Is there an easier way to find missing flora/fauna/rocks??

[dimmu1313]

Just got back into the game after a really long time. I had hoped they improved the difficulty with discovering things on a planet, but it still feels just as difficult and wonky.

I have pretty high range on my analysis scanner, but range seems to be the only useful buff.

I'm still having the same issue as back when the game came out where I'm stuck at one remaining animal species, a few plants, and a few rocks, and no matter where I go, what time of day, the biome, etc. these things just aren't spawning. It's so incredibly frustrating.

I would have thought things would be a little easier with the Exploration mission, but it's actually worse because before I felt less bad about abandoning a planet when I gave up trying to find things, but now I have this nagging mission that I don't want to abandon because of all the time and progress, but things are STILL ridiculously hard to find!!

I really really wish they would give SOME help. I appreciate that they now tell you what biome to look for missing species, but there are generally WAY more plants and rocks and the game only tells you how many are left to find, just like fauna used to be.

[Bowi]

+1

[Mr. Bufferlow]

As you may already know, the only tip to finding it all is that similar plants/rocks may be considered unique in different regions.

I thought I was having senior moments until it happened often enough that I knew I had already scanned and classified that rock type, only to have it scan in again in a new area of the planet.

I think it is intentionally hard to get 100% everything on a planet. I have gotten close with only two rocks left, but never got them all on any planet.

There is no payoff for finding them all except some personal satisfaction. I just move on if it starts to not feel fun anymore.

[dimmu1313]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

As you may already know, the only tip to finding it all is that similar plants/rocks may be considered unique in different regions.

I thought I was having senior moments until it happened often enough that I knew I had already scanned and classified that rock type, only to have it scan in again in a new area of the planet.

Ok I definitely haven't seen that happen but I'll try again.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Originally posted by dimmu1313:

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

As you may already know, the only tip to finding it all is that similar plants/rocks may be considered unique in different regions.

I thought I was having senior moments until it happened often enough that I knew I had already scanned and classified that rock type, only to have it scan in again in a new area of the planet.

Ok I definitely haven't seen that happen but I'll try again.

Update, I finally got 100% of everything on a planet. I actually ended up with more than the totals provided-except fauna. It was an Extreme world so maybe they went easy on me.

At this point, I am not sure if the flora and minerals have copies that are considered unique, or if the original discovery spawns out and lets you discover it again. In either case, it is possible. I am thinking the original discovery spawn out theory may be correct since I ended up with more discoveries than it showed.

I found the planet about a week ago, built a base, and wandered off. I actually came back to get further on the extreme survival milestone and decided to hunt down the missing minerals for something to do.

[dimmu1313]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

Originally posted by dimmu1313:

Ok I definitely haven't seen that happen but I'll try again.

Update, I finally got 100% of everything on a planet. I actually ended up with more than the totals provided-except fauna. It was an Extreme world so maybe they went easy on me.

At this point, I am not sure if the flora and minerals have copies that are considered unique, or if the original discovery spawns out and lets you discover it again. In either case, it is possible. I am thinking the original discovery spawn out theory may be correct since I ended up with more discoveries than it showed.

I found the planet about a week ago, built a base, and wandered off. I actually came back to get further on the extreme survival milestone and decided to hunt down the missing minerals for something to do.

Thanks for the update. I'm giving up for now. It just feels like such a huge waste of time. I got to 10/10 milestones on all categories a couple years ago, so this is a pretty pointless venture for me.

I didn't realize that, even though it shows this exploration mission as a secondary mission in the log, it's in infinite/endless mission as it updates to show the counts for the planet you're on. So my guess is it will just show x/x discoveries in a category and give me a check mark, but not actually "complete" the mission. You could confirm that having done it.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

The "mission" is just a guide so you know where you stand either on a planet or in system when you are in your ship. It is not something you can "complete" as with other missions.

You can meet or exceed the goals on planet but there is no tahdah or anything when you do.

[John The Bodge]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

As you may already know, the only tip to finding it all is that similar plants/rocks may be considered unique in different regions.

I thought I was having senior moments until it happened often enough that I knew I had already scanned and classified that rock type, only to have it scan in again in a new area of the planet.

I think it is intentionally hard to get 100% everything on a planet. I have gotten close with only two rocks left, but never got them all on any planet.

There is no payoff for finding them all except some personal satisfaction. I just move on if it starts to not feel fun anymore.

