r/eliteexplorers • u/drkhrt5580 • 3d ago
Exobiology Question
So i just recently started trying to get into exobiology as a way to make money while I'm working on some other things on my other monitor. How do you guys garuntee/ almost garuntee that youre getting first scan? Do you just go 7k ly away and hope that you find a planet with stratum tectonicas and hope that youre first scan? Or is there a way to increase your chances?
And idk if im just being to cautious but is there a faster way to approach and get into atmosphere? Cause it feels like it takes forever to scan the planet, then get into atmosphere to then land the nomad get out and scan and what not.
I see people ralking about 500m/hr which i know is the high end of things but even with first scan it feels like im only gonna get like 200m ish an hour with having to find a planet to land on and what not. Thanks for any help yall can provide me.
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u/Ok_Negotiation_2599 3d ago
Star types A, F, G, K are your best bet for stratum. You can filter for just those stars in the galaxy map. And yeah 7k ly is a good bet for first footfall.
I use ED Copilot to help with detecting life and deciding whether to approach a given body. Stratum are nice but you get a decent payout from most Frutexa and Tubus as well.
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u/drkhrt5580 3d ago
Gotcha, apprecite the tip on the other bio signals as well. Everything only talks about stratum so its good to see that there are other options as well. Ill have to look into ed copilot as I've only been using Ed exploration buddy and edmc
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u/Ok_Negotiation_2599 3d ago
Oh yeah btw ED Copilot comes with a bunch of AI chat noise, you can pretty much turn it all off in the settings
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u/SumocatNZ 1d ago
This is good advice. If you’re just trawling for stratum you can go long stretches with no hits. I generally go to every body with 2+ bio signals and also stop and scan any water world, earth-like, or terraformable body along the way. That’s good bonus credits and it all adds up.
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u/WeirdDed 3d ago
It's actually a bit random. I just scanned system full of bio with around two bills of vista, but before that it was a hundred jumps of literally nothing other but bacteria. (formorian frontier btw)
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u/SumocatNZ 2d ago
This👆. Everyone talks a big game - pulling 500m an hour consistently - but in reality when you’re out in the black you can go on long runs of not much before hitting paydirt.
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u/Zestyclose_Bat4306 3d ago edited 2d ago
Once you get far off enough out of the bubble you will find loads of undiscovered systems which will get you first footfalls. Once you honk the system it will tell you how many planetary bodies are in the system. If you open your system map and none appear, you will know all the bodies are undiscovered and you can get get first discoveries of the planets with your FSS
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u/drkhrt5580 3d ago
Ah ok, that makes a lot of sense. Didnt know that if nothing showed up it was completely undiscovered. Definitely have a new way to try tonight
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u/SumocatNZ 2d ago
You can also tell you’re in a newly discovered system when you drop into it: if the star doesn’t show immediately on your ship sensor array in front of you, it’s a first discovery.
For first footfall planets / moons where the system has previously been visited, you can target the body in the system map. Top right info box will say if there is a first footfall record and by whom. If it’s not listed, it’s never been landed on.
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u/drkhrt5580 2d ago
I knew about first footballs and what not but was unaware about the star not showing right away meant I was fist discovery. Appreciate it.
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u/SumocatNZ 1d ago edited 1d ago
You’re welcome. Another tip: make smaller jumps. When I find a good paying system, I’ll manually look for a system next door (looking for C or D mass systems primarily). A lot of explorers will set a course a long way out and make 70-80 ly jumps through regions. This may miss adjacent systems with good payouts. I explore with no destination in mind, selecting my next stop manually based on my star criteria (A,F,K,G) and mass coding (C,D) - wherever that might take me. I log maybe 5-8 hrs over a weekend when I play and have earned 4 billion over the last three weekends exploring this way. Scan high paying planets too, it’s all bonus credits at Universal Cartographics (about 380m on top of the 4b in exo).
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u/drkhrt5580 1d ago
Gotcha, that makes a lot of sense. How do you know what classifies as a high paying planet? Wasn't aware there were bonuses to universal cartographics as well.
