How do I scan enemy planets?

[Megatherion]

I have searched through these forums and googled it, but I can't find an answer to this. Is it possible to scan an enemies planet without entering a battle? I have the survey ship and precise location tech, moved the ship one hex away from the enemy planet, but still no info on fleet/planet... Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. On a side note, boy this particular forum is old, I guess this game is not very active any more.

[Anguille]

Hi,

Not sure if it's an error. Do you have the basis game or also Supernova? The addon makes the game much better.

Note that you'll get more feedback on ntronium's forum.

Cheers

[Iceman]

In the vanilla game, you have to orbit the colony in order to get intel on it. In Supernova, there are some new techs that allow you to use your colonies' scanners to scan other colonies from afar. Ships do not allow you to scan colonies from afar, they'll only detect fleets.

[Megatherion]

Thank you Iceman, I thought a survey ship would be able to scan planets, guess not.

[Iceman]

Survey ships and scouts do survey planets, but from orbit. They'll detect the system specials if any - which other ships don't. In Supernova, of course, as in Armada there's no system specials.

[Megatherion]

Poor wording on my part, I meant I thought survey ships would be able to scan planets from a distance and not have to go into orbit and get into a battle.

[Anguille]

ORIGINAL: Megatherion

Poor wording on my part, I meant I thought survey ships would be able to scan planets from a distance and not have to go into orbit and get into a battle.

I agree with you that it's something that should have been possible. Iceman knows the game inside out.

You have 2 other ways to gather intelligence on planets:

- Install a trade post
- Land a commando who will gather intelligence.

You can also visit the ntronium forum where there's more people.

Cheers

[Iceman]

The Survey Ship's only advantage is the extended scan range.
Giving it the ability to get intel on colonies would have been too much IMO, especially coupled with the tech that allows movement to empty sectors. The defender just wouldn't be able to defend against such probing actions.