Probing Tutorial

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=='''SUMMARY'''==
 
=='''SUMMARY'''==
  
That's it! You now have the basics to do planet scanning. There are other tools and skills available to increase your efficiency, but those you can learn yourself (unless I create an advanced probing wiki page).
+
That's it! You now have the basics to do planet scanning. There are other tools and skills available to increase your efficiency, but those you can learn yourself (unless I create an advanced probing wiki page). See [[Planet Evaluation for Colonization]] for more details on how to choose a decent planet for colonization.
  
If you have any questions or concerns about the information on this page, I can be contacted in-game, either IdeoPraxist or Prolapser. The Ascent community is very helpful, so don't be afraid to ask lots of questions.
+
If you have any questions or concerns about the information on this page, I am IdeoPraxist (in-game) or Prolapser (in-game or through [http://steamcommunity.com/id/Prolapser Steam]). The Ascent community is very helpful, so don't be afraid to ask lots of questions.
  
 
See you in space.
 
See you in space.

Revision as of 14:05, 27 July 2014

This probing tutorial will demonstrate the tools to scan and probe Rocky Planet (5) in the MrSnuffleupagus-2 star system.

Before you head out, make sure your ship has the proper Hyperdrive, and that you