Exploring: Different scanners

[carazvan]

Dont know if it's a very recent increase in exploration payout but I've been doing almost only exploration recently and have been making ~1-1.5mil per day.
Most systems if just scanned give 1.2k, a few planets 10-30k depending on what you find and then some systems go for >100k
Biggest things to watch for are: Earth-like planets (planets with clouds in the 140-1000 day orbiting range) and Metal Rich Planets (planets very close to stars with very high >1k surface temperature)
My highest bounty so far is 322k credits for a system with 3 earth-like planets.

 

[Jigsaw]

Wow. Yesterday I made 250K exploring. I got 25K from scanning just one system, average is about 5K per small system (2 stars and a maybe a planet).

Is it possible that FD changed the payoff rates for exploring? In Beta 2 I usually only got around 1,000 to 3,000 Cr for system data way down the pill. Yesterday I got paid 5,000 to 8,000 credits for system data not very far from Eranin. Or did everybody go exploring to the far side of the pill, while the systems at the short end of the pill remained untapped and I explored them first?

 

[CapnSnuggie]

Difficult to use effectively.
To detect things using a "ping" like radar or sonar you have to transmit and then wait for the return of reflected energy.
For example, if you jumped into the Sol system and did your ping you would be waiting for 39400 seconds for the echo to return from Pluto. That's 11 hours in real time.

I agree (and am impressed) with your taking my 'Sonar Ping' suggestion quite literally.

To be clear, I meant the mechanic to be the same as, or likened to. (Notice in your scanner / radar field, you get the occasional 'ping' radiating out inferring a 'sonar-like' operation).

But keeping it to 'Game Lore'. Maybe it's a sub-space / FTL ping.

The scanners use a SuperCruise ping, with much higher 'speed' cap than ships. Yes?

Yeah, what he said!

And to be fair, maybe it should take a few seconds to return the objects to your scanners. That could give additional queues to those (to my suggestion) 'ghosted' pings outside your current Discovery Scanner Range.

i.e. the longer the 'Ghost' takes to come back, the farther away you get an idea it is. Plus, you use other queues, like the 'plane' of the detected planets rings to help you narrow down what direction and distance you should go before setting off another Scan.

Fighting, Trading, and Mining has some tedium, but also have rewards.

I'm also of the mind that the 'Surface Scanners' should operate like the 'Kill Warrant Scanners', however, I also feel to be effective, they need to take up internal slots (I see that logic). Right now using the same mechanic used to 'identify a ship' to 'perform a detailed surface scan' feels... Wrong..

Personally, I'd like to get close to the planet and circle it to perform a scan 'Kinda like the Fuel Scoop operation', that adds a little more risk, and a little more time consumed. Or maybe possibly even a consumable drone, to scan the planet, buy you get a SUPER HUGE REWARD. Or maybe even 'Claim' the planet, for BONUS ELITE CRED!

Escpecially if you're doing missions for 'Mining Factions' or 'Planetary Terraforming' companies..

I'm not wanting to add more tedium, but just a deeper mechanic for a career-style in Elite: Dangerous, while expanding it's lore and technology.

But maybe an advanced technology based on modern principles.. I wonder if we can use the current Comet Studying approach to affect the discoveries in game.

 

[stephen_usher]

Wow. Yesterday I made 250K exploring. I got 25K from scanning just one system, average is about 5K per small system (2 stars and a maybe a planet).

Guess depends where you are - I am half way down the pill, towards the "top" of the edge.


I agree though - it appears you have to be rich to start earning good money from exploring.

Which scanners are you using? I've only the basic discovery scanner.

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The problem I think they have tried to address is how to locate distant stars in multi-star systems without tedious parallax detection by eyeball or sheer luck. Hence the infinite-sensitivity Advanced Scanner.

Hmm. You say that the parallax method and detective work is tedious? The whole use of the brain and tactics are the thing which makes exploration interesting. Maybe it's because I'm an amateur astronomer in real life?

 

[ste]

What I dont understand about the scanner is the fact it seems to work without scanning.

 

[Harbinger]

Which scanners are you using? I've only the basic discovery scanner.

I think FDEV have improved the payout from exploration in recent days. Most likely for Detailed Surface scans as opposed to basic scans. Exploration is actually quite profitable now. I came in after scanning about 10 systems and earned ~300K.

Hmm. You say that the parallax method and detective work is tedious? The whole use of the brain and tactics are the thing which makes exploration interesting. Maybe it's because I'm an amateur astronomer in real life?

I have to admit I do miss searching for objects via the parallax method. The Advanced Scanner takes all the fun out of it as you are given the location of all objects in the system for zero effort. It seems too much like having a "you win exploration" button. Yes it should have an increased range but IMHO system-wide is too much, there needs to be some skill required regardless of the Discovery scanner used.

 

[Commander Dave]

But keeping it to 'Game Lore'. Maybe it's a sub-space / FTL ping.

