Sensors, Exploration Scanners and Planetary Exploration?

[Novaliz]

Does someone knows the difference between Sensors, Exploration Scanners and Planetary Exploration scanners? Also the difference between exploring and surveying?

And maybe someone can tell me the difference between all the automations on surveyships?

1) Auto-Explore
2) Auto Scout Systems
3) Auto Spy

Thanks ahead!

[baldamundo]

Not entirely sure, but I think:

-survey scanner : for slow & detailed scanning of planets/asteroids for resources and ruins/artifacts/ships/events/etc

-exploration scanner : for quick and superficial scanning of planets/asteroids for resources and ruins/etc, but with a higher chance of missing some of them. in the automation settings you can adjust under what conditions they'll do a full scan.

-trace scanner : for scanning the internal components, cargo, and troops of ships very nearby (can be blocked with stealth + with trace jammers) (i think this is not very useful at present, except to check internal damage on enemy ships? maybe will be more useful e.g. when pirates are playable for raiding)

-short range scanner : for detecting ships & tracking their jumps in a short distance (within a system?) (also has limited trace scanner ability)

-long range scanner : for detecting ships & tracking their jumps at long range (also has limited trace scanner ability) (the best ones I've unlocked only really reach neighbouring systems)

And then trace jammers (which jam trace scanners), targeting computers (which give you a bonus to hit), countermeasures (which give you a bonus to dodge), and fleet countermeasures (bonus to dodge for the whole fleet) also use the scanner slot but don't function as scanners. And AFAIK none of them stack (which makes it a bit weird that the biggest ships have more scanner slots than there are types of scanners - seems pointless).

This is mostly just what I've gleaned from trawling through the components page of the in-game Galactopedia.

And I'm not sure about the survey ship automation. "Auto Spy" I assume hovers around enemy systems to get sensor coverage of them - although I think this only does anything if you're at war, since lategame I've got 100 idle survey ships after exploring everything, and they're just idling instead of spying.

My guess would be that "auto-explore" tries to survey all bodies in range, while "auto-scout" just visits new systems (you can't see any information about a system before having visited it once). But that's just a guess. I can't see any other reference in-game to "scouting", and "exploration" is used interchangeably for surveying planets and for visiting systems for the first time.

[Novaliz]

Not entirely sure, but I think:

-survey scanner : for slow & detailed scanning of planets/asteroids for resources and ruins/artifacts/ships/events/etc

-exploration scanner : for quick and superficial scanning of planets/asteroids for resources and ruins/etc, but with a higher chance of missing some of them. in the automation settings you can adjust under what conditions they'll do a full scan.

-trace scanner : for scanning the internal components, cargo, and troops of ships very nearby (can be blocked with stealth + with trace jammers) (i think this is not very useful at present, except to check internal damage on enemy ships? maybe will be more useful e.g. when pirates are playable for raiding)

-short range scanner : for detecting ships & tracking their jumps in a short distance (within a system?) (also has limited trace scanner ability)

-long range scanner : for detecting ships & tracking their jumps at long range (also has limited trace scanner ability) (the best ones I've unlocked only really reach neighbouring systems)

And then trace jammers (which jam trace scanners), targeting computers (which give you a bonus to hit), countermeasures (which give you a bonus to dodge), and fleet countermeasures (bonus to dodge for the whole fleet) also use the scanner slot but don't function as scanners. And AFAIK none of them stack (which makes it a bit weird that the biggest ships have more scanner slots than there are types of scanners - seems pointless).

This is mostly just what I've gleaned from trawling through the components page of the in-game Galactopedia.

And I'm not sure about the survey ship automation. "Auto Spy" I assume hovers around enemy systems to get sensor coverage of them - although I think this only does anything if you're at war, since lategame I've got 100 idle survey ships after exploring everything, and they're just idling instead of spying.

My guess would be that "auto-explore" tries to survey all bodies in range, while "auto-scout" just visits new systems (you can't see any information about a system before having visited it once). But that's just a guess. I can't see any other reference in-game to "scouting", and "exploration" is used interchangeably for surveying planets and for visiting systems for the first time.

Thank you very much. That helped a lot!