Please explain Aerolocical Scanners to me

[Dai]

So I can now build Aerological Scanners.

When I open the build dialogue for them they show a (somewhat) spherical radius of one (O.N.E.!) Square on the Main map.

Am I correct that I need to build a bazillion of them to get one for each square to get that scanned?
Or does it work like scanner towers from Surviving Mars that the radius is infinite and the farther the map square to be scanned is from the scanner the longer it takes?

[marach]

They work like SM

[Spite Sprite]

Happy to help! Areological scanners begin by scanning one square. After completing a scan, the scanner will begin on another unscanned region. Areological scanners have a very large range but do take longer the further away they get. EDIT: I got this wrong in my initial answer, sorry!

We do generally recommend building a couple of scanners and keeping them online! The colony has the potential to grow very large and not knowing where resources are can stall your growth.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2307471419

[Dai]

Thanks for the lightning quick responses!

@Sprite Sprite maybe update the Building description on the next build to reflect that a bit more clearly. The "range" you see via build menu is a bit confusing.

I cannot be the only one with that dumb question am I?

[Spite Sprite]

I edited my answer because I got part of it wrong -- they do take longer the further away they get. Sorry!

Surely not! For every one person with a question there's also more who didn't dare to ask. 😊 We'll certainly note this feedback!

Additionally, it may be a bit easier to understand the "range" by checking out the various scanners!

[CmdrMctoast]

Originally posted by Dai:

Thanks for the lightning quick responses!

@Sprite Sprite maybe update the Building description on the next build to reflect that a bit more clearly. The "range" you see via build menu is a bit confusing.

I cannot be the only one with that dumb question am I?

lol no, I asked a dumb robot question, lol

[Go_Rongor]

I also felt confused by their name. Since they don't find anything in the aero, maybe they should be named more like geo? Geological scanners would make so much sense, as they discover geologic features.

[Siilk]

Originally posted by Gorongor:

I also felt confused by their name. Since they don't find anything in the aero, maybe they should be named more like geo? Geological scanners would make so much sense, as they discover geologic features.

OP(and one of the devs in this thread, evidently) got the name wrong, they are actually called aREological scanners in the game. Ares is a greek name for god Mars, just like Gaia is a greek equivalent for goddess Terra. So a scanner that would be called GEOlogical on Earth(as it would be scanning the "Gaia") should be called AREOlogical on mars(as in this case it would be scanning "Ares"). From what I know, that is an actual scientific naming convention that follow the same rules that apply for apogee/perigee terms when used with different celestial bodies(see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis#Terminology_summary

[Spite Sprite]

Haha, my pesky dyslexia strikes again. Fixed the spelling error!

[Ms. E Girl]

What happened to self discovery these days. Play the game, figure it out :)

[icon41gimp]

It seems to be most effective to let them scan a 4-5 tile radius and then scrap and rebuild them further out into unscanned territory. I'm watching some streams where people are just letting them scan like 20 tiles away and shaking my head.

[Setzer]

instead of just trying to keep up with distance making a constant scrap/rebuild. Specially on per aspera where you do lose resources with this.

At first build just 2-4 to avoid building on top of a mine.
After that separate a zone in your base and build 10+ of them. (After building limit is no longer a issue of course).

its easy to keep with 1 worker hub + 1 maintance hub + few solars.

Later when you expand very far away you can create 4 zones for scanners. (One North/South/East/West). All of them with 20-40 of them.
You will have a zone scanned in no time.

Also this makes things easy to keep track off.
Too slow? Build another "Scanner district". Close to the border of your base and them you can scrap the ones that are so inside the scanned zone they're either not working or too slow to be worth keeping it.

[JuggernautOfWar]

Originally posted by Siilk:

Originally posted by Gorongor:

I also felt confused by their name. Since they don't find anything in the aero, maybe they should be named more like geo? Geological scanners would make so much sense, as they discover geologic features.

OP(and one of the devs in this thread, evidently) got the name wrong, they are actually called aREological scanners in the game. Ares is a greek name for god Mars, just like Gaia is a greek equivalent for goddess Terra. So a scanner that would be called GEOlogical on Earth(as it would be scanning the "Gaia") should be called AREOlogical on mars(as in this case it would be scanning "Ares"). From what I know, that is an actual scientific naming convention that follow the same rules that apply for apogee/perigee terms when used with different celestial bodies(see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis#Terminology_summary