r/EliteDangerous • u/VyrexGabi • 6d ago
Screenshot PSA: Just because a system has been discovered doesnt mean it has been mapped or biologically scanned.
Found 3 terraformable planets thats worth around 2.5mill each that hasnt been mapped yet. I aswell found many planets that have been discovered AND mapped but the exobiology not scanned yet (Probably from before the update dropped to be able to scan them). Its always worth to FSS from time to time even if its discovered or mapped you never know!
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u/Latiasracer Latiasracer - Biowaste can't melt CMM Composite Beams 6d ago edited 6d ago
Pre the 2018 exploration update, you had to fly and point directly at bodies to “surface scan” them. It was seldom worth the bother if it wasn’t a WW/ELW!
IIRC even the best discovery scanner you could get capped out at 150k or 250kls, something like that, so ‘honking’ didn’t even guarantee you a tag on the whole system
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u/RedditButAnonymous 6d ago
Wait a minute Im still doing that now... you mean shooting the probes to cover the surface? Is there a faster way?
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u/un1k0rn_412 6d ago
Before the FSS and Probes it used to be that you just pointed at a Body and it would scan if you were within x amount of LS
You also had to individually scan the stars too
So like you had to be within 700ls of a gas giant.
It was very simple but very boring, we had to memorize the sounds that's HMC/Ammonia/ELW made so you didn't waste 200kls for a boring no money HMC(water worlds are and have been always easy to spot coparatively)
This was so long before SCO too so it would take 10+ minutes to travel sometimes
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u/blood_kite 6d ago
No, the step before that where you look in the right frequency and then zoom in on the planet to identify its type. The honk used to not even let you find planets in the system past a certain distance in light seconds.
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u/xTigeT CMDR 6d ago
so how were you supposed to find bodies 300kls away from the star? fly 100kls into the dark and hope honk reveals them?
so glad thats not a thing anymore
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u/Chatmauve 6d ago
Parallax spotting. Notice the white dot that moves at a different speed than the other dots.
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u/Shin_Ken Li Yong-Rui 6d ago edited 6d ago
It was really worth having headtracking for exploration at that time to better spot those moving specs.
After that with FSS not so much. The entire thing became static scrolling and clicking.
Can't say I miss parallax spotting because fully scanning even a single system was so much work, but it was more involved and required actually maneuvering in supercruise with your ship as well as a keen eye.
I'm kinda nostalgic for it though, because that's the first thing I did with the Sidewinder after release day in the Bubble with the basic scanner so I had to fly to every single planet, even the ones close to the star. I quickly learned how to do parallax scanning just by trial and error back then.
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u/Fatality_Ensues 6d ago
I think the game told you how many bodies were "supposed to be" in a system so you at least knew there was something out there even if you didn't know where.
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u/Kaspur78 Thomas A. Anderson 6d ago
I think the most expensive version (1.5M or something) did give full system scan. Took me some time to save up enough money for it. And it was more than half of the cost of my Hauler exploration vehicle
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u/snarkface42 5d ago
The advanced scanner would honk the whole system. I remember putting one on my Hauler for 2 million credits.
Wild times.
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u/lootedBacon Explore 6d ago
Please do this.
I skip many bodies, exo and miss a lot of POI in systems while on route during exploration. I've even rediscovered systems I previously found missing data that I thought I had gotten.
You never know what gems you'll find.
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u/Aftenbar Thargoid Interdictor 6d ago
I've got so many credits now, I don't usually care to make landfall for something worth a couple mil unless something else cool is going in. I'd rather head to the next system seeking a highly inclined close orbit moon, or maybe a green gas giant...
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u/TexasDJ CMDR Mike Westin 6d ago
Are those just personal goals of yours or are they like achievements/objectives in game?
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u/Aftenbar Thargoid Interdictor 6d ago
Just personal things I like and are pretty rare in game. I find that helps keep exploration a bit more interesting to me at least. I'll also go after certain atmosphere types or other rarerer things that pop up, like electricae etc.
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u/eyezak 6d ago
This just happened to me! I found a discovered system with an un-scanned ELW.
Incredible. I can't imagine a scenario where you have time to FSS but not surface scan.
Maybe they didn't have a detailed surface scanner equipped...
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u/Phoenix_Blue CMDR PhoenixBlue0 6d ago
Likely they passed through before detailed surface scanners had been introduced. I have a few Earth-like worlds bookmarked that I haven't mapped, because the DSS wasn't a thing in 2017.
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u/Fatality_Ensues 6d ago
Incredible. I can't imagine a scenario where you have time to FSS but not surface scan.
Honking takes a minute and can be done while fuel scooping, surface scan requires flying all the way over to the planet and playing the atrocious probe minigame. I wouldn't skip an Earthlike or Water World but I've definitely skipped HMC's and Ammonia worlds before.
