Exobiology - why do Stratum Tectonitas pay so well?

[Neilski]

Why don't they just make Odyssey part of the base game purchase going forward?

Yup, that would make some sense.
It might even prompt them to update the system requirements for the base game, which (scandalously) haven't changed since before EDO was released - despite the very different requirements and the fact that the EDO engine & graphics later became part of the Live (i.e. normal) version of Horizons. (Hopefully I got all of the names right, but you get the idea )

 

[marx]

No revealed information on the why’s and what’s of Vista’s pricing or interest in particular bios that I know of.
It obviously not merely scarcity or difficulty in this case so it must be something else.

In most every other case though, payout does scale up with scarcity: the more (and stricter) requirements a bio has, the more it pays. A great case study is Clypeus Lacrimam and Clypeus Speculumi. Their atmosphere / body requirements are almost entirely the same, but Lacrimam has less strict geological requirements. In the end, its base payout (8,418,000 Cr) is less than half of Speculumi's (16,202,800 Cr).

But why does Stratum Tectonicas pay so much? Personally, I suspect that it has some requirement(s) that are bugged, and don't actually apply in practice. We're probably seeing plenty more of them than there were originally meant to be.

Of course, even if Frontier have realised this bug by now, they might be reluctant to fix it anyway, because that would really cut into exobio incomes - which would upset players, and make getting exobio ranks take significantly longer.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

[...]A great case study is Clypeus Lacrimam and Clypeus Speculumi. Their atmosphere / body requirements are almost entirely the same, but Lacrimam has less strict geological requirements. In the end, its base payout (8,418,000 Cr) is less than half of Speculumi's (16,202,800 Cr).[...]

Do you mind sharing your thoughts on the geological requirements for the Speculumi?

Checking

Alien life

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

the requirements are apparently the same: Rocky w Carbon-dioxide or Water atmosphere, temp >190K, gravity <0.27G.

With the only supposedly difference is the distance from the star:
Lacrimam: N/A
Margaritus: N/A
Speculumi: >2500 LS

I am yet to give a real try to this one. Have been focusing on the other non-Tectonitas higher paying ones with more or less success (some seem to be pure RNG with very low chance to find them).

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

[...]Of course, even if Frontier have realised this bug by now, they might be reluctant to fix it anyway, because that would really cut into exobio incomes - which would upset players, and make getting exobio ranks take significantly longer.

I'd be happy they fix that.
I was doing good yesterday with my updated route that now includes, in addition to the usual Tectonitas, some other high paying candidates...then found after a few jumps a system with 5 Tectonitas bios (first foothold, half a billion credits worth)...and I know I will find others like that.
It makes it feel pointless to look for anything else, other than adding some lower paying variety to not fall into the monotony. Quite like Platinum laser mining vs any other types of mining.

As for the rank progression, c'mon...after my first 3-day exobio trip, I reached Ecologist. Second 3-day trip and I am Exobiologist.
Makes me laugh compared to how long it took me to reach Elite combat, or rank up with Imperial and Federal doing mostly Pirate Massacre stacking + donations.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

I'd be happy they fix that.
I was doing good yesterday with my updated route that now includes, in addition to the usual Tectonitas, some other high paying candidates...then found after a few jumps a system with 5 Tectonitas bios (first foothold, half a billion credits worth)...and I know I will find others like that.
It makes it feel pointless to look for anything else, other than adding some lower paying variety to not fall into the monotony. Quite like Platinum laser mining vs any other types of mining.

I would be happy they lower the payout of the Tectonitas by half, which would be easy to implement, and even make sense after publishing a funny Galnet article about that Vista Genomics is on the way to face bankruptcy due to an unexpectedly high amount of Tectonitas claimed by commanders, which they have actually no idea what to do with. 45 millions payout to scan blobs on the moons would still remain an insane payout compared to anything else the game offers.
That, or increasing the payout by two of all other bios (but that would make the payout of Exobio even more insane than what it already is)...

 

[marx]

Do you mind sharing your thoughts on the geological requirements for the Speculumi?

Checking

Alien life

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

the requirements are apparently the same: Rocky w Carbon-dioxide or Water atmosphere, temp >190K, gravity <0.27G.

With the only supposedly difference is the distance from the star:
Lacrimam: N/A
Margaritus: N/A
Speculumi: >2500 LS

I am yet to give a real try to this one. Have been focusing on the other non-Tectonitas higher paying ones with more or less success (some seem to be pure RNG with very low chance to find them).

Sure. First, the characteristics you quoted are the body and atmosphere requirements. The geological ones are all the different geological stuff that's not logged to the journals: what rocks there are, minerals, and so on. (Previous patch notes wrote that even wind strength is a factor. By the way, you can hear the wind if it's strong enough, and certain plants sway in the wind too.) You can look at the ground, but since we can't take surface samples from one spot, these aren't written to the logs.

Now, try comparing the coverages of bodies with Clypeus Lacrimam and of bodies with Speculumi. First, you'll notice that even on bodies that do meet Speculumi's 2,500 ls requirement, Lacrimam tends to appear more frequently than Speculumi. (A common complaint I've heard on Discord servers is that most of the time it's the cheaper Lacrimam instead of Speculumi.) Second, compare the how much ground the two cover: Lacrimam tends to cover plenty more of the surface, stretching over differing geological areas, than Speculumi does.
It's a good thing that a body can have only one type of Clypeus, because otherwise, finding Speculumi among the Lacrimam would be a pain.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

I have been researching/experimenting with very specific types of bodies/conditions for a high chance to yield high paying non-Tectonitas bios.

So far, this is the best one I could find:

Elite: Dangerous Index

www.spansh.co.uk

yielding up to 70M (350M with first foothold bonus) worth of bios, for instance:
Clypeus Speculumi 16.2M
Clypeus Lacriman 8.42M
Cactoida Vermis 16.2M
Concha Renubus 4.57M
Osseus Discus 12.93M
Tussock Virgam 14.31M
Frutexa Sponsae 5.99M

I will investigate today the water based atmospheres with hot temp >190k, and gravity <0.27G.

Any of you would mind sharing their findings?
My goal is to add some interesting things, that also pay well, to my Tectonitas...

 

[ꝁestrel]

Any of you would mind sharing their findings?

You might be interested in this spreadsheet (check out all of the tabs):

Codex NSP and Bio requirements

docs.google.com

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

You might be interested in this spreadsheet (check out all of the tabs):

Codex NSP and Bio requirements

docs.google.com

Thanks, but this is more or less a summary of the info found on the web.
The thing is, while a high paying bios may be found in various conditions, for most conditions there is a very tiny chance to find them. I am looking for a way to narrow down these sets of conditions and increase the chance to find them, or a combination of them.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Sure. First, the characteristics you quoted are the body and atmosphere requirements. The geological ones are all the different geological stuff that's not logged to the journals: what rocks there are, minerals, and so on. (Previous patch notes wrote that even wind strength is a factor. By the way, you can hear the wind if it's strong enough, and certain plants sway in the wind too.) You can look at the ground, but since we can't take surface samples from one spot, these aren't written to the logs.
[...]

No way, the wind conditions too?
Dang, let me change the haircut of my holo-me for long hair, and remove my helmet from time to time