Exploring question

[Domestos]

Hallloo

Having returned to elite after a long hiatus, I has started to follow a road to riches route to get some cash together. I'm confused though. My M.O. is as follows:
Jump into system on my list and Honk the D-Scanner.
Access system map and target first body on list. When I get close it changes from Unknown to whatever it is.
When I get closer I map it out by firing probes using the DSS.

repeat visiting only the planets on my R2R list.

Why do I need the FSS?

Am I losing out on significant credits doing it this way?

What is it that automatically scans the planet when I get close and how is that different than the FSS? (apart from not having to move)


Thanks
Cmdr Domestos

 

[Dregory The Crow]

You are in already discovered (by other commander) system. That's why you see planets on system map.

In undiscovered systems your system map is empty unless you use FSS.

 

[Ian Skippy]

What is it that automatically scans the planet when I get close and how is that different than the FSS? (apart from not having to move)


Thanks
Cmdr Domestos

When you get close you 'auto-FSS' the body. As Dregory mentions those systems are all visited by (many) people, so you already are given the location of each planet. If you were exploring in 'unknown' systems you would need to use the FSS to figure out where each planet exactly is. In your situation that isn't needed, so you can chose what you like better: use the FSS or fly there and have it auto-FSS. The outcome is the same.

 

[Alderius]

I go in and see if it's a new discovery, then honk the system using the FSS. If it's new, I use the FSS to scan each body. If the scans return anything interesting (geologics on ice planets, terraformable HMC's, WWs etc) I fly out and map them. I don't bother mapping anything un-interesting. If it's already discovered I'll look for any interesting bodies using the filter and then map them if they aren't already. If not, I just move on.....lots of systems to be discovered!

 

[Sapyx]

What is it that automatically scans the planet when I get close and how is that different than the FSS? (apart from not having to move)

This is a legacy feature of the old Discovery Scanner modules, and was not removed in 3.3, possibly as a bone to be thrown towards the "I hate the FSS" crowd.

The old Discovery Scanners had a "passive scan" radius, which discovered everything within that radius, whether you honked or not. You still needed to point the ship and surface-scan the things discovered by the passive scan, if you wanted the Level 2/3 scan and the Tag.

Now, with an ADS built-in to every ship, they've retained the passive scan radius of the ADS (about 30 Ls, I believe) and even added some functionality: it actually completes the full Level 2/3 scan for you, so you don't have to select the star or planet any more. It means that you can just fly up to a planet and it scans the planet when you're within range. You can also fly up to a gas giant with a flock of moons, and the passive scan should snag most or all of the moons automatically once you get close to the planet, without you needing to click and select each moon.

However, as others above have said, it's not much use to you if you don't know where the planets are. And you won't know where the planets are if you're "truly exploring" in a truly Unexplored system. You can still explore such systems the "old fashioned way", by which I mean the very old 1.0 pre-ADS "parallax" way of flying around the system and using your Mk 1 eyeballs, looking for "stars" that move against the background stars and flying towards them. But the FSS is much quicker and more reliable.