Is it just me, or is bio-exploration not worth it?

[ajburr]

I spent days flying outside the bubble and scanning "plants" on various planets, sometimes being the first to set foot on those planets. But when I came back to turn in all my exploration data, I only made a little over 100 million. While it did finally put me over the edge of being a billionaire, it felt like I was gone for a long time.

Point being that I next went and mined platinum for a half-hour to 45 minutes, and made over 70 million. So I don't know if I'm doing something wrong scanning the biological stuff, but it kind of doesn't seem worth my time. And I know that most find mining boring, but personally I find it relaxing.

Thoughts?

 

[Razzerman]

I think you are doing it wrong. You can make plenty of credits doing exobiology; just make sure you're scanning outside the bubble for starters, and then try and find the ever popular stratum techtonicas; but there are plenty of species that will pay well for discovery. I personally like to find frutexa and some conchas, But there are quite a few other well paying flora and forna to find. Good luck

 

[K Olley]

Is it worth it?

 

[LifesAJourney]

Thoughts?

Exo is much more RNG than mining. Sometimes you do dozens of jumps and find literally nothing. Sometimes you do dozens of jumps and only find cheap species that IMHO are not worth time and effort. Sometimes you do one lucky jump and find several thin water atmosphere bodies in the system and get 2 billions out of it.

 

[K Olley]

When I have been in a hurry I have left systems with 20 - 40 bio's that have had no first footfall

 

[Anticon]

Any time you do exobio, you should use Elite Observatory with the BioInsight plugin - maximises returns, minimises time chasing rainbows. Made zillions with it. Well, nearly zillions. And the further from the bubble the better, just go 2 or 3k Ly and then start work.

 

[aRJay]

I spent days flying outside the bubble and scanning "plants" on various planets, sometimes being the first to set foot on those planets. But when I came back to turn in all my exploration data, I only made a little over 100 million. While it did finally put me over the edge of being a billionaire, it felt like I was gone for a long time.

Point being that I next went and mined platinum for a half-hour to 45 minutes, and made over 70 million. So I don't know if I'm doing something wrong scanning the biological stuff, but it kind of doesn't seem worth my time. And I know that most find mining boring, but personally I find it relaxing.

Thoughts?

You are finding the wrong plants, finding one Stratum Tectonicas that hasn’t been found before would have nearly equalled your haul, or ‘find’ five known examples to actually equal it.
As you say it isn’t as relaxing as mining, but it can be much more interesting.

 

[Ozzie_J_Isaacs]

Last week I found 3 moons with 8 bio-characters each, after 1.5h I was able to hand over data worth 1 billion credits, so yes, it's worth it.




Of course, you don't find this every day, but every now and then you do.

 

[Shadowsnog]

Exobiology is extremely skill based.
Theres no indicators, no guides, no helpers and no safety nets. Eventually you will learn which plants prefer what terrain and what conditions they like, and you will eventually be able to accurately predict where do the little buggers like to spawn. After that you can select which ones are worth the time for the buck, and which ones are just for fun.
Its very time consuming, but also pretty well rewarding once you get the gits of it. Its as worthy as a focus of your gameplay, as its good as a past time.
But you really cant expect any handholding in this.
Blaze your own trail.
O7

 

[ajburr]

I respect all of you who can make this work. I guess I wasn't far enough out. I calculated it and I think I was only a little over 1k ly away from the bubble. I must be doing it wrong, because a lot of the exobio stuff you guys mentioned I've never heard of, LOL. I'll have to check out Elite Observatory and BioInsight. They sound familiar, but I must not have taken it seriously enough.

 

[DjVortex]

You need to scan plants that nobody has scanned before. If someone has scanned them before, skip it. Go to the next system.

Of course there's no way of knowing if someone has scanned a plant species before on a particular planet, so you are only left with the option of checking if the planet has a "first footfall". If it doesn't, then it's certain that nobody has scanned those plants. (If it does have someone's "first footfall" then there's no way of knowing.)

