Making money in early game with scanner upgrades

[BigBlueWolf]

So starting a new game I applied something I learned in my long-running game where I could make money quickly.

Of course the first few hours you're going to toil around just getting off the planet or poking around getting necessities and starting quests in your solar system. Keep doing this and follow the quest line so that you reach the anomaly with Polo and Nada inviting you to do research. You also need to have warp capability. You should also get at least one modest upgrade to your multi-tool so it has more free slots available.

At this point Nada will start showering you with nanites in exchange for early game milestones (exploring, talking to aliens, etc.). This should give you more than enough nanites to purchase three S-class scanner upgrades for your multi-tool (found at space station vendors).

Because of stacking this should give you about a 24k to 27k percent unit bonus on scanning creatures. This translates into 200k- 450k units for each creature scanned depending on their rarity. Then doing a zoology tour of a system you can easily end up with a few 10s of millions in the bank in a few short hours, more than enough to start buying better ships and buy most resources without having to farm them.

Once you reach a point where you can make money consistently in other ways you can remove the scanner modules and/or upgrade the multi-tool.

10 hours into a new "Survival" game I already have an S-class explorer, an exotic, and a 24-slot multi-tool. 7 million in cash and still scanning animals for sweet-sweet units.

Happy exploring!

[Isme]

Thank you. Could you please describe how your stacking works?

[BigBlueWolf]

Stacking is just a term for additive benefits. Each scanner module gives a randomly generated bonus of 6,500-10,000% units rewarded for spotting new species, so stacking three (the most you can have) can easily get you a 25,000% bonus to the units you receive as a reward.

If the base reward you get for a new creature is 1200 units, then those three upgrade bonuses will give you 1200 x 250 = 300,000 units for each such discovery.

https://nomanssky.gamepedia.com/Analysis_Visor_Upgrade

[Isme]

So, I have 3 S class scanner modules as well as an A in the little original scanner and the basic "yellow" scanner and visor.
When purchased (nanites), each S had the info (cant remember exactly) 5600% - 6500% bonus in various categories, but after installed, nowhere can I find the new cumulative % increase.
However, I only get 56,000u for a basic plant up to 180,000u for a rare plant (flora).
What do I have wrong here? I know people swap out tech modules till they get the highest %.
Thoughts?

[Finite Monkeys]

I don't believe there's anywhere you can see the cumulative increase (I could be wrong though).

For maximum effect you want to put the scanner modules next to each other (ditto for exosuit and ship modules). This is my current MT -

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1743670492

You can see the related modules when next to each other get a coloured border.

[BigBlueWolf]

Originally posted by Isme:

So, I have 3 S class scanner modules as well as an A in the little original scanner and the basic "yellow" scanner and visor.
When purchased (nanites), each S had the info (cant remember exactly) 5600% - 6500% bonus in various categories, but after installed, nowhere can I find the new cumulative % increase.
However, I only get 56,000u for a basic plant up to 180,000u for a rare plant (flora).
What do I have wrong here? I know people swap out tech modules till they get the highest %.
Thoughts?

A couple of things. The class modules have a different stat bonus for animals versus plants. I personally have never seen a stat bonus for animals below +8000% on a S-class module. I currently have animal stat bonuses of around +8500%, +9200%, and +9500% and didn't have to swap out anything to get them. The wiki article I linked might not be accurate for the current release.

Second, plant base values are 250-500 units. Animals are around 700-1600 (can't locate the reference but it's close to those values). Like you my max plant discoveries are only worth ~150K. But my animal discoveries are ~150K for common, ~300K for uncommon, and ~450K for rare.

My advice is don't bother scanning plants as your main strategy with this approach. It's quite easy to find a few uncommon and at least one rare animal on land -- they practically throw themselves in front of you. But all the major sub-types of swimming animals are common (fish, jellyfish, rays, etc.) so I don't bother going into the water because finding uncommon and rare aquatics is time-consuming.

Finite Monkeys is correct, you can't see the cumulative increase listed anywhere. It's just how bonuses for similar modules work unless otherwise stated. Also you will get an adjacency bonus (per his screenshot) by placing the modules next to each other. Players have pegged the raw adjacency bonus at 4.2% for two modules and 6.8% for three. But I'm not sure how that works here if it's additive -- which would be tiny compared at 24,006.8% -- or if the stat gets a multiplier increase (1.068 * 24,000) becomes +25,632%. In any case it's always better to put them next to each other because you want each module upgrade to benefit from this and so place your modules efficiently for each type.

[BigBlueWolf]

For anyone who might be sweating the cost of around 1,300 nanites to get these upgrades, there's an easy way to recover them.

Platinum can be put into your portable refiner and turned into nanites at a 10:1 ratio.

Find a space station that sells it and revisit it a few times when you run out the stock.

You can get back your nanites by purchasing and refining about 13,000 platinum for a cost of around 4 million units. That's super easy money to make with the creature scanning method I just described, so everything after 4 mil is pure profit on investment.

[BaneBlackGuard]

better way to get nanites is to collect salvage technologies and refine them.

[Goritude]

Thx for this guide. But u need a multi-tool with many slots for this animal scanning hunt.

[jonnin]

No, you don't. You want a tool with lots of slots, so you can get a grenade launcher for doors and big sentinels and annoying t-rex and such, and you want space for your mining tools, so you do want a big one. But you can scan yourself to wealth with a fairly crappy pistol .. you just need 3 slots for scanner money increases.

but to your point, add step 0 to the guide:
go to the nearest vykeen world, talk to aliens until one wants you to hand him your MT, and he will very likely solve the problem for you. It will take a while to open the damaged slots, but fill it with scanners and you can repair it from your newfound wealth easily.

digging up wealth seems greatly improved too. I hit a 'bones' planet and got multiple items worth between 1/2 to 1.5 million each, in short order. if you are in the mood to do the planet run-around for nanites / buried tech tickets/ suit upgrades/ etc anyway...

[Infield pass]

I don't know if it's the fastest way. But as soon as you get hyperdrive you can make millions fairly easily with trading between systems.
Set up myself a nice circuit (took a few hours), and made 172millions (not the max potential) units in 1 hour. And it's repeatable as much as I want.

[Infield pass]

Actually also, best way to get nanites is to fight lvl 5 sentinels again and again. Dogs and walkers give a lot. You just need a plasma launcher with 3 S upgrade, and to make it even safer 3 S shield upgrade (for exosuit).

[Singrave]

wish i knew it 15hours ago... now i'm on my Exotic S-class ship and don't give a crap :-P

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by MegTheSalter:

Actually also, best way to get nanites is to fight lvl 5 sentinels again and again. Dogs and walkers give a lot. You just need a plasma launcher with 3 S upgrade, and to make it even safer 3 S shield upgrade (for exosuit).

You can do it with a mining laser, bolt caster, and a personal shield too. It just takes longer.