DSS and the Back Side Of The Moon here in Twenty Twenty Four

OK, so, mostly here because looking up anything about DSS historically is heckin' confusin' because of how FSS and DSS evolved just before fold-down. We seem to have had a consistent DSS for a couple of years now tho.

I find I can do most six-probe planets in four anyway, so these are QoL questions, but:
  • is there a guaranteed way to hit the middle of the far side of the planet? I use a sort of "Miss, then back a bit" technique but occasionally I end up with the probe splashing a bit far south. I've mitigated that by starting surveys with the far side and moving my front side aim to compensate if I end up skewed.
  • what does the circular reticle actually mean? I read the excellent guide in a thread on here which claims it's where you put the limb marker if you want to answer the question above but in 2024 that does not work.
  • in pre-discovered systems where you are given the planets without the need for FSS, EDDiscovery's scan page gets confused and will show you everything in EDSM mode or nothing in private mode (because you didn't use FSS, so there's no event to read - but if you honk, it don't fix it, and you can't re-FSS a system.) Is there an option I missed? Targeting within 100ly doesn't fix it either.
  • is there One Weird Trick for 22+ probe gas giants?
 
is there One Weird Trick for 22+ probe gas giants?
I found with those (G5 DSS but not the tech broker G10 version) that the following worked reasonably well
- dead centre front
- hexagon pattern around that aimed just short of the planetary limb marker
- another hexagon pattern offset 30 degrees from that aimed somewhat long of the planetary limb marker
- aim a couple of long shots at various angles to fill in the back, picking the angles where the last step left gaps preferentially.
should do it in 14 or 15 most of the time

If it's a ringed giant then it's probably quicker to do dead centre + first hexagon from one pole, then fly round the other side of the planet and do the other seven, rather than trying to line up the shots around the rings.
 
Oh yeah I didn't even mention rings, good point, that too is a pain in the neck. My approach so far was to put the ship just above the equator then fill gaps from just below the equator, so as not to fly pole to pole but yes sometimes a shot at the back will clip the ring even though the aiming system didn't say so...!

And the one weird trick is "more engineering" by the sound of it. :)
 
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