How do you understand the "heatmap" for planet exploration?

Trowa Deathwind

T
I'm absolutely lost and I've not found an efficient guide that actually explains all the the blue.

Ever since Ody released, I've not found a single biological or geological entity with this new heat map. What am I trying to differentiate from the insane amount of blue?

Thank you.
 

Codger

Codger
It’s just one color actually. The slight gradations are from the underlying topography. Blue means the feature is supported in that area. You have to get down low and go slow to spot things. Experience will tell you the most likely sorts of terrain for each. There’s nothing else to it.
 

Trowa Deathwind

T
Codger said:
It’s just one color actually. The slight gradations are from the underlying topography. Blue means the feature is supported in that area. You have to get down low and go slow to spot things. Experience will tell you the most likely sorts of terrain for each. There’s nothing else to it.
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I really appreciate this because I didn't know that. I thought I was trying to find other colours amongst the blue.
 

CMDR Saigon

CMDR Saigon
Trowa Deathwind said:
I'm absolutely lost and I've not found an efficient guide that actually explains all the the blue.

Ever since Ody released, I've not found a single biological or geological entity with this new heat map. What am I trying to differentiate from the insane amount of blue?

Thank you.
Click to expand...

I am sure you know this already, but just in case you know you can switch between "the blue areas" to locate whichever biological you are looking for. Other than that it's as per CMDR Codger ref: gradations, topography and terrain types. Happy hunting.
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
noheatmap.jpg
 

zimms

zimms
Me: "So the blue overlay shows where X can spawn on this planet, correct?"
Game: "Correct."
Me: "I've found X on other planets before, I know they only spawn on flat terrain, right?"
Game: "Precisely."
Me: "But you've also colored this rocky part blue."
Game: "Yup."
Me: "Why??"
Game: "Because that's where X can spawn."
Me: "But they CAN'T spawn on rocky terrain!"
Game: "Correct."
Me: 🤬😫😤
 

tolm

tolm
I went to 6 crystal “site” planets in Ody recently …

Three of them I aimed tor the lightest “teal” shaded areas from orbit, spotted some shard “trees” from my ship, landed and hit a motherlode of stuff within 30 seconds or so of SRV driving,

The other three? Massive pain in the rear … all the light shaded parts were mountains I had no chance of landing on or appeared totally barren! Cue multiple returns to orbit, additional attempts to find something before giving up and Googling for some co-ords that others had found stuff at … which a whole other kettle of “fun” trying to follow the correct bearings for what seems like hours …

So, yeh, not a fan.
 

Alkibiades

Alkibiades
From my recent experience I can tell that it seems that certain things tend to exist only on the day side of a planet. As if its regressed at night.
Other than that there are overlaps of cactus and some other species due to the terrain. If you find the overlap you get two or three species with one spot.
 

Bigmaec

Bigmaec
zimms said:
Me: "So the blue overlay shows where X can spawn on this planet, correct?"
Game: "Correct."
Me: "I've found X on other planets before, I know they only spawn on flat terrain, right?"
Game: "Precisely."
Me: "But you've also colored this rocky part blue."
Game: "Yup."
Me: "Why??"
Game: "Because that's where X can spawn."
Me: "But they CAN'T spawn on rocky terrain!"
Game: "Correct."
Me: 🤬😫😤
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Quality gameplay & working as intended coming to you from FD.

If I were a cynic, I'd say this gameplay loop is done exactly the way it is done to maximise grind and time spent ingame 🤷‍♂️
 

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Jumpin' Jack Flash
Hi All :)

Bigmaec said:
Quality gameplay & working as intended coming to you from FD.

If I were a cynic, I'd say this gameplay loop is done exactly the way it is done to maximise grind and time spent ingame 🤷‍♂️
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Sadly I have to agree.
I've just this moment been doing planet scanning. Found some biological signals, went down to the planet surface, searching for the bio's in Odyssey.
Mind numbing tedium, found one, but after roughly a half hour of combing the planet I just gave up and landed back on my Carrier.
In Horizons (now legacy) it was straightforward, logical, simple straightforward actions, end result a sense of achievement.
It beggars belief, whoever thought up this convoluted system of gameplay would be exciting, engaging or anything else for that matter, I'm sorry but as it stands at the moment I don't think you've hit the right button. (n)


Jack.:)
 

Codger

Codger
I'll weigh in on the opposite side.

I really like the system as it is. It gives me a real reason to get down low and fly slowly over the terrain, which is where I see the best sights and views. I also find it very engaging and immersive to search for the stuff. Plus I get a lot of satisfaction from my skill going up (by that I mean it's much easier for me to find stuff now, because I know what to look for). Skill and experience matter.

For me it's been one of the best additions to the game.
 

BDelacroix

BDelacroix
It used to be a traditional heat map and FD said it was confusing. I don't know who was confused by it, but humans...
Its an on/off map. Or a better description is probable/not probable map. If it is a blue area, the thing you filtered for is possible to be there. If it is not blue, the thing is not there.
 

Scoob

Scoob
Is the system at least consistent now? When I first did this is Odyssey, I had little red speckles in with the light blue. As these stood out, that's where I went and I found good stuff. I was totally new to the process, so assumed this was how it worked, but perhaps it was a bug. I've not had red speckles since. I've had other times where the filter UI has broken and didn't work. The most recent time I tried prospecting in Odyssey, I suffered another bug, where there was no light blue at all - the planet was just rendered normally - and this was on planets with confirmed (other players, my own prior visits in Odyssey) material locations. Obviously fully scanned, just no blue...until I returned a few days later and it was all working again.

Learning this can be very confusing when you get different results each time, and what you've seen in-game does not match what's been shown in Youtube videos for example. I'm hesitant to waste time on it now, based on how broken it's been in the past. Hopefully it is consistent now though.
 

Brian of Earth

Brian of Earth
I find using NV on the day side helps to spot things from your ship before landing (yes, "night vision", highlights things in green which helps it stand out. Highlights rocks too, just have to learn the difference). Bacteria is usually on flatter ground, NV is pretty useless for bacteria. I use the ship for flatter terrain and the SRV for rougher stuff, and I use the smallest ship I can because landing in rougher areas can be a chore.

It is grindy though, you'd think there would be better tools and I wouldn't have to go back to orbit and review the heat map AGAIN..

One thing that would help me a lot would be markers I could place manually on areas of interest, so I could go back to them when done with the current scans.. Sometimes I see another bush I need to scan and never remember where it was.. Too easy to get lost.
 

Fizzatron

Fizzatron
CMDR Saigon said:
I am sure you know this already, but just in case you know you can switch between "the blue areas" to locate whichever biological you are looking for. Other than that it's as per CMDR Codger ref: gradations, topography and terrain types. Happy hunting.
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This needs a vid or something as I didn't realize until my son told me about it very recently. It really does make a huge difference.
 
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