Bacterial life is nigh on impossible to spot

[Phoenix]

Anyone have any tips? You can't spot them from a distance as they are indistinguishable from all the patches of light and dark around. They are so sparse and rare that I can drive for an hour and not see a single sample anywhere. Its also a nightmare due to being colourblind as well. Can you configure the SRV scanner to look for lifesigns?

On cold worlds its not too bad as they are usually darker, but on worlds where the terrain is varied its practically impossible. Only thing I know is they dont like mountains so are unlikely to be there.

[Sighman]

The problem is, it's MUCH faster doing exo hunting from a ship.

Land next to plants, hit disembark, wait a few seconds, scan plant, board, wait a few seconds, lift off, skim across the surface looking for next plant. (I did this 500 times on a recent trip)

When hunting with SRV: Land next to plants, deploy SRV. wait for it to be ready. Drive to plants. wait several seconds to disembark. scan plant. Wait several seconds to board. Drive around looking for next sample - which is much harder to spot from the ground. Find plant. Disembark. Scan. Embark. Eventually you return to the ship (if it hasn't departed) and play 'find the boarding spot' before the whole thing goes through the animation and you end up in the cockpit.

I gave up using the SRV to hunt Exo a few years ago. A DBX is much faster. (I'm Elite 1 in exo on 2 separate accounts btw. I've done a LOT of plant scanning.)

[wolf]

Yea I too believe its the ship thing it's simply faster, and

fast = way2play

for most gamers, even role players and explorers/adventurers. When I got my bio E1 it was also purely or 95% due to ship scanning, not SRV based research, sadly, coz I do love moon cars.

If the SRV scanner could have icons on a radar like the geo scanner has then it might boost people's interest in using SRVs.

And then maybe decrease the required distance for biological diversity so that you actually want to stay put in your SRV and not return to your ship before looking for the next species

[Sighman]

Originally posted by wolf:

Yea I too believe its the ship thing it's simply faster, and

fast = way2play

for most gamers, even role players and explorers/adventurers. When I got my bio E1 it was also purely or 95% due to ship scanning, not SRV based research, sadly, coz I do love moon cars.

If the SRV scanner could have icons on a radar like the geo scanner has then it might boost people's interest in using SRVs.

And then maybe decrease the required distance for biological diversity so that you actually want to stay put in your SRV and not return to your ship before looking for the next species

Yep, I did all my early Exo using the srv. I used to set up the external camera floating high above it so I could see the terrain for a long way in every direction.

I really enjoy driving the SRV, but it just needs a touch more gameplay - e.g. some kind of surface mining where the goods go into the SRV cargo, so it can't be done on foot or in the ship. (I don't mean raw material gathering - but perhaps some kind of unobtanium which is worth merits when handed in.)

I would like some extra reason to drive around planets, and a reason to go back to using the SRV to do exo bio.

[atom heart]

I use the ship for exo, I am Elite 5 and have only used the SRV, 'for a change', or when I am hunting short distance plants such as Tussock. Hunting bacteria in an SRV is a lesson in perseverence I am not prepared to do.

[Regulator]

I find the highlighted areas while descending. As I approach the surface I look for impact craters. I land in the middle of the crater and take the SRV straight until <2.0km and start a grid around the ship.

[Jeebs]

I do a blend of both, mostly to keep things from getting too repetitive. If the plants are sparsely populated, then I'll just fly from sample to sample. If I happen to come out of glide over a spot that has dense clusters of multiple types of plants, then I take out the SRV and drive around.

I merely suggested an exobio SRV because I think it would alleviate the issue of getting in and out of it to scan for plants and save time. Plus the game could use more SRVs, in my opinion. We have enough ships, let's get some more variety in SRVs, suits, and hand weapons.

[Sighman]

Originally posted by Jeebs:

I do a blend of both, mostly to keep things from getting too repetitive. If the plants are sparsely populated, then I'll just fly from sample to sample. If I happen to come out of glide over a spot that has dense clusters of multiple types of plants, then I take out the SRV and drive around.

I merely suggested an exobio SRV because I think it would alleviate the issue of getting in and out of it to scan for plants and save time. Plus the game could use more SRVs, in my opinion. We have enough ships, let's get some more variety in SRVs, suits, and hand weapons.

I'd really like a skimmer type SRV for exobio, so you could fly just above the plants AND lean over the side to scan them with the hand tool.

[Jeebs]

Originally posted by Regulator:

take the SRV straight until <2.0km and start a grid around the ship.

That's typically what I do when I'm using my SRV for exobio... I target my ship and then stay within a 2km radius of it. I also use its position to help me keep track of how far I've driven from the last sample and in what direction (and if I happen to spot other plants to scan along the way).

Sometimes flying your ship is the way to go, though the SRV is definitely handy if you need to land in really rough terrain. Sometimes you're better off just painstakingly driving over the terrain than mucking about trying to find a landable spot.

[Jeebs]

Originally posted by Sighman:

I'd really like a skimmer type SRV for exobio, so you could fly just above the plants AND lean over the side to scan them with the hand tool.

Like Luke's land speeder type of deal? That could be fun, actually. Make it shieldless, and have the driver adjust the altitude manually (something small, like between 1 and 5 m) so that hitting rocks and other things is still a potential hazard at high speeds.

Edit: instead of jump jets, it has booster jets.

[funkynutz]

Originally posted by Sighman:

The problem is, it's MUCH faster doing exo hunting from a ship.

Depends...

On a low gravity world, I can cover the 800M distance for Stratums in 2 or 3 leaps of the SRV; and I don't have to worry about finding anywhere to land. Usually takes about 30 seconds between samples...

Then there's the Osseus... Where that method just flat out does not work 90% of the time. Same 800M minimum distance. Much sparser numbers though... That 30 seconds between Stratum samples, frequently turns into 30 minutes between Osseus samples... So I'll use the ship for those.

[MegaKootz]

as long as you have some visibility You can just look a bit more to the horizon while low flying and get texture pop in as the textures change to higher res as you get closer, this often happens with a HUGE contrast shift. this is an obvious sign of a graphical asset being loaded in.. AKA, biological spot.

Use the games limitations to spot biologics at night. its much smarter and can be done with next to 0 light.

[PACKBOY]

Bacterium is my favorite one to find!! I like mushrooms and mycology, so it reminds me of mycellium. I *love* finding bacterium and the mushrooms next to each other it looks so cool!

What I find helps, is of course go to the right blue areas from your scanner, but go to flat plains. Fly low and slow, nose pointed a bit more to the ground to make it easier and keep your eyes peeled for patches on the ground. They look like distinct patches when compared to everything else.

I've also found that night vision can help pop them out, even if its not dark out!

[Saxie81]

rfedwsq

[Tay-uk]

Definitely use your ship rather than the srv, but like you said some bacteria is a very similar colour to the surrounding ground so can still be hard to spot (just stay below 100m and keep speed slow at again below 100, also download Ed co-pilot free app (You can donate if you so wish), it can even tell you where others have found what you are looking for, if its been found before and logged, but it mainly helps keep track of what you have to find and how many samples you have already found, just in case you take a breather and forget what part sample you have etc. It also tells you a value of the finds too, plus the game changer for me, it lets you know when your far enough away for the next sample. It does lots of other stuff too for many aspects of the game, but I am still new to using it so still learning, but for this, its great.

[Phoenix]

The scan from space but not from ground is annoying as well. Having to go back into orbit to find the other growth areas for biologicals is odd. Also there is no way to know once your on the ground what you scanned in the DLSS. I have to write it in a notebook along with general growth areas or even sometimes draw a crude planet map myself.