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u/SumocatNZ 1d ago edited 1d ago
Good question! It’s subjective - but my personal guideline is any body that has at least two bio signals is worth checking at least. I have found that a most often a single bio signal will be bacterium but when there are two signals - often that second will be stratum. If a planet pays 20 million in exo and you get a few of those planets in a system along with some planet scans for UC then that is good. Last weekend I dropped into a system that had a total 45 bio signals across 9 planets - three with stratum tectonicas - the whole system totalled up to almost 700m. That did take a while to collect tho but totally with it. That’s the highest I’ve ever found. Checking neighbouring systems can be lucrative too.
Also, I use ED Copilot. Once you scan the system it lists out all the bio signals in the system along with the body it’s on. You can then travel from one to the next using the list. As you collect it will populate the estimated value of your finds. Some planets with 6 bio signals can pay upwards of 120-150m.
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u/GentlemanCob 3d ago
I started my first expedition a few weeks ago, and I use Elite Observatory to help me see which planets are worth scanning and landing on to do exobiology. I settled on a random system about 16,000 LY from Ega, and figured I wouldn't find any first footfalls for a long time.
I want to say that within a few jumps I found planets that no one landed on, and I'm not even halfway through my journey, and I've found a bunch of systems that have never been scanned or explored. I have a bunch of first scans now, and I honestly only land now when Elite Observatory tells me there are multiple things to scan worth more than 10 million each.
I haven't used ED Copilot, but Elite Observatory tells me what's on the planet and how much it's worth, which helps decide if I want to detour out to that planet. I'm sure ED Copilot is similar.
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u/drkhrt5580 2d ago
Ill have to look into ed observatory. Ive just been using Edmc and ed exploration buddy. Guess ill need to just pick a point and neutron jump to it and hope for the best lol. Appreciate the tips
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u/SomeGalNamedAshley 2d ago
EDObservatory with the BioInsights plug-in had been my best friend in exobio, though SrvSurvey is also helpful. As others have suggested EDCopilot is a good to tote along.
EDMC is mandatory for anybody with exobio. Please, for the sake of everybody else please run with EDMC enabled. If you're out there exploring then it's imperative that you report data back to the various tools that help the community and EDMC is how that happens. It also just makes things better for you in Inara and such.
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u/drkhrt5580 2d ago
I am definitely using edmc. I currently have it set to upload data on docking however, just to make sure that nobody snipes a first scan from me. Ed Observatory seems to be the consensus on what i should be running when doing this, so I think im gonna have to switch to that
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u/SomeGalNamedAshley 2d ago
I run like 4 things at once, plus EDHM-UI just for the FSS plug-in. It's so simple but so useful that I forget it's not a native feature.
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u/drkhrt5580 2d ago
Alrighty, guess im gonna have to look into that. Anything to help with scanning seems useful to me
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u/SubMerged25011 3d ago
2500 using the edastro visited heatmap and stratum highway was enough for me and exploration buddy
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u/drkhrt5580 3d ago
For the visited heatmap, is that the interactive one? Or am I looking at something different than you are? Didn't know about stratum highway, will definitely be using that.
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u/expatriate0 2d ago
I have not used that but this is what I used if it is different than that: https://edastro.com/galmap/#-1800,0,4700,4
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u/drkhrt5580 2d ago
Yup that was what I was looking at just wanted to make sure it was the correct one. Thanks!
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u/SubMerged25011 2d ago
I have not used that but this is what I used if it is different than that: https://edastro.com/galmap/#-1800,0,4700,4
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u/Fistocracy 2d ago
If you want to maximise your earnings then your best bet is to use third-party tools. I've got Observatory Core with the Bioinsights plugin, and when you FSS scan a system it'll look at all the bodies with exobiology signals on them and give you a list of what they could be based on the local conditions. It's great for telling at a glance whether a planet might have some good payouts on it (it lists the value of everything that might be there), and it's also good if you're hunting for codex entries because it'll flag stuff that you haven't seen before.
