I have done this a few times. I usually scan main star though if I am in a hurry.
Last edited:
Why would an explorer only scan one planet and not a star?
- Thread starter Half Giant
- Start date
I will usually not scan anything if I am heading to a specific target that is a fair way off and I am in a hurry.
And as has already been mentioned, how many first discovered do you really need?
I have started only scanning one or two targets now and leave the rest for those who follow...unless I find something really interesting, then all bets are off.
And as has already been mentioned, how many first discovered do you really need?
I have started only scanning one or two targets now and leave the rest for those who follow...unless I find something really interesting, then all bets are off.
If I'm following a long route and trilaterating all the way, often I'll think 'well, I want to leave my name in the guestbook, but I don't want to scan all of this' and pick something semi randomly, usually in the last third of the system (distance from main star wise) and scan that, assuming that it's more likely to stay than something closer in.
Occasionally I will admit to going '... I wonder if this will confuse someone one day
'
Occasionally I will admit to going '... I wonder if this will confuse someone one day
'
Partly like Dommaarraa said - I don't have a 'conda (yet), but that other luxury yacht is also slow to turn. So I usually jump in, scoop around the star, honk, find my next jump vector and take a look at the local map. If there's anything interesting on the local map, I'll scan it. If the primary comes into a favourable direction, I scan it, too.
Other reasons to stick around and scan the primary would be if the primary is in any way special - but brown and red dwarfs are just too many.
I'm not _quite_ at the status where I would just scan the furthest object in the system. But with Horizons, I'm always on the lookout for ringed landables.
Gas giants - often. Especially when they look like they could be life bearing (water or ammonia). I'm still hoping to find Dwellers.
Other reasons to stick around and scan the primary would be if the primary is in any way special - but brown and red dwarfs are just too many.
I'm not _quite_ at the status where I would just scan the furthest object in the system. But with Horizons, I'm always on the lookout for ringed landables.
Gas giants - often. Especially when they look like they could be life bearing (water or ammonia). I'm still hoping to find Dwellers.
If memory serves, there was also a time when turning in discoveries was buggy, and some of your data was lost. Maybe this was what happened.
Either way, plenty of intentional and unintentional ways. Let's not forget that scanning most stars only nets pocket change, so maybe the Commander in question was in a hurry and didn't want to spend the time scanning the star.
Either way, plenty of intentional and unintentional ways. Let's not forget that scanning most stars only nets pocket change, so maybe the Commander in question was in a hurry and didn't want to spend the time scanning the star.
Jon474
Banned
Occasionally I will admit to going '... I wonder if this will confuse someone one day
For some sessions this pretty much wraps up my motivation!
Jon
T-6E
If I'm doing 'relaxing' fuel scooping and there is a planet off the bow, I see if I can scan it.
If there is a planet fairly close and roughly in the direction I'm jumping, I line up and scan it while the FSD is charging.
Convenience scans. In fact, I work on the basis that in those situations it would be rude not to.
If there is a planet fairly close and roughly in the direction I'm jumping, I line up and scan it while the FSD is charging.
Convenience scans. In fact, I work on the basis that in those situations it would be rude not to.
I've done the "scan only one planet and not the star" thing more often than I care to count.
It's not normally something I do when I'm in full on explorer mode, but when I'm hustling to a given destination (like reaching a WP in the DWE) it becomes my default way of travelling.
The reason for not scanning a star is speed, pure and simple. My fuel scoop technique always skirts the edge of a star's gravity line, so I can line up with my target system as I scoop. That means I'm not pointing at the star itself.
Scanning planets though, that's a different matter. In my case, there are a few reasons why :-
1) The planet is a 'shiny'.
You know what I mean - a glance at the system map while firing up the FSD reveals something interesting, so I cancel the jump and pause to scan the planet.
ELWs are the shiniest of shinies of course, but sometimes a planet may just be quirky or large or in a strange place...anything out of the ordinary can be a trigger factor to go and have a look.
2) The planet is directly between me and my target system.
This usually happens with cannonballs - you know the ones, 100% metal worlds orbiting close to their parent star. Yes, I may be in a hurry to reach the next system, but it seems churlish to ignore a metal rich when it's literally in front of my nose!
Same rule tends to go with gas giants too, because they can often be scanned from nearly 1k ls away, meaning they're often in scanner range at the jump drop in point.
3) I can scan the planet while I'm actually scooping.
Self-evident really - if I'm stopping long enough to fill the tank after running into a couple of unscoopables, I'll often use the time to scan a planet (or the 'junior' partner in a binary star pair) rather than the jump star.
4) The system is the last one on my plotted route
This is the one where all bets are off. Because I'm stopping here anyway (to plot a new route, go and make a cuppa, stretch my legs etc) I'll tend to scan more things, often including the main star. Sometimes though I'll skip the star in favour of a planet, and if it's a gas giant I'll scan it and all of its moons too, simply because they're together.
There is another time when I only scan one body - that's when I already see tags in the system. If I see a name, I'll tag just the one planet or moon, because there's a fair chance the system is on a trail, and it would be greedy to nom all the untagged planets for myself! The more names there are in a single system, the better it is, to my way of thinking anyway
It's not normally something I do when I'm in full on explorer mode, but when I'm hustling to a given destination (like reaching a WP in the DWE) it becomes my default way of travelling.
