quick question about undiscovered systems with discovered planets

[danidanfm]

hi ^^
yeah, basically its the question .... HOW ... WHY?
during my detour to sag-a i have found 3 systems like that. all the star/s and most satelites had not been discovered exept for 2 or 3 moons or gasgiants.
its verry upsetting to start the sometimes arduous scanning run to each planet, only to find out your not the first to the system.
i do have a theory that upon death during an exploration you lose most but not all scans, but .... i have been lucky enough not to die on an exploration yet.
if this has been asked before im sorry, but after 10 min off google and 15 min of forum searches i found nothing.

 

[Jeffers]

I can only think that whoever got there first didn't bother scanning the main star. That would leave it as "undiscovered" and show up as unknown when you select it.
They've then just cherry-picked the interesting stuff...

 

[Qohen Leth]

All systems you have never been to are unexplored to you. You will never know from the GalMap if a system has been explored by someone else, so there is no global 'discovered' status. As for scanned planets, a lot of people only scan what interests them, and if one finds an ELW, they might not find the F star worth scanning. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Nothing to do with dying (which makes you lose ALL the data, you can be sure of that.)

 

[marx]

I can only think that whoever got there first didn't bother scanning the main star. That would leave it as "undiscovered" and show up as unknown when you select it.
They've then just cherry-picked the interesting stuff...

Yeah, and in my experience (looking at EDSM data first, then looking at stuff I come across in-game), it has been more frequent that people pick up some planets in the habitable zone, and leave the main star unscanned. Must be in quite a hurry then. Ironically, this means that there are some systems where I have the main star tagged, but an AW/ELW is tagged by someone else, and if a third Commander came along, they'd probably think that I rushed along before discovering that there's a valuable planet in the system.

Technically, dying doesn't lose all your data, "only" the interesting stuff. The systems you've visited are still retained, and you can call up the system map, but you won't see anything except the star(s) and their belts there. So, all the interesting data is lost.

 

[Whiterose]

I can only think that whoever got there first didn't bother scanning the main star. That would leave it as "undiscovered" and show up as unknown when you select it.
They've then just cherry-picked the interesting stuff...

This, people see a shiny and scan it and don't bother with the main star. Not judging, just saying.

 

[danidanfm]

thanks for the quick replies! ^^
ok, first let me ask for clarification. when i visit a new system, after around 4 seconds it says (without doing anything) "X undiscovered objects found"(may be a bit different). if i then do not scan the entire system for more objects or any singular object for more data and return to the human bubble, i can still sell the info of the discovered "X objects". if someone then visits that system, all the objects that i have found only by passing through will be marked with "first discovered by danidanfm", right?
because thats what i keep seeing.
and the objects are usually useless. in a system with 2 white and 1 yellow star, someone had "first discovered by ......" on 3 moons that could not be landed on, which where orbiting with other visually identical but landable moons(not first discovered by ......) the 3rd of 4 gas giants(not first dicovered by ......) which where orbiting the 2nd white star(not dicovered by ......) 300,000 away from the starting white star(not... you get the point).
thats why it is hard to believe that it was cherry picking. those tiny purple moons 300,000 away took forever to get to, and niether cash nor "special conditions" seem likely. or is there something that can be seen from the system map that makes tiny purple moons you cant land on attractive?

also thx for telling me that all data is lost .... ill try my best never to test that! ^^

 

[Qohen Leth]

What you discover by not doing anything are only the objects in close proximity. That's basic data that you can sell for cheap, but that's different from a targeted scan and from the detailed surface scan (with the appropriate module), that gives more info on bodies, and thus more money. Only the DSS gives the discovery tag, but maybe the basic targeted scan as well, I don't even remember flying without a DSS, so I'm not sure If you only go through a system without scanning anything, it'll appear as virgin to anyone after you, just as it might have been visited by a thousand people before you, but there's no trace of it.