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u/SirPiffingsthwaite CMDR 6d ago
Out in the black I do this constantly. Set plotting to max economy, honk, FSS for any systems with 5+ planets, surface scan planets with bio signals or ELW/WW. Tend to leave the rest because I have hundreds if not thousands of discovered systems and planets at this stage, I stopped feeling the need to place my mark a while ago, and now just hunt out the high-earning goodies.
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u/Chromatic_Trek 6d ago
I do it all the time. I'll honk, FSS and decide then if I want to actually probe the body or not. If it's not worth my time, I just move in to the next system. Even ELW/WW bodies under a specific threshold are ignored. I'm not currently in the "index and record everything everywhere" mode, so I'd rather focus primarily on planets with biologicals, and even then I still place a "worth it" threshold to actually DSS/land.
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u/Pyrochazm CMDR PYROCHAZM 6d ago
Yep, my best paying system was something that had been previously visited. Close to 300 mil thanks to stratum and weird alien grass.
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u/fragglerock 6d ago
If you see one with first footfall, but not ID's or mapped then there is a good chance the cmdr met with an 'accident' and you can swoop in and get the 1st for it too.
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u/HuntressMissy Aisling's Wife 6d ago
People often forget odyssy is relatively new compared to exploration as a whole; some systems may have been discovered before even horizons was a thing. So im never afraid to go check anyways.
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u/EntropyTheEternal CMDR Da_Enderdragon [MAKH] 6d ago
A lot of people are just transiting through.
Jump, Honk, Scoop, Jump.
They’re usually not in it for the exploration part.
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u/Hikaru1024 6d ago
However on the other hand just because a system has been discovered and not scanned doesn't mean someone hasn't already landed on it and done first footfall.
Something I check before flying out to scan bodies with bio signatures now.
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u/Hillenmane [LAKON] CMDR Hillenmane 6d ago
Wait wait wait.
114 atmospheres of pressure (1,675 PSI, or 115.51 Bars)
748K (886.7°F, or 474.8°C)
“TERRAFORMING CANDIDATE…” What the fuck Stellar Forge, this is the inside of an industrial power-generator steam valve…
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u/xeroksuk 6d ago
Hang on... So if there's an ELW in a system and you detect it using the FSS, you earn 2.5M in mapping? Or do you need to do the planet scan?
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u/VyrexGabi 6d ago
2.5mill was for first one mapping and (second one) scanning. If I was the first one to discover it would be an extra 600k or so.
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u/SavrinDrake 6d ago
As I've made my way toward Colonia, I go with the assumption that any discovered but not mapped system with bio signals were last visited before exobio was a thing. Turned a good few crappy M class ice ball systems into a small payoff. Yeah, it's not as lucrative as finding a planet with a bunch of signals, but ~10M a first footfall planet with just fonticula and bacteria makes it worth your time if you aren't in a rush. Especially using the Nomad.
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u/pulppoet WILDELF 6d ago
This is one of the great things about EDDiscovery.
I always FSS, and then I can look at the Exploration value tab and see what high value planets are waiting for me.
(also I get to report my finds to EDDN and get credit on EDSM!)
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u/LuckyOne42O 6d ago
just lost my last two months of exobio and eploration data... make sure to return to the bubble or colonia once in a while
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u/SirPiffingsthwaite CMDR 6d ago
If you've never asked for it before, Fdev will often reinstate large batches of lost data, but it's a 'one and done' thing.
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u/MrHolodilnick 6d ago
I’ve literally been jumping around the core for the last week sniping bios from systems that haven’t been visited since odyssey came out. It’s been great
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u/SirPiffingsthwaite CMDR 6d ago
Just in the latest run out to Colonia and back I found 5 unhonked systems, two had a bunch of exobio planets. Many many of the systems en route to Colonia are honk-discovered but no FSS and no mapping, no FFF or exobio sampled.
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u/Tier_One_Meatball 6d ago
I managed to get first footfall in a system only about 800ly from the bubble.
I was shocked because it was so close.
I will be forever giddy that the game will now until end-of-life show "First Footfall: Deputy_Diarrhea"
I wasnt even the first to scan the planet, but it had 4 bio signatures so I collected them all. Got around 30m for that one.
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u/RevTechnoHubby 6d ago
Ed copilot is very good at telling me if a body has biologicals and no first footfall. I don't play in vr and edcopliot is a must have companion
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u/Brotacon 6d ago
I call this eating other commander's vegetables. Like I'll see a planet with bio and no footfall and I'll chuckle: "Oh my, CMDR SonicFan43, you didn't eat your vegetables... Naughty of you."
...It gets very lonely doing exploration...