I think the whole point is to get you to stay on a planet and play the game for a while, rather than just rushing from system to system having all the planets objects scanned in a matter of minutes - which is no bad thing.

I use the tips that are given in the discoveries tab to get clues on where to look for the missing items (and time of day to look) but it does pay - though only an extra 100 nanites for finding 100% of the animals. Better than nix.

[dimmu1313]

Originally posted by Johnny_Dioxin:

I use the tips that are given in the discoveries tab to get clues on where to look for the missing items (and time of day to look) but it does pay - though only an extra 100 nanites for finding 100% of the animals. Better than nix.

Unless I'm missing something, the discoveries tab only gives clues on where to find missing animal species, not plants or minerals right? I was pretty happy about the extra info for animals. I didn't have that extra help while working on the 10 milestones; I just spent a really really long time finding them blindly. I just wish when they added that feature they'd have done the same for plants and rocks.

[John The Bodge]

Yes, it's just animals - I don't know if there's a bonus for the other items, so I don't bother so much. It never says if you found them all with digits, like with animals, such as 4/7 or so-on, it just says how many you have found. So that's another reason not to bother with plants and non-biologicals because I may have found ten but for all I know there could be 20 and it would take me hours to find them all - or there could be one left, that might take a couple of minutes. No way of knowing so sod 'em!

[Xautos]

Discoveries show you fauna that is missing from the list, with hints to when and where to find them. Flora and Minerals needs the same treatment. have all of them listed as undiscovered until you explore them out with the visor. it would do wonders to those looking to get complete collections on worlds.

it only makes it a little easier knowing what you are looking for and roughly where they are, the rest is still on you to find. it eliminates the idea that you think you have everything when perhaps you aren't even close despite scanning 20 or 30 entries per catalogue.

[dimmu1313]

Originally posted by Johnny_Dioxin:

It never says if you found them all with digits, like with animals, such as 4/7 or so-on, it just says how many you have found.

Actually the exploration "mission" that appears in the mission log does tell you X/Y plants and rocks. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't care as much.

I'm honestly not sure what the design intent was for that mission in the log because it doesn't complete other than a check mark letting you know you've discovered everything, but I'm also seeing comments that even when you've found the total number listed for plants and rocks in that mission, you can still find new plant and rock discoveries on the planet.

The whole system just makes no sense and it's not at all clear what the devs intended.

[dimmu1313]

Originally posted by RockNRollRebel:

Its not a mission. Its bad, but convenient, placement of additional info on systems and planets. Discoveries don't have to be completed in that new page of info.

I mean, they put it in the list of missions. Also, my and others' point was that the "additional info" isn't particularly useful. They already gave us useful info about creature discoveries in the discoveries section. The "mission" or whatever you want to call it doesn't give anything we don't already know, and seems to give info (flora and mineral total) that isn't even accurate.

So why is it even there? Why did they put it in the mission log, and what's the point of putting a non-mission in the mission log??

[[TAW] Derisat Hartfelt]

Originally posted by dimmu1313:

Originally posted by Johnny_Dioxin:

I use the tips that are given in the discoveries tab to get clues on where to look for the missing items (and time of day to look) but it does pay - though only an extra 100 nanites for finding 100% of the animals. Better than nix.

Unless I'm missing something, the discoveries tab only gives clues on where to find missing animal species, not plants or minerals right? I was pretty happy about the extra info for animals. I didn't have that extra help while working on the 10 milestones; I just spent a really really long time finding them blindly. I just wish when they added that feature they'd have done the same for plants and rocks.

this is necro bump, but where in discoveries is this undiscovered tip? I have 2 plants left to fund and im breaking my mind trying to find them

[gNg]

The tips are for finding animals - nocturnal/diurnal, found in the north/south etc. There aren't any tips for plants and there is no reward for finding all the plants or minerals on a planet other than your own satisfaction. It's up to you if you think it's worth spending so much time looking for them...

[[TAW] Derisat Hartfelt]

Originally posted by gNg:

The tips are for finding animals - nocturnal/diurnal, found in the north/south etc. There aren't any tips for plants and there is no reward for finding all the plants or minerals on a planet other than your own satisfaction. It's up to you if you think it's worth spending so much time looking for them...

that was helpful, i thought i needed a whole planet for the Milestone, just the animals is perfect