 

[K Olley]

I respect all of you who can make this work. I guess I wasn't far enough out. I calculated it and I think I was only a little over 1k ly away from the bubble. I must be doing it wrong, because a lot of the exobio stuff you guys mentioned I've never heard of, LOL. I'll have to check out Elite Observatory and BioInsight. They sound familiar, but I must not have taken it seriously enough.

You are not doing wrong, it's just that you are at the very beginning of a learning curve, like anything else in this game it takes time but the more you do the better you will become.

 

[Kzak]

I respect all of you who can make this work. I guess I wasn't far enough out. I calculated it and I think I was only a little over 1k ly away from the bubble. I must be doing it wrong, because a lot of the exobio stuff you guys mentioned I've never heard of, LOL. I'll have to check out Elite Observatory and BioInsight. They sound familiar, but I must not have taken it seriously enough.

First footfall bonus for a planet/moon is a multiplier to the value any exobio organisms scanned on that body, so check to see if people have landed on that planet/moon before.

 

[aRJay]

You need to scan plants that nobody has scanned before. If someone has scanned them before, skip it. Go to the next system.

Scanning and mapping of planets could be done long before we could land on the interesting ones, so cannot be taken as proof there is nothing worth sampling.

Of course there's no way of knowing if someone has scanned a plant species before on a particular planet, so you are only left with the option of checking if the planet has a "first footfall". If it doesn't, then it's certain that nobody has scanned those plants. (If it does have someone's "first footfall" then there's no way of knowing.)

It should be kept in mind that there are a range of plants that are worth more even without the bonus than most of the more common ones with it.

 

[ajburr]

Okay, dumb question... how do I know if a planet has already had a first footfall before I actually land on the planet and set foot on it?

 

[K Olley]

Okay, dumb question... how do I know if a planet has already had a first footfall before I actually land on the planet and set foot on it?

After you have scanned a system go to the system map click on a planet and it will list under description of the planet

1 first discovered by
2 first mapped by
3 first footfall by

If the planet is landable and has no first footfall then you are the first.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

My exobio journey:

- First trip, 3 days to figure out the mechanics, and coming up with a way to reliably find Startum T's. Made ~3 billions.

- Second trip, 3 days tuning my search to find systems with multiple bodies hosting T's. Was on the way back with ~4 billions, then stumbled upon a system with multiple high-paying bios that would have been 350 millions worth per body with the 1st footland bonus.

- Decided to extend my trip, finding a way to reliably find this kind of system. Also added Fonticula Fluctus / Segmentatus to my list (same profit as T's, but good to change scenery since they grow on icy bodies). Came back 4 days later, adding 5 extra billions to the payout.

I now have a carrier (had already about 3 billions from pirate massacre missions before I gave a try to Exobio), and still have 10 billions left in the bank.
Oh, and I reached Elite rank, like that, in 10 days...

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Exo is much more RNG than mining. Sometimes you do dozens of jumps and find literally nothing. Sometimes you do dozens of jumps and only find cheap species that IMHO are not worth time and effort. Sometimes you do one lucky jump and find several thin water atmosphere bodies in the system and get 2 billions out of it.

Wrong.
You would rely on RNG only if you jump blindly to the next system.
Instead, use the data that other commanders have been collecting for years (way before planetary landing was introduced) and make your own list of systems based on the type of bodies, atmosphere, temperature, gravity, etc...to increase the likelihood of finding what you are looking for.

BTW, you can either come up with your own search filters, based on what you have found already, or look online.
I did a bit of both.

 

[K Olley]

Wrong.
You would rely on RNG only if you jump blindly to the next system.
Instead, use the data that other commanders have been collecting for years (way before planetary landing was introduced) and make your own list of systems based on the type of bodies, atmosphere, temperature, gravity, etc...to increase the likelihood of finding what you are looking for.

BTW, you can either come up with your own search filters, based on what you have found already, or look online.
I did a bit of both.

My 88bil says go where no man has gone before

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

My 88bil says go where no man has gone before

Sure, but how long did it take for you?
I am under the impression the OP is interested to try Exobio and get as much as $$$ as possible.

From my side, I really did enjoy Exobio, the learning path, the sceneries, but am not really feeling like going on another trip. Exploration has never really be my thing.