When Odyssey went live I was about 7,000 ly "NW" of the Galactic Center. Fortunately enough Explorer's Anchorage does sell the Artemis suit, so I went there to pick one up (exploring is my preferred gameplay, in case you hadn't noticed). I then went on a short trip (about 25 jumps one way) to test the Genetic Sampling gaming loop. Here some first impressions and numbers (which may or may not representative):
Numbers:
Strategy:
Vistas:
Although I found some instances of repeating patterns (as discussed somewhere else in this forum), both on planet and life forms, I felt that most planets offered quite stunning vistas. Perhaps some of the extremes are gone, probably because they were less conforming to actual physics than the new planet generation. The line between game and simulation has probably shifted towards more realism. It is an intended change, some will welcome it, others not so much. But even with Horizons you were seeing "more of the same" after a few 100,000 ly of travel. Thus personally I am quite happy with exploration in Odyssey so far (except those numerous random spawns of wrecks and artificial structures in the middle of nowhere). And it runs quite stable since Update 1. Of course I can't speak for other aspects of Odyssey at the moment.
Bugs?:
o7 commanders
Numbers:
- I found planets with bio signals from (1) to (7)
- Planets with 1 signal are not necessary Bacteria, it can be something else as well. Always worth to check out
- The system with the planet with 7 signals had two more planets with 4 each, so the total number of signals in a system I encountered were between 1 and 15 (if any)
- You can sample a particular lifeform on a planet only once, but the same lifeform can be sampled again on a different planet in the same system (it will count again as First Log as well)
- For each First Log (i.e. the first one to sample a particular lifeform on a planet) I got a 100% bonus (not shown in the table, i.e. I received double the money each time)
- Here the values for the lifeforms I found during my trip:
| Organic Lifeform | Value |
|---|---|
| Bacterium Acies | 50,000 |
| Bacterium Aurasus | 78,500 |
| Bacterium Bullaris | 89,900 |
| Bacterium Cerbrus | 121,300 |
| Bacterium Informem | 426,200 |
| Bacterium Tela | 135,600 |
| Bacterium Vesicula | 56,100 |
| Cactoida Cortexum | 222,500 |
| Caeruleum Sinuous Tubers | 111,300 |
| Concha Labiata | 157,100 |
| Fonticulua Campestris | 63,600 |
| Frutexa Fera | 118,100 |
| Fungoida Stabitis | 174,000 |
| Osseus Cornibus | 109,500 |
| Osseus Spiralis | 159,900 |
| Prasinum Sinuous Tubers | 111,300 |
| Stratum Excutitus | 162,200 |
| Stratum Tectonicas | 806,300 |
| Tussock Cultro | 125,600 |
| Tussock Pennatis | 59,600 |
Strategy:
- Obviously this is something everybody does different, but here is what I did, perhaps for some inspiration and exchange of thoughts
- I found that on planets with more than one signal, lifeforms often co-exist. Thus pick the signal with most restrictive location first and you still might end up with finding other species as well. My maximum was 4, unfortunately you have to do 4 separate rounds because you need to get the three distinctive samples for a species first before you can move on to the next (I hope this changes in the future).
- When approaching the location, I'll try to orient my ship such that I will end up at one end of a particular area, from where I can move to the other end. It is important to note the compass value when still approaching and memorize that value so you can always return to that (desired) direction when necessary.
- Learn how to use the Free Camera! I usually approach with the ship down to about 50 meters. If I don't see anything immediately I use the free camera to scan the area. If nothing shows yet, I fly with about 20 clicks in the desired direction (see above) and switch to the free camera, position it slightly in front of the ship and scan the area from left to right and back while moving. This is also a good way to find bacteria, since they are normally harder to spot.
- Identify the first spot, get into the SRV and drive there. From there use the camera to find the next spot. If you find one, zoom out with the camera until you see your own vehicle to get a sense where you need to go. Landmarks and compass can help immensely here since it is easy to get lost on the ground. If you can't see anything you can alternatively drive simply in one direction for a few hundred meters, often you will encounter more patches of the same lifeform. Also the camera has a limited Level of Detail distance and cannot see too far ahead.
- At some distance from the ship, engage your turret and point back to the ship to get the marker. That way you always know how far away your ship is. You want to avoid the automatic dismissal of the ship when exceeding the 2 km distance. I found it more difficult than in Horizons to find landing spots even though the terrain looks perfectly flat. An unintended dismissal is probably undesirable.
- I got once stuck with my SRV and fell back to Horizons which curiously enough put me back into orbit. I did NOT lose my sample, although I assume a death on foot would probably lose all samples (has not happened yet to me). Can't remember now whether I had to do the DSS again, but you never going to find that spot again you were before.
- The distance to the next valid sample seems to be around 500+ meters. Edit: The codex gives more accurate information on the distances, they range from 150 - 800 meters, depending on the species. Thanks to HRDiagram for pointing this out. I usually try to drive along a somewhat equilateral triangle with sides of that length, but it depends of course on the actual presence of lifeforms. In any case you'll do a lot of driving, so make sure that you have the materials for synthesizing SRV fuel when going on longer exploration trips (the SRV gets repaired when boarding the ship, but does not get refueled, that happens only when docking at stations)
- As said above, often when sampling one species you will encounter other species along the way providing information on where to go during the next loop.
Vistas:
Although I found some instances of repeating patterns (as discussed somewhere else in this forum), both on planet and life forms, I felt that most planets offered quite stunning vistas. Perhaps some of the extremes are gone, probably because they were less conforming to actual physics than the new planet generation. The line between game and simulation has probably shifted towards more realism. It is an intended change, some will welcome it, others not so much. But even with Horizons you were seeing "more of the same" after a few 100,000 ly of travel. Thus personally I am quite happy with exploration in Odyssey so far (except those numerous random spawns of wrecks and artificial structures in the middle of nowhere). And it runs quite stable since Update 1. Of course I can't speak for other aspects of Odyssey at the moment.
Bugs?:
- The label "Shrubs" refers to "Frutexa". I believe this is a leftover placeholder name
- When I use Free Camera on foot it no longer works correctly after that when used in SRV or ship, instead it only shows the interior fixed cameras. So far the problem only goes away after re-logging
o7 commanders
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