Astrophysics

The AstroTerminal allows the user to search for and analyze planets.

Scanning for Planets

When not in orbit around a planet, you can search for new planets to explore.

Scanning costs 3 AP and has an 80% chance of success. If you have the Astrophysicist skill, you will save 1 . If your ship has the CPU Overclocking NERON project built, you will save 1 additional . These ap saving items do stack with each other.

If the Planet Scanner in the engine room is broken the chances of successfully finding a planet will decrease to 50%.

Analyzing Planets

For 1 Template:It IT point or 2 AP, you can reveal one zone on the planet. You can reveal one additional zone if the BIOS priority is set to Astrophysics, 1 additional zone if you have the Astrophysicist skill and one additional zone if your ship has the Quantum Sensors NERON Project built. All of these bonuses do stack with each other.

Additionally, if you have the Magellan Liquid Map aftifact in the shelf at the bridge while scanning, you will reveal 1 to 2 zones upon initial discovery of the planet.

You will save 1 if you are already in orbit and scanning to discover zones that still aren't uncovered.

Empty Space

When the Daedalus is not in orbit around a planet, it is considered in "Empty Space".

While in empty space, everyone is able to scan for new planets and the AstroTerminal will keep records for up to two planets per crew member. These results are private and cannot be shared with others to verify results or to help with the scanning.

If you want to delete a scan from your workspace, you can click the icon to permanently delete this planet. You will not be able to visit this planet once it has been deleted.

Attributes

Every planet has the following attributes:

• Direction: Determines the direction that the commander will need to point the Daedalus.
• Distance: Determines how many fuel are required to get to the planet. Ranges from 2 2 to 9.
• Size: How many zones to explore. Ranges from 1 to 20.
• Name and Appearance: Random and purely decorative.

Travel

To travel to the planet, you will need to make sure that you have the exact amount of fuel loaded that is required, as determined by the planet scan. Over or under loading fuel will mean that you miss the planet and you will need to start the scanning process from scratch.

Once you move the Daedalus, all previous scan results are lost (with the exception of the planet you are moving to, if you're moving into orbit).

When the ship starts moving to or from a planet, the AstroTerminal behaves as if it were already the end of the journey. For instance, if you're moving to a planet, even though you're not there yet, everyone will see the planet scan results and be able to uncover any zones that might still be covered. If you're moving out of orbit and back into empty space, you can start scanning for new planets as soon as the ship starts moving out of orbit.

General Tips

• Scan only with full/almost full AP since it is an AP intensive activity and incomplete scans may go to waste. If you will be consuming anything to scan (coffee, fruit, food, etc), even though it can use up some mp/ap it is not a bad idea to go to the lab to use the apron to eat or borrow it to use at the bridge. If you get dirty and have to shower before continuing that negates your AP gain.

• First look for a planet. If it has 6 or more zones, proceed. If fewer, delete it. Generally a very small planet has low chance of having what your ship needs but in times of desperation this rule can be flexible. Conversely an extremely huge planet may not be worth proceeding to analyze if you need to get to a planet quickly and you don't have enough AP to analyze such a large planet.

• Another factor in analyzing a planet may be the amount of fuel needed to get there. If your ship is very low fuel you may want to hold off on analyzing a planet that takes 5 or 6 fuel to get to and see if you can find a closer planet instead.

• Once you have a suitable planet to analyze, start advanced analysis only if you have enough AP to uncover all the zones. If you don't have enough AP, see if you can acquire food or a mission. If you can't, generally it's better to wait until you regenerate enough AP to carry out the full analysis before beginning. Since it is usually not a good idea to move to a planet until a full analysis has been made, forging ahead to see what just a few zones from a planet contains is rarely helpful. It could end up being a waste of AP if you end up in a desperate situation and need to move ship to escape hunters/asteroids. Or, if your ship is in urgent need of finding a planet to explore, someone else might start scanning and find a suitable planet before you finish yours, rendering all your AP used a waste.

• At any point if your analysis shows mankarog, volcanoes, or seismic activity, stop. Delete that planet and do not spend more AP on it. These planets are generally considered too risky to explore due to chances of instant death. However if your ship is desperate for certain resources such as oyxgen, you might consider going to a dangerous planet.

• Once you have completely analyzed a planet, post for everybody to see the direction, fuel needed, and a list of every zone so that the exploration group can be fully prepared.

Note about scans Only you can see the results of your planet. Once the ship moves, all scans you have on the terminal will be deleted except that of the planet the ship has moved to. For this reason it's a good idea to coordinate with your shipmates to only have one analysis going at a time. If more than one person scans at the same time then one person's AP will likely be just wasted. This is another reason why it's a good idea to only analyze if you have enough AP to uncover the whole planet, you won't overlap with someone else if you can post your results right away for people to know whether to go to your planet or to start scanning for something else.