping all bodies in a system. It reads as if I got first mapped when it should say something like fully mapped. I'll keep an eye out for the varying price thing in my travels.

 

[Merolles]

I'll keep an eye out for the varying price thing in my travels

Cool! If it helps, the factor that seems most likely to make the symptom manifest is the passage of time (on the scale of a few hours to a day). Different ports do not seem to be a factor, beyond the time it takes to fly from one port to another.
Some systems are more frequently affected than others. Here's a list, in order of approximate frequency:

System	Planets Mapped	% frequency of value change (heuristic)	comments
Shinrarta Dezhra	11	91	System total is different nearly every day I look at it.
Eurybia	2	65	System total changed about five times in about two weeks.
V886 Centauri	14	50
Leesti	4	50
I Carinae	12	45
PLX 695	6	45
Exioce	3	41
Sosong	1	36
Cemiess	2	33
Muang	1	33
Mayang	2	18
Arque	8	17
No Cha	1	17
Fong Wang	10	17
Laksak	1	17
YZ Fornacis	7	17
Nahuatl	1	14
Gacrux	1	14
HR 4734	3	14
Cao Yankir	2	14
Convoumia	2	14	System total changed twice in about two weeks

 

[Sapyx]

I have seen planets with two "First mapped by" entries -- I assume those are the cases where it works as intended, where the second pilot maps the planet before the first mapper turns it in. I am guessing you are not talking about those cases, but just thought I'd make sure.

No, that's not how it works. If the second pilot maps the planet and sells the data before the first pilot to map the planet does, then only the second pilot gets the only tag and the bonus payment, and the first pilot just gets the regular mapping credits - as far as the game is concerned, the "first" pilot actually came in second. "First mapped" is a bit of a misnomer; it's really "first to map and then come home and sell the data to us".

These occasions where there are two (or more) names as First Discoverers or Mappers are when players are in a Wing, exploring the same system together. I have a dual-discovered ELW with Cmdr Marx, who was doing some experimenting near Sag A* with exactly how the Wing exploration mechanics work when I happened to be passing through the area, so we winged up. As it is Wing-based, the maximum number of players that can tag-share is four.

 

[Merolles]

These occasions where there are two (or more) names as First Discoverers or Mappers are when players are in a Wing, exploring the same system together.

Ah, that makes sense, thank you!