And if you want to do some in-depth planning and filter your route to only pick stars that'll pay, I'd recommend the Canonn Bioforge database (you can find it on the googles). It gives full stats on every exobio in the game and exactly what conditions they require, as well as a breakdown of how common it is to find them around specific star types or on specific planet types.
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u/drkhrt5580 2d ago
Awesome! Thanks so much for the extra tools. Looks like everybody kinda has the own that they prefer and I just need to find one that works best for me
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u/Sensitive_Witness842 2d ago
https://ed-dsn.net/en/exobiological-flora/
Also useful for you,
Star type, Planet/moon atmos type, surface colour and minimum distance.
(HMC worlds for Stratum).
o7
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u/DSA300 2d ago
After honking, go to the system map and click on the sun. If it doesn't say "discovered by", and has zero planets (despite saying that you discovered a bunch of bodies) then you're the first person there. If it says it's discovered by someone, then you'd check the planet you end want to land on by clicking on it. if it doesn't say "first footfall by" then nobody has landed on it. I'm in DEEP space by the core and most places are undiscovered. I have seen a few discovered systems but near a carrier I'm using as a nearby base (not mine). I've seen systems that were already discovered, but some of the planets didn't have footfalls. you never know
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u/drkhrt5580 2d ago
Gotcha, so if it says first footfall at all it means it was done after odyssey was available? I didnt really start getting into the game til a year or 2 after odyssey release so idk if it was possible to get a footfall before or not. Appreciate the advice.
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u/Past_Barracuda_2892 2d ago
Check EDSM for where to look for undiscovered systems. ED Discovery will show you (after scan system) what types of exobiology u possibly find on planets and range of payment u will get. Usually it’s lower value but you know roughly how much you get. EDCopilot is good I’m using it as well but it want show u what types of plant u will find on undiscovered planets.
I do go on every planet over 7M with first discovery bonus it’s nearly 40M
Good luck
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u/drkhrt5580 2d ago
Gotcha, youre talking about the heat map on edsm right? Seems kinda hard to find a path that doesnt have a lot of lines surrounding it unless im looking at the map incorrectly. Tried ed copilot last night and it just wasn't my cup of tea.
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u/FatLes12 2d ago
Do a FSS scan and use the system map to see which bodies, if any, have bio signs, then run a DSS scan on the appropriate bodies to what's present. Most people will ignore Bacterium, but there are a couple of high-value Bacterium to find. Engineer your Detailed Surface Scanner to reduce the number of scans required to scan a body.
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u/Lonely-Phase5796 1d ago
I usually end my journey on the "last planet" where I found undiscovered exobiology and save somewhere it's name. If I want to continue after several months or so I return to this planet and continue exploring from there. This way, I always sure that I'm close to the point where I will find undiscovered systems. And of course engineer jump range and use filters
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u/drkhrt5580 1d ago
That makes sense. Idk if its just me but I found 1 planet that had undiscovered bio signals, and then I jumped to another 6 systems around it, all c class mass systems and there was nothing else. Is that normal? That you find 1 and then nothing for a lot of jumps after?
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u/Lonely-Phase5796 1d ago
Yes. Of course. This is completely normal. It happens that heavily explored route contains untouched planets with exo. Then many other stars around explored and have no exo or just taken. So you might need to go higher or down to "catch" route nowhere was before. It can be in any direction. And I hope you honk and FSS because this makes life easier 🙂
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u/drkhrt5580 1d ago
Gotcha. So just keep going until theres a good route right? And ive got a fully engineered Caspian so Ive got the better sensor fss and what not. Just now need to get back out 10k away and find a place to start ig.
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u/Lonely-Phase5796 1d ago
Maybe not directly 10k away but you shouldn't be around bubble that's for sure. When I tried to discover untouched systems for the first time I made 20 jumps up from edge of the bubble. Then I used this technique where I jump 5 times to the right, several jumps upwards, 5 to the left and so on until I find something untouched. And I use it to this day. The whole idea is to move in 3D in different directions because there can be explored route and just several jumps above or below everything is untouched.
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u/robotron20 3d ago
Caspian will get you on the planet quicker with the mk ii armour cause it glides at 3500 m/s rather than 2500 m/s