 

[iain666]

If you discover stuff with the discovery scanner you will get some value from selling that to UC (I assume this applies to the initial passive couple as well as the full honk). You will not get a first discovery credit and no other commanders will see 'Discovered by CMDR dandanfm' unless you actually surface scan the planet. You will get more credits if you have a detailed surface scanner on board (and powered up) but this is not essential for the bonus and tag.

It used to be ~ 1/6 for the honk, 1/3 for a surface scan, 1/2 if you have a DSS in terms of how the total value is awarded (with a 500cr minimum). I couldn't swear that that still holds.

 

[Jackie Silver]

As Jackie, I (almost) always scan the main star if I scan any other body in the system. As my alt, I scan only valuable stuff and Just. Don't. Care. 'cause the character wouldn't...

 

[Col Frost]

As Jackie, I (almost) always scan the main star if I scan any other body in the system. As my alt, I scan only valuable stuff and Just. Don't. Care. 'cause the character wouldn't...

Interesting role play, I wonder if Jackie's alt account name reflects this attitude?

As for me, I also have 2 accounts with different approaches.

My first account only scans ELW's and landable's for Jumponium when I need it, plus anything that looks super interesting (potential record breakers).

My second account is scanning an entire sub sector with over 10,000 stars in it to see the prevalence of ELW's, WW's and AW's, so I always scan the main star here, plus of course any ELW's, although I am noting the locations of WW's and AW's rather than scanning them all.

 

[danidanfm]

thank you again for your replies! ^^
ok, so i do not get the nametag on those stars if i dont use the closeup scan(dds). that at least puts those systems into the realm of the possible. still bugs the hell out of me though. dont get why anyone would want to scan only 3 useless parts of a 50 object system.
with this i will concede the question of ... HOW? ... and only ask the ... WHYYY? ...
is there a good reason the moons could be more interesting? (i will post the moons stats here later)

 

[Penny Umbra]

Sometimes we do it just to say "Hi, you're not alone out here" to the next explorer to come along.

Maybe just scan a couple of useless objects yourself and move on.

Finding a system where half a dozen explorers have each only scanned one or two objects gives me a kick, and I'm careful to only scan one more object myself before moving on.

 

[iain666]

and only ask the ... WHYYY? ...
is there a good reason the moons could be more interesting? (i will post the moons stats here later)

If I need particular mats I might scan only landables and nothing else - be they uninteresting moons or anything else. If I no longer need any after the third one then I'll give up.

Or maybe just on the off chance that someone comes after me I'll scan something random just so someone will one day have to wonder what I was up to

 

[disorganise]

When I'm not in a rush to get somewhere, obscure icy moons 400kls are my favourite objects to scan. Just because

 

[Sapyx]

with this i will concede the question of ... HOW? ... and only ask the ... WHYYY? ...
is there a good reason the moons could be more interesting? (i will post the moons stats here later)

Humans are unpredictable creatures, not bound by logic or by instinct or rigid rules of behaviour. The list of possible explanations for people scanning "worthless things" like moons but leave the more valuable things alone, is as long as the roll call of explorers. But some reasons that occur to me are:
- People who fly slow, unmaneuverable explorers like a T9 or an Anaconda don't want to waste a whole minute pointing at a star, scanning the star, then turning away again, if they can help it. Especially if they're in a rush.
- If the scanned planets were landable, maybe the explorer was looking for specific surface materials to make emergency repairs, or for replacement "jumponium" materials for FSD boost synthesis if they had run out.
- Perhaps the planets looked interesting enough on the system map to them to be worth scanning. Some of the more interesting-looking things in the game (like glowing green gas giants) are not worth much. I once found an egg-shaped moonlet; that moonlet, the moon it orbited, and the gas giant they both orbited, were the only things in that system that I scanned.
- Perhaps they were exploring with a friend (but not as a Wing), and the friend Tagged those other worlds and then never made it back home.
- Maybe the previous explorer was playing an elaborate practical joke on you, or whoever else might come later to that system, to try to mess with their heads. In which case, it worked! Ha ha, the joke's on you!
- Space madness is a real thing. Explorers who have been out in the black for too long start doing weird, irrational things, just to try to keep a grip on their sanity. Like picking just one planet at random in a system, and scanning only that planet, no matter how "worthless" it is.

Personally, I always scan the star, and interesting or valuable things. I never fully scan an entire system, unless I think there's a good chance the system will break my current Highest Paying System record. - I always try to leave at least one valuable world Untagged, for the next guy, especially if it's an interesting system (like with an ELW). But the Tag-em-all versus leave-some-Untagged debate is a separate issue, with numerous threads dedicated to it.

 

[danidanfm]

arrival point: 335,072.74Ls
rocky body
not landable
earth masses: 0.0011
radius: 721km
gravity: 0.08g
surface temp: 843k
surface pressure: 21.02 atmo
volcanism: none
atmosphere type: water
atmosphere: 100% water
composition: 91.1% rock 8.9% metal

the other 2 are verry similar and theres lots of better objects in that space.

hmmm, but the "i was here hall of fame" penny suggested is interesting .... if everyone plays along. in a 50 object system, having 50 names would be interesting to see. but this system is off the beaten path 1/3 the distance towards sag-a. i will concider adopting this method if i find a system with numerous objects and only 1 object has been scaned.
the only problem i see with that is people like me that do not know or even consider that this system is a checklist of the first ~50 commanders to visit. i have scanned everything in this system and have thus destroyed this list. i dont think i will remember to only sell 1 moon info by the time im back(probably in 2-4 months depending on average playtime) and delete or die with the rest. also, thats something that would be way more interesting if the system has something special about it that would make it a well visited spot.

i can accept the line of though though and will now consider my "WHY?" answered. if anyone has better ideas for why i would love to read those as well, but i will not be checking or answering that fast and may even forget this thread after some days of inactivity.
then with that i thank everyone that wrote or will write here and wish you a lot of fun! ^^

 

[Sapyx]

...i dont think i will remember to only sell 1 moon info by the time im back(probably in 2-4 months depending on average playtime) and delete or die with the rest...

Sorry but you can't do that, either. Exploration data is sold by system, you can;t cherry-pick out individual objects. When you sell the data for the system, you are forced to sell all your scans (with or without the DSS) for that system. The only way you can "leave some planets behind" is to not scan them in the first place.

 

[Whiterose]

I always tend to scan the star, whilst its doing its thing I look at the system map, make a decision about scan or not scan and by the time I have made my mind up the scan has finished on the star anyway.

 

[Yushiro]

This is pretty funny, since I was touched by a bit of the space madness myself last night (mostly because the route plotter was being painfully slow). I'm about 3000LY out of the bubble in a relatively uninteresting part of the galaxy, and the further out I go, I'm finding more and more systems where almost every object has a different CMDR as first discoverer. The first time I saw it, I thought I'd "clean up" the what others had left behind; but, since I'm not in it for the money or the rank, I decided to play along. It reminds me of those stacks of rocks you see along remote hiking trails in the mountains - everyone who passes by adds another rock to the stack. I decided to scan one object, add my name to the system, and leave the other objects for the next CMDR who comes along. It's kind of like an in-game guestbook, in a way.

That being said, I do sometimes scan the nearby landfall planets no matter what - I always have room for more Yttrium & Polonium.

 

[Whiterose]

This is pretty funny, since I was touched by a bit of the space madness myself last night (mostly because the route plotter was being painfully slow). I'm about 3000LY out of the bubble in a relatively uninteresting part of the galaxy, and the further out I go, I'm finding more and more systems where almost every object has a different CMDR as first discoverer. The first time I saw it, I thought I'd "clean up" the what others had left behind; but, since I'm not in it for the money or the rank, I decided to play along. It reminds me of those stacks of rocks you see along remote hiking trails in the mountains - everyone who passes by adds another rock to the stack. I decided to scan one object, add my name to the system, and leave the other objects for the next CMDR who comes along. It's kind of like an in-game guestbook, in a way.

I know what you mean. Like a galactic chain letter. We need to pick a system with as many objects as possible and see how may Commander names we can get.