What use to be the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Discovery Scanners are now just one unit - The Discovery Scanner, and it is integrated into your ship, which means if you have one now, you'll have an empty slot after the update.
The Detailed Surface Scanner is still a module, but now one that fires probes, allowing you to play "Planet Golf", and map planetary bodies for fun, profit, and to see if there's actually anything there you might want to see - Geologic or Biologic points of interest, that you can lock onto from orbit (above Orbital Cruise height). There is, of course, only one Detailed Surface Scanner, and it can be Engineered to expand the radius covered by your probes. I've no idea if existing engineering of a DSS is translated into this new Engineering modification or not, but I do own quite a few that have either Long Range or Fast Scan mods on them already.
You can still use your Discovery Scanner (Honk) to discover the Star in a system, and get a count of how many other bodies are in said system. You won't see those bodies without looking in the Full Spectrum Scanner mode, but you'll likely come to appreciate this, as you can complete a Level 2 scan of any body in the system at any range.
If you're not familiar with the Scan levels, they are as follows:
Discovery Scanner (Level 1) - Currently shows the star and all bodies in a system. In the new version, shows the star (like you could miss seeing it somehow), and gives count of the bodies in the system.
No DSS, just regular sensors (Level 2) - Lock onto a body and get close enough for the Wheel of Scanning to spin and complete. You'll garner some information about that body that populates your system map information, and you'll score that "First Discovered" status and reward if no one else has scanned and turned in this data before you. In the new version, you'll get all this, a nice close-up of the planet, and a bunch more information. You'll also get that "First Discovered" status here if you're the first to sell this data.
Detailed Surface Scan (Level 3) - This is the fly-up close, lock on, point and wait method that gives you the not-wireframe view in the system map, all the details of the planet, including the degree of ring reserves for ringed worlds/bodies. In the new system, this is where Planet Golf comes in. Using Probes fired from your Discovery Scanner, you will fill in a circular region of the planet. The objective is to finish under "par", which is show on the right side of the screen. You have to be in Super Cruise to do this, and you have to be a nearly 0 throttle. Too fast, and you can't launch. If you are able to finish (that is, to reach 90% or higher, at or below the "Efficiency Target") you will receive a bonus when you sell your data. If you go over par, you won't get the bonus, but you're still in the running to score a "First Mapped" bonus, similar to the "First Discovered" bonus at Level 2.
Finally, as you discover your first of each type of stellar body and ground-based Interesting Thing, you will receive some additional credits for the Codex entry. This is also sold, similar to selling Intelligence Data, to an Authority Contact at a station.
Now, let's talk payouts...
Your Level 1 (Honk) will still pay peanuts, like it does right now.
Your Level 2 (FSS Scan) will pay close to the same, perhaps a little bit better. First Discovered bonuses seem to a fair bit better.
Your Level 3... remember that efficiency bonus? You really want these. Even if you don't get a First Mapped bonus, this is a decent chunk of change.
And weighing it at Worth-Its-Weight-in-Platinum: Scoring a First Discovered + Efficiency Bonus + First Mapped is actually some worthwhile cash. I've seen a few single-planets worth over 1m credits this way. Single Planets. Nail an entire system, and you can buy yourself something really nice, or a Mamba, pretty quick with Exploration Data.
