Exo-biology: Groping in the dark

[[VR] James Constantine]

So I'm in the black merrily honking along the way and occasionally sticking around in a system to scan the various planets and occasionally landing to see if I can find anything moist...

Thing is that in many cases, particularly bacteria, it's hard enough to spot it when the lighting conditions are good, but if on a body a few thousand ls away from it's closest star, it's pretty much a case of groping around in the dark in the hope that you find the wet spot. But enough about my love life.

Any suggestions on how to better find exo-biology samples, where lighting conditions are so poor?

 

[LeoBartlet]

So I'm in the black merrily honking along the way and occasionally sticking around in a system to scan the various planets and occasionally landing to see if I can find anything moist...

Thing is that in many cases, particularly bacteria, it's hard enough to spot it when the lighting conditions are good, but if on a body a few thousand ls away from it's closest star, it's pretty much a case of groping around in the dark in the hope that you find the wet spot. But enough about my love life.

Any suggestions on how to better find exo-biology samples, where lighting conditions are so poor?

A torch?

 

[Bottom Hat]

A torch on a stick?

 

[Factabulous]

Umm, don't bother? If it doesn't look like fun then pick a better lit planet

 

[Terry Daniels]

Ask Fdev to make the radar pinger thingy detect them?

 

[Commander Mick]

BTW, how do you get started in Eo-Biology?

I'm still Directionless in this field.

 

[metatheurgist]

BTW, how do you get started in Eo-Biology?

I'm still Directionless in this field.

Someone should do some exo-tours.

 

[Baske_74]

drive around with SRV that gets NVD stock and only exit when near a plant. or find a spot on the planet that faces the sun atm.

 

[Hi-Jobe]

BTW, how do you get started in Eo-Biology?

I'm still Directionless in this field.

Short answer:
1 get an Artemis suit
2 find a planet with Bio signals
3 land in blue area
4 run around until you find a plant
5 run around until you find two more of the same at appropriate distance
Distance varies between 150 to 800 meters per species
6 if there are more then one bio signal in this spot, repeat steps 4 and 5
7 if there are more but in other places, go to orbit of planet.
8 select other area
9 repeat steps 3 to 8

 

[[VR] James Constantine]

Ask Fdev to make the radar pinger thingy detect them?

Sure, I'll add it to the list along with ship interiors, EDO VR support and the Panther Clipper.

4 run around until you find a plant

Doesn't work with bacterial colonies. Problem there is that visually bacteria (the most common type found) appears only as a slightly different textured patch of ground which, even with sufficient light is pretty difficult to spot, which essentially means that if the body is one of the ones further out from the main star, you're not going to be able to see anything even if you land day-side and night vision doesn't really help due to the fact that the texture difference between the bacterial colony and normal terrain is lost.

BTW, how do you get started in Eo-Biology?

I'm still Directionless in this field.

Given some of the responses here, I suspect you're not the only one. I'd not bothered since recently, and as I was going out into the black it would be a good opportunity to give it a go - after all, I might as well get some value for buying EDO. But given that there doesn't appear to be a solution to this, there's very little online on exobiology, combined with the low return you get from Vista Genomics for data anyway, I suspect there's been little take up by most and the exobiologist rank may have overtaken CQC in terms of least progressed rank.

At least the DSS will tell you it's detected bacterial colonies, which means if you're too far out from the main star, you don't have to waste your time landing.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Doesn't work with bacterial colonies. Problem there is that visually bacteria (the most common type found) appears only as a slightly different textured patch of ground which, even with sufficient light is pretty difficult to spot, which essentially means that if the body is one of the ones further out from the main star, you're not going to be able to see anything even if you land day-side and night vision doesn't really help due to the fact that the texture difference between the bacterial colony and normal terrain is lost.

I have noticed the same issue - but have nothing constructive to add, sadly, as I'll just go elsewhere if there is insufficient light even on the equator to light the surface.

Otherwise, I'll use the SRV 'flyving' to look for the darker patches from the air, which you probably do also.

 

[LKx]

And bring an extra canister... oh, wait, you can't

Spoiler

 

[Frop]

I have noticed the same issue - but have nothing constructive to add, sadly, as I'll just go elsewhere if there is insufficient light even on the equator to light the surface.

Otherwise, I'll use the SRV 'flyving' to look for the darker patches from the air, which you probably do also.

I don't even bother with the SRV anymore, using your ship seems faster on average.

 

[Leadfoot]

And for those bacteria things on the ground, PLEASE remember not to step in it. You'll track it back to your ship, it'll get on the floor, migrate to the corners, get into the panels, then six months later you end up with a "B" movie script crawling out to nibble on your brains.

 

[LKx]

And for those bacteria things on the ground, PLEASE remember not to step in it. You'll track it back to your ship, it'll get on the floor, migrate to the corners, get into the panels, then six months later you end up with a "B" movie script crawling out to nibble on your brains.

No, Scotty doesn't teleport them in, he's smart

 

[Commander Mick]

Short answer:
1 get an Artemis suit
2 find a planet with Bio signals
3 land in blue area
4 run around until you find a plant
5 run around until you find two more of the same at appropriate distance
Distance varies between 150 to 800 meters per species
6 if there are more then one bio signal in this spot, repeat steps 4 and 5
7 if there are more but in other places, go to orbit of planet.
8 select other area
9 repeat steps 3 to 8

Find a planet with Bio Signals? Just let me ask another dumb question. Is that with a planetary scanner or what? Is that one of the ship scanners already built into your ship or do you need to buy one?

 

[Commander Mick]

I did found this..... https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...0574F22B6BB2EC80A8EA0574F22B6BB2EC8&FORM=VIRE

 

[fennster]

Find a planet with Bio Signals? Just let me ask another dumb question. Is that with a planetary scanner or what? Is that one of the ship scanners already built into your ship or do you need to buy one?

DSS (Detailed Surface Scanner) needs to be bought and fitted which fires probes (unlimited) to map the surface to build a heatmap. This is shown in the video in your following comment.

 

[CptMarkHarlock]

So I'm in the black merrily honking along the way and occasionally sticking around in a system to scan the various planets and occasionally landing to see if I can find anything moist...

Thing is that in many cases, particularly bacteria, it's hard enough to spot it when the lighting conditions are good, but if on a body a few thousand ls away from it's closest star, it's pretty much a case of groping around in the dark in the hope that you find the wet spot. But enough about my love life.

Any suggestions on how to better find exo-biology samples, where lighting conditions are so poor?

Greetings CMDR,

if you have not read before, you can have a look at this thread in the Exploration section of the Forum:

Marx's guide to exobiology

We should know enough by now for me to write a guide to exobiology, although bear in mind that things are still being worked on and researched, so expect some changes here later. Well then, here's my guide to exobiology. Let's begin with the two most frequent questions: Why should I do...

forums.frontier.co.uk

I found it very useful when started the career as an exobiologist, still it may provide no very useful hints for searching bacteria in the darkness

Hope this helps, o7

 

[Diwrnach]

Doesn't work with bacterial colonies. Problem there is that visually bacteria (the most common type found) appears only as a slightly different textured patch of ground which, even with sufficient light is pretty difficult to spot, which essentially means that if the body is one of the ones further out from the main star, you're not going to be able to see anything even if you land day-side and night vision doesn't really help due to the fact that the texture difference between the bacterial colony and normal terrain is lost.

Bacteria is really difficult to spot when on-foot but can be seen from about 400m (ymmv depending on video card - idk) above the planet surface from your ship. Just go to the light side of the planet and search flat desert type areas.