The reason for not scanning a star is speed, pure and simple. My fuel scoop technique always skirts the edge of a star's gravity line, so I can line up with my target system as I scoop. That means I'm not pointing at the star itself.
Scanning planets though, that's a different matter. In my case, there are a few reasons why :-
1) The planet is a 'shiny'.
You know what I mean - a glance at the system map while firing up the FSD reveals something interesting, so I cancel the jump and pause to scan the planet.
ELWs are the shiniest of shinies of course, but sometimes a planet may just be quirky or large or in a strange place...anything out of the ordinary can be a trigger factor to go and have a look.
2) The planet is directly between me and my target system.
This usually happens with cannonballs - you know the ones, 100% metal worlds orbiting close to their parent star. Yes, I may be in a hurry to reach the next system, but it seems churlish to ignore a metal rich when it's literally in front of my nose!
Same rule tends to go with gas giants too, because they can often be scanned from nearly 1k ls away, meaning they're often in scanner range at the jump drop in point.
3) I can scan the planet while I'm actually scooping.
Self-evident really - if I'm stopping long enough to fill the tank after running into a couple of unscoopables, I'll often use the time to scan a planet (or the 'junior' partner in a binary star pair) rather than the jump star.
4) The system is the last one on my plotted route
This is the one where all bets are off. Because I'm stopping here anyway (to plot a new route, go and make a cuppa, stretch my legs etc) I'll tend to scan more things, often including the main star. Sometimes though I'll skip the star in favour of a planet, and if it's a gas giant I'll scan it and all of its moons too, simply because they're together.
There is another time when I only scan one body - that's when I already see tags in the system. If I see a name, I'll tag just the one planet or moon, because there's a fair chance the system is on a trail, and it would be greedy to nom all the untagged planets for myself! The more names there are in a single system, the better it is, to my way of thinking anyway
On Distant Worlds i haven't stopped to scan most stars. Each star scanned adds another 20 seconds or so to the system, which builds up to a lot of time over such a journey. However, i simply cannot pass by a water world or earthlike. I've flown over 100k LS to get to a lone shiny world and still not scanned the primary star.
Go figure.
Go figure.
I've been known to do this for fun. there are a few systems out there where I scanned the cheapest, nastiest ice-world that was over 200k LS from the main star, and left WW's, and even an ELW, along with the main star, unscanned. Just so that out there, somewhere, someone would hopefully bump into said system and ask...
"Why would an explorer only scan...?"
Z...
"Why would an explorer only scan...?"
Z...
Last edited:
![[VR] optimal_909](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/109/109067.jpg?1553781733){kind=avatar}
I almost never scan a star unless it is special in any way as I never brake before jumping. Yesterday I stumbled upon a neutron star via the route plotter in the far rim (totally unexpected), still I was able to steer clear. So usually I immediately dive close to the star to scoop and take a look on the system map.
And I also tend to scan random planets - if there is anything unusual in the parameters, I go and check it out even it is an uninteresting ice world. Yesterday I flew 130000 ls to see a gas giant with a ring system of 2 million kms (diameter).
And I also tend to scan random planets - if there is anything unusual in the parameters, I go and check it out even it is an uninteresting ice world. Yesterday I flew 130000 ls to see a gas giant with a ring system of 2 million kms (diameter).
That is an interesting method. I think it says good things about ED that we have habits and quirks in the way we go about the same tasks rather than just all pressing keys in the same sequence. Personally I honk and scan the primary while I'm checking the system map. Scooping is something I do while I do a real world task like change the music or get a drink.
The thing is that there were 2 other gas giants in the system that they didn't scan, one closer, one further. If anything I would of said it was the least interesting of the three. They also scanned about 6 icy bodies orbiting the one gas giant they did scan. One icy and maybe it was an odd one but I doubt all 6 were interesting. Scanning icy junk rules out time savings for me.
Bonus points to mess with their head if your cmdr name was "Here be Thargoids!"
I think the most probable answer to the OP question would be "because he/she didn't feel like it".
I don't think that obligation is the primary drive to the all who like to venture out there in the black.
I'm an armchair astronomer. A game with a real(ish) reconstitution of the milky way is like a virtual dream come true. A playable telescope. And with spaceships, no less.
That being said, my own primary drive is see the galaxy's many wonders. Scanning is way below my list of priorities. I honestly only take the detailed scanner for role-playing purposes. I don't care about the credits (for credits I do other stuff), and even less with puting my fake name on things.
I just want to pick things from my several galactic encyclopedias, and from my many lists of compiled potential galactic POIs and check them out for myself. Role play the galactic voyager.
Its a transcendent experience. Its immersive. Not an obligation. So I don't really care much for scanning, unless its a very interesting object (again, for mere role-play).
I don't think that obligation is the primary drive to the all who like to venture out there in the black.
I'm an armchair astronomer. A game with a real(ish) reconstitution of the milky way is like a virtual dream come true. A playable telescope. And with spaceships, no less.
That being said, my own primary drive is see the galaxy's many wonders. Scanning is way below my list of priorities. I honestly only take the detailed scanner for role-playing purposes. I don't care about the credits (for credits I do other stuff), and even less with puting my fake name on things.
I just want to pick things from my several galactic encyclopedias, and from my many lists of compiled potential galactic POIs and check them out for myself. Role play the galactic voyager.
Its a transcendent experience. Its immersive. Not an obligation. So I don't really care much for scanning, unless its a very interesting object (again, for mere role-play).