Exploration Data and Detailed Surface Scanner questions

[Serath]

Wanted to wait until the Beyond beta was finished before returning to the game, and I'm overwhelmed with all the changes. (Particularly that "pirate not a mission target despite being the correct faction" bug that plagued the game for several god awful months.)

But the new exploration changes have intrigued me the most. I've always wanted to try it out after doing combat and cargo delivery for so long, but for whatever reason I never really started, despite getting a somewhat geared Asp Explorer for the job. Having said that, I've been having a blast between the new FSS mode and DSS probing mechanics, but I'm still confused on exactly what the DSS is meant to give.

I've already determined that the FSS basically replaces the need to have to go to every single planet and scan it, which mentions if there are any POIs or not. (Wish the game actually noted this somewhere besides the FSS pointing at it) But does the DSS give any more data "to sell?"

In other words, is there any reason to probe a body other than wanting to check out the POIs, like the geological surface signals, etc? I know scanning those things give 50k worth of data, but only if it's new to you it seems. Not worth it IMO considering the time it takes to fly to each one.

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The other question I had was the selling of the data itself. I could of sworn at some point in time in the game the value of them increased based on the distance of the origin point to the place you're selling at, but I keep looking at old forum posts from years ago saying this was never the case. As in never, not that some update changed it. The only "distance" thing mentioned is that 20 light years being the requirement as the "minimum" distance to be able to sell data at all. Even the wiki mentioned distance doesn't matter, as if some kind of Mandela Effect was going around.

So because of that, what is the need of having dedicated explorer ships then? Especially now that the FSS comes equipped with every ship, which means even slower ships can scan them with ease. I thought the whole being fast and large jump distance thing was so you could travel to planets faster and jump to stations far away to make those big sales.

Or....is it because I'm still hiding in the bubble and all the good stuff is beyond that?

[Manwith Noname]

You get more money if you DSS probe planets when selling your cartographic data. I would say it's not necessarily worth probing everything though if money is your reason for probing.

[Serath]

That's what I thought was the case. When I looked at the data I was selling though, I did notice some of them said "surface scanned" but some of them actually sold less compared to other ones that had no surface data...I think. Unless that was because of the POIs I found, and at that, whether because of the probes or because I actually went there and scanned it, I have no idea.

Money is partially my reason, but not "roads to riches" amount either. I looked at the value chart of scans from this site and thought it was reasonable.

http://remlok-industries.fr/1245/the-complete-explorer-guide/?lang=en

But mostly I wanted to know if the DSS made a huge difference. Apparently not, not in the time it takes to find those new discoveries I guess.

[grapplehoeker]

A 'good' exploration ship needs to be light and while there are good reasons for short jumping ( to visit the locations most long jumpers miss), you need as little mass as possible for the long jumps to distant sectors. That means, no armament, limited armour and little in the way of utility mounts.
You'll ideally want to Engineer your equipment. FSD range plus mass manager experimental
is a must, but it's also handy to Engineer your thrusters and scanners too.
This is why many start out with and prefer the relatively cheap Asp.
I used that for a while, but now I'm using a Krait Phantom for exploration. The reason for that is, when you're an unarmed and light Asp, you're also very vulnerable. The Krait Phantom though has the speed to get you the hell out of Dodge when necessary and it has saved me more than a few rebuys. The ability to carry a larger fuel scoop is handier too ;)
I mostly make do with FSS, but I will DSS a body if it's one that I'm already going to that system for, such as searching for Guardian sites or chasing down rumours for example. It's more a case of time spent versus remuneration. FSS doesn't take long, but in real time travelling a long way in system to a planet and then DSSing could take quite a while. Personally, I don't see the small extra gain you make on DSS to be worth the real time involved. So, it's up to you and how casual or meticulous/OCD you want to be about it.

[Manwith Noname]

Originally posted by Serath:

I did notice some of them said "surface scanned" but some of them actually sold less compared to other ones that had no surface data...I think.

They do. Each planets "value" comes from a variety of data regarding the planet. So for example, two seemingly similar high metal worlds will have different values. Big differences occur though when one is a terraform candidate and the other isn't.

[Serath]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

but it's also handy to Engineer your thrusters and scanners too.

How does engineering scanners come into play now with the new FSS and DSS? Or are you talking about a different type of scanner?

[Manwith Noname]

Engineering the DSS is definitely worth it if you probe a lot. I think at grade 3 I was able to map planets with a 7-8 probe efficiency bonus in just 4.

[Serath]

Ah, so it's the DSS, makes sense.