Hunting for Bacteria in Exobiology is Extremely Unfun: Better markers for Microbes on the ground!

[aRJay]

Oh, you mean the SRV? Or on the ship?

I meant on the ship, I have in the past used the beeps in the SRV to find stuff, but I stopped using the SRV for Exo ages ago and just use a small ship so I have a chance of landing near certain Fungoida.

And that's why I've given up completionism

I nowadays only scan bacteria if
-they are clearly visible
-I am the first to scan them
-they are worth more than 2M (pre bonus)

As I am not particularly interested in my exobiology rank* now I bother with them mainly if they are a variety I haven’t got in my codex I have at times gone for them because they were really obvious and plentiful or because they were the first thing found when I was only doing one bio per planet or was trying not to be mean and only sampling the most valuable bio.

*I don’t have a lot of interest in the ranks themselves once I reach Elite, in the case of exobiology I do it because I like it and for the credits but filling up my Codex is a big driver.

 

[aRJay]

Yeah, I know some of the earlier versions of Elite Dangerous were…rough on newbies. I’m a Kickstarter backer, so I know. I do think some of the usual barriers to entry for exobio could be improved. I heard they actually bumped up the pay rates as part of the feedback…

Yes, it was because ranking was slow as well, it took months to sort out the mess that the initial fix caused due to ranks being based on credits changing the payment made getting Elite V was almost easier than finding the rebuy for the free sidewinder.
I so wish they would make things easier for themselves and decouple payment and rank so they could balance things separately.

 

[Fixitman]

I've found a very simple solution for hard to find biologicals. This solution works for me throughout many aspects of ED as well.

I set personal time limits based on the situation. I have a very complex set of limits that I stick to ~90% of the time. It's a very good way to avoid the FOMO monster.

Recent example for me:
Note: I use ED Observatory to determine what I might find.
Limit 1: If I'm sure I won't get more than 2 Million credits, I skip the planet.
I found a planet with only Bacterium Acies, and no first footfall. That's a potential for 5 Million credits, so I approached. I found the first bacterium right away, so I scanned it.
Limit 2: SC and pick a new area after 10 minutes without another find. (10 minutes is decided by dividing the base value by 100K)
I didn't find another for 10 minutes, so I moved to a new area.
Limit 3: Only do Limit 2 twice.
I didn't find another within 30 minutes (plus two jumps to orbit), so I moved on.

Yes, this is somewhat complex. For me, it fits in nicely with the ED's inherent complexity. On the rare occasion that I do skip something, I don't regret it.

 

[varonica]

I only scan bacteria if it is a new codex find, and even then I don't always sample if it's only 1m, but there are ways to get around the colour problem, for instance planets often have different coloured surface areas. But I see it as bacteria is there as bio background noise, if a body doesn't fit requirements for any other type of bio it will often fit requirements for some kind of bacteria, just so we don't have lots of empty planets with no bio at all.

 

[Markov Chaney]

I've read in a few places that scanning with the Comp Scanner also triggers things like the Codex acknowledging your find (and by implication the Genomics scan doesn't do that.)

Is this true? In which case this thread could be a discussion on how to make the Comp Scanner better, because it is supposed to be the tool for this in the gameplay loop and the intended solution for finding little black microbes on a black background which wiggle their little cilia when you find them.

It seems the community has decided ship plus on foot is The Way but what if The Way for bacteria is still SRV turret and Comp Scanner?

 

[aRJay]

I've read in a few places that scanning with the Comp Scanner also triggers things like the Codex acknowledging your find (and by implication the Genomics scan doesn't do that.)

Is this true? In which case this thread could be a discussion on how to make the Comp Scanner better, because it is supposed to be the tool for this in the gameplay loop and the intended solution for finding little black microbes on a black background which wiggle their little cilia when you find them.

It seems the community has decided ship plus on foot is The Way but what if The Way for bacteria is still SRV turret and Comp Scanner?

I am pretty sure that the handheld bio scanner does add stuff to the Codex, I will try to confirm that tomorrow if I find anything new to me.

 

[Born Free]

there have been times on dark planets where i would just land on a flat spot and blindly scan in a circle around me, move up some, and repeat.
it was not fun.
and sometimes even in daylight ,the bacteria are the same color as the turf. it's possible, but not fun and they pay the lowest of all species.

beware, the scanner runs out of charges... you have to board the ship to refill it. there is no indicator, it just stops working after about 50 blind scans

 

[metatheurgist]

beware, the scanner runs out of charges... you have to board the ship to refill it. there is no indicator, it just stops working after about 50 blind scans

Sure you're not just low on power?

 

[varonica]

I am pretty sure that the handheld bio scanner does add stuff to the Codex, I will try to confirm that tomorrow if I find anything new to me.

No need, I can confirm it does indeed add to your in game codex, however it doesn't provide as much information to the journal as the ship or SRV scanner, so it's preferable to at do a scan with the ship instruments on any bio before or after doing the hand scanner.

 

[Markov Chaney]

Thanks! I got to say I drove around on a planet with a different bio, with the Comp Scanner as primary on the SRV, and when it pings it also moves the reticule, so it's not like you wouldn't see that. I guess the only problem is bacteria needs to be on the slope or you need to drive around with the turret down a little. But let's be honest we do the second thing for geo anyway.

 

[varonica]

Thanks! I got to say I drove around on a planet with a different bio, with the Comp Scanner as primary on the SRV, and when it pings it also moves the reticule, so it's not like you wouldn't see that. I guess the only problem is bacteria needs to be on the slope or you need to drive around with the turret down a little. But let's be honest we do the second thing for geo anyway.

One of the problems with doing bacteria from your SRV or ship on dark planets, not completely black but very dark, is the lights of the vehicle affect your ability to see what is outside the ship. Using the free camera or turning off all the lights makes a huge difference on dark planets, you need to take advantage of all the features available in game like as you say the comp scanner in the SRV. Yes it's hard, not everything in the game needs to be easy, and we certainly don't need big arrows pointing to bacteria as we approach it. Sometimes you just need to either decide it's not worth the time and fly on to the next system or body, specially for the low value bio's.

 

[Markov Chaney]

Yeah there is a saying in IndyCar "use your tools" which means there are dozens of adjustments, use every one to the last mm to get the last hundredth, and I quite often think about that on these threads.

 

[gorgofdoom]

So how could bacteria be made more visible while incrasing the depth of the exploration experience?

I'd suggest scanning data collected in orbit includes what signs to look for on the ground. In example if you detect methane plumes look for gas clouds with your eyes.

Higher cost scanners could allow marking specifically detected sites from orbit, with a waypoint.

 

[Markov Chaney]

I guess if you did want to make it visually obvious, you could enhance the Comp Scanner so that it added waypoints and a night-vision-alike trace on the HUD. That might even encourage people to use the SRV more if you had a gameloop where you find the darned stuff using the SRV and then download it to your suit's HUD for when you get out to go and get it.

That gets you around the issue of near-black bacteria on near-black regolith.

 

[Nowski]

Having a bad time finding worthless bacteria on badly lit planets? A Jargon File entry comes to mind.