How do you launch a probe?

[Enskipp]

DAMN this game's processes are totally opaque! How about some documentation somewhere. Or if it's there, clear arrows pointing to where it is! ANY clarity at all, no matter how minor, would be a vast improvement to this mystery box that the game is now.

Anyway, can someone please assist me with the steps to launch a probe? I have a space dock operational on an orbital. PLEASE advise. Thank you!

[tiavals]

Step 1: You need to have Mission to XYZ(Moon, Mars, Asteroids, Inner Planets, etc) BEFORE you can launch a probe to that object.
Step 2: Choose planet you want to launch probe to.
Step 3: With the planet chosen, look at the center down part of the screen. There's a button for launching a probe there.
Step 4: Press button.

I think that's all there is to it? Really simple once you know how to do it.

[ExavierMacbeth]

Alternativly to above... You can go into "Intel > Solar System" screen and there is a column right in front of the resource listings (click there to sort by it if you want). The probe icon will show up there as a clickable button for any location you have the tech to get to. Will also show a non-clickable probe icon on anything you have already probed.

[tiavals]

Originally posted by ExavierMacbeth:

Alternativly to above... You can go into "Intel > Solar System" screen and there is a column right in front of the resource listings (click there to sort by it if you want). The probe icon will show up there as a clickable button for any location you have the tech to get to. Will also show a non-clickable probe icon on anything you have already probed.

Wow, that's incredibly helpful to know. Probing all those asteroids manually is hellish so this kind of shortcut sure helps.

[Enskipp]

Yes, thank you both! Very helpful and much appreciated. If it wasn't for this forum, I'd be stuck either 1) sifting through hours of Let's Plays on YouTube trying to find where it might have been mentioned, or 2) endlessly searching through menus and sub-menus and sub-sub-menus trying to mouse over the right icon so the tool tip I need shows up.

Publisher has a great game here, but if I was rating it I'd take 20% off the top for such piss-poor documentation. I understand part of the fun is discovering things, but that shouldn't include the UI.

Thank you again for the assist!

[Ravemaster99]

I love how helpful forumns can be... and also how frustrating

I havent confirmed this, but for anyone still stuck, it SEEMS to me that you need to research one of the global RESEARCH items first, such as the research called "MISSION TO MARS". Thanks to tiavals for mentioning it, bit It wasnt specified that it's a RESEARCH thats required, and as global research is random, players like myself could very well not even have that yet.

|In my case, I have the "Launch a Probe" mission, a space station, but none of those items researched, and therefore no probe icons that everyone is talking about.

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by Ravemaster99:

I love how helpful forumns can be... and also how frustrating :lunar2019laughingpig:

I havent confirmed this, but for anyone still stuck, it SEEMS to me that you need to research one of the global RESEARCH items first, such as the research called "MISSION TO MARS". Thanks to tiavals for mentioning it, bit It wasnt specified that it's a RESEARCH thats required, and as global research is random, players like myself could very well not even have that yet.

|In my case, I have the "Launch a Probe" mission, a space station, but none of those items researched, and therefore no probe icons that everyone is talking about.

Global research is not random, the biggest contributor of the previous project gets to pick the next topic so if you focused on specific fields, you should be able to guide the research. Focus on 2 of the 3 Global research as the US and you should be fine. 1 as Russia.