Possibly.
Thing is though that as far as I'm aware there is no subspace or hyperspace. It's basically the warp drive only. Drive creates a bubble of space with an asymmetrical ramp allowing the bubble of space your ship rests in to "slide down" this ramp of spacetime and thereby travel faster than light. More energy into the steepness of this ramp allowing your ship to travel at different speeds, giving the two drive modes; SC & HS. Same thing just more energy for HS.
Ignore the actual mechanic, the point I'm making is that given the drive system I can't think of a way of using it to allow FTL transmissions or FTL "radio" a la Star Trek. The only way I can think of to make transmissions work is to record them on a space USB stick, stuff it in a space envelope, and give it to a space courier who will take it to the space post office in the next system.
See what I mean ?
So if there are no FTL transmissions I can't see how, given the current framework, a ping system could work.

Although keeping within the framework allows you to launch a fleet of tiny tiny drones, all encased in their own tiny warp bubbles, which then zap off all over the place, do the scanning, and then warp back to you to transmit their data. No idea how you'd make a drive small enough, but that doesn't matter. Could be done with a temporary warp bubble created by your drive. The creation of which is what gives the delay when you activate the discovery scanner thingy. The whole drone flight, scanning, return, and data transmission takes only the time of the charging bar on the scanner.
That's all cool.
Just can't make an FTL transmission work in my head.

I'm not wanting to add more tedium, but just a deeper mechanic for a career-style in Elite: Dangerous, while expanding it's lore and technology.

I'd love to see a deeper mechanic for it.
Something to really get your teeth into.
I can see it becoming an obsession for me after I've done all the trading thing to get myself enough money for a nice garage of ships.

 

[Ravenov]

Moving on from the single ping (Vasili), maybe make it need several readings from different positions within a system to calculate positions of objects through its own parallax measurements. The more distant a target, the less accurate the result, and the more readings taken, the better the data.

 

[Commander Dave]

... single ping (Vasili) ...

One of my favourite films.

 

[Lange_666]

Does anyone else think the Advanced scanner is a bit too powerful? I could buy 2500, maybe 5000ls range, but from 1000 for the intermediate to god like takes out any skill in exploration.

Yes, it's way way to powerfull. It also takes out the fun of exploring. Besides, some of the technologies in this game don't add up. Some stuff is high tech, other things are still...mmm...stone age in comparrison.
Yesterday i visited a system where the subspace station lies 369.000ls from the main star. Yet, if you enter the system near the main star, the advanced scanner will give you everything...?
You can press a button and get the info of an entire system but it's not possible to get trade info unless you've been docked.
You can HyperCruise and Supercruise and you can dock on auto-pilot but there's no auto-pilot for going between stars etc...

So yes, the advanced scanner is way to powerfull.

One could give out a bigger reward if the exploring is done with a less powerfull scanner and no reward if the advanced one is used (or maybe just enough to pay for the fuel).


On a sidenote:
- What is meaning of the blue circles/green "around" the differnet planets showing up one after the other the closer you get to them, think green is only around a star (I'm not talking about the orbital lines here)?

 

[Harbinger]

On a sidenote:
- What is meaning of the blue circles/green "around" the differnet planets showing up one after the other the closer you get to them, think green is only around a star (I'm not talking about the orbital lines here)?

I could be wrong but I think they highlight the strength of the gravity well. The lines probably highlight the point that the gravity has a greater/lesser impact on your vessel as you're passing in close proximity.

 

[Lange_666]

Then the green ones could mean that ones passed, you can't escape anymore? But then they also appear around tiny little planets, not only stars.
And if that's the case, why green and not red?

 

[Harbinger]

Green represents the point at which you'd do an emergency drop out of super cruise for being too close.

As to the colour choice, not sure. Because green stands out better against the background?

 

[stephen_usher]

I think FDEV have improved the payout from exploration in recent days. Most likely for Detailed Surface scans as opposed to basic scans. Exploration is actually quite profitable now. I came in after scanning about 10 systems and earned ~300K.

They do seem to have increased the pay-outs by an order of magnitude actually. I may be able to afford that detailed surface scanner... just in time for the wipe.

 

[Googol]

The problem I think they have tried to address is how to locate distant stars in multi-star systems without tedious parallax detection by eyeball or sheer luck. Hence the infinite-sensitivity Advanced Scanner.

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If you are dealing with a binary it is easy to find the other star: select the star you emerged at after scanning and look around its orbital line, the other star of the binary will be in the plane of the orbital line and usually on the far side of it from the star you are close to. If the other star has planets associated with it FD often include a "spoiler" ship in the right direction as well.
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I think FD may have buffed the exploration rewards recently as the payouts I have been getting increased markedly about a week ago. 174,000 Cr for one system is the best I have done and that was at the far end of the pipe
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Making my way back to the bubble now for the Betapocalypse event.

 

[stevelee]

Does anyone else think the Advanced scanner is a bit too powerful? I could buy 2500, maybe 5000ls range, but from 1000 for the intermediate to god like takes out any skill in exploration.

mere binary systems can have sister stars over 200,000ls away
in my experience finding them is where the skill is.
1000ls is just conveniant, but doesn't solve the challenge in any way other than a a touch better luck with planet hunting.