Every once and a while you encounter a systems with a variety of different biological and geological sites. On one planet I recently encountered there were over thirty total surface sites that could be visited. The codex pays out 50,000cr for the first site you confirm, and then 2,500cr for every repeat scan at a new location. This is not cost effective compared to what you get from scanning and mapping an entire planet, though I would think specific data like that would be worth more from an economic perspective. The point is, unless I am looking for a specific codex entry, or collecting materials, I don't visit the surfaces at all.
I see this as a missed opportunity, because the science and exploration element of the codex encourages you to be thorough and scan everything, but doesn't reward you well for doing so. Most explorers I know opt to bypass surface sites because of the skimpy payouts. I can think of two ways to improve the game play loop surrounding surface features.
I see this as a missed opportunity, because the science and exploration element of the codex encourages you to be thorough and scan everything, but doesn't reward you well for doing so. Most explorers I know opt to bypass surface sites because of the skimpy payouts. I can think of two ways to improve the game play loop surrounding surface features.
- Add a new tool which allows an explorer to more efficiently scan these surface sites at their current value.
- For example, an upgraded probe used after the initial mapping process and targeted to each surface site individually. This could be an extended feature of the surface scanner, with these specialized probes synthesized in large batches or available by default.
- The upgraded probe could document sites types you have already confirmed in the codex, and then point out sites which have not been confirmed for you to land and scan directly. This would further optomize time spent, by eliminating wasted time guessing what sites on a planet contain un-scanned variations of surface features.
- Increase the payouts to account for time invested.
- For example, the rate for repeat scans on biological sites could be increased to 15,000 or 20,000 for repeat scans. Geological sites could be increased to 5,000 or 7,000 for each scan. This would account for the relative rarity of biological sites compared to geological sites.