How to find terraformable planet?!

[Noobilite]

Is there a trick to finding terraformable planets? I was watching a tutorial and it said to use certain star types. I also saw stuff on the goldilock zone and other things.

Does the new system scanner in any way simply display if it's a terraformable planet from a distance? Or were there any other changes since the new additions to make it easier to find terarformable planets.

 

[Cmdr SpaceMerlin]

Does the new system scanner in any way simply display if it's a terraformable planet from a distance? Or were there any other changes since the new additions to make it easier to find terarformable planets.

Yes and no. Yes it's become easier with the FSS, no because it won't appear directly in the FSS. Before the FSS, you had to approach the body and scan it before knowing if it's terraformable or not. Now you can know it without having to move, by scanning the body from afar with the FSS.

But "where does it say that it's terraformable then?", you'll ask: once you're done scanning the system with the FSS, close it and open your system map. On the second tab, the one with all the info for each body, it will tell you, after the brief description of the kind of body your cursor is on, "this body is a candidate for terraforming". In this case, you can decide to approach the body to map it for extra credits.

If you play on PC, you can also use a third-party software like EDDiscovery or EDMC. I personally use EDMC (which is lighter) with the HabZone plugin, that allows you to know the average distance range from the main star in which you're likely to find terraformables, earth-like worlds etc. Since 3.3 and the FSS, this feature has become a bit redundant for me since i fully scan every system i visit with the FSS, but another great use of EDMC is communicating with online tools like EDSM, EDDB or Inara.

 

[LifesAJourney]

OP, just go to the random direction and scan systems. Terraformables are pretty common, it won't take long.

 

[Bennoj61]

OP, just go to the random direction and scan systems. Terraformables are pretty common, it won't take long.

This. I'm currently about 8000 LY outside the Bubble and the patch I'm in right now has terraformables in around 80% of the systems. Last night I hit a binary system with 4 terraformables (3 HMC, 1 WW) around the primary and 2 (both HMC) around the secondary. I filter on KGBFOA (I find that M systems are mostly rocky/icy bodies and only visit them when doing thorough scans of stellar neighborhoods) as well as the more interesting non-scoopable stellar types.

 

[Noobilite]

That helps alot. I"m surprised all those videos on youtube don't mention the map saying it's terraformable. I've seen that rocky and high metal etc can be, but I don't recall the system map being mentioned to see ahead of time what to go for. Maybe I just missed something.

 

[iain666]

That helps alot. I"m surprised all those videos on youtube don't mention the map saying it's terraformable. I've seen that rocky and high metal etc can be, but I don't recall the system map being mentioned to see ahead of time what to go for. Maybe I just missed something.

The system map has always told you - but prior to 3.3 only after you'd flown over and scanned it. I imagine the videos you've been watching have been about how you identified what was probably terraformable based on the 3.2 honk. Now just scanning everything that can be a CFT (i.e. HMCs, WWs, rocky bodies and metal rich planets - the last of which being one of the rarest things there is in the game) in the FSS is the quickest way

 

[Flagg1900]

Yes with the new update if you scan all of the high metal content planets there is a good chance one or more will be one! It’s a lot easier now with the new system!

 

[Sapyx]

You used to need to use third party tools (like EDD) - or a combination of guesswork and experience - to work out from the system map which worlds might be terraformable. This is harder to do using the FSS, because you aren't told a distance until you've tuned in and are about to scan the planet. But in a sense, it's now redundant, since "scanning every HMC, just in case" is now a much quicker and more viable option.

One other related note: you might notice that your "first" terraformables get a little popup message on the FSS screen appearing after the planet scan, telling you you've got a new Codex entry for a terraformable planet. This only happens for the first of each planet type and subtype, per region. So one ping, and one ping only, for your first terraformable Waterworld, first terraformable HMC, first terraformable Rocky moon and (if you're really lucky) your first terraformable Metal-rich; four pings total. You can't rely on it pinging you every time you scan a CFT.

 

[nouspiro]

As other said if you open system map it will tell that this planet is candidate for terraforming if you select it.

Another more convenient method is run EDDiscovery which can show you actual system diagram. At this diagram it also show small icon if it have volcanism, is high value scan target or is terraformable.

 

[JoeDavidson456]

Interesting and helpful. Re: common-ness of CFTs -- I went 800 LY from Sol (towards Barnard's Loop) and didn't find any -- do I need to be further out to start finding them? (I used the FSS -> sys map method). Thanks!