surveying skill

[Fredrik.thylin]

I ranked up my surveying skill. It seems underwhelming. Does anyone know if there is any use putting skill points into this?

[hk_prometheus]

Meh, I only took it so that I could unlock weapon engineering but it is mildly useful in the beginning of the game as survey missions are an excellent source of xp and surveying definitely helps with those.

[indigo]

You can scan from farther away and get more levels of zoom, which can be quite handy for scouting abandoned structures for Va'ruhn or Eclipse targets to snipe.

My ONLY complaint: You have to exit the scanner to use other functions, such as calling up the map or hot-key using a med-pack.

[Fredrik.thylin]

I got additional zoom levels, but it seems like it doesnt matter.

[Jaggid Edje]

The only time I've found additional zoom levels to be at all useful is when I"m trying to scan fish or flying things in the distance. My mouse sensitivity is high enough that they can be hard to target without zooming.

Definitely not worth the points spent just for that. I mainly put some points in it for the increased range so I wouldn't have to get as close when scanning (which, ironically, doesn't matter for the aforementioned fish and flying things).

[Moriendor]

Originally posted by Fredrik.thylin:

I got additional zoom levels, but it seems like it doesnt matter.

Then why did you get them? it's not like the skill description is cryptic. It literally says MOAR RANGE and nothing else.

[Ubik Valis]

Originally posted by Fredrik.thylin:

I got additional zoom levels, but it seems like it doesnt matter.

It matters when you are scanning some of the more fierce animals around. Check what the scanner says about their temperament, if they're WARY, TERRITORIAL or FEARLESS, you are in for a fight the closer you get and the longer you stay within their vicinity.

If you don't like getting into unnecessary fights, or killing innocent animals for example, having rank 2 or above in Surveying will mean you can scan things at further distance making it a lot safer and quicker for you.

[cdarklock]

Originally posted by Fredrik.thylin:

I ranked up my surveying skill. It seems underwhelming. Does anyone know if there is any use putting skill points into this?

Eventually you will need to scan eight aggressive predator animals and it sure will be nice if you don't have to be within 10m of them

[daug]

Originally posted by Fredrik.thylin:

I ranked up my surveying skill. It seems underwhelming. Does anyone know if there is any use putting skill points into this?

It's useful if you're going to survey a lot of planets, it makes it go faster because you can scan fauna from 50m out and get in a lot less combat, but if surveying isn't your thing then you don't really need it.

[Fredrik.thylin]

The skill descriptions are not detailed. I sometimes level skills that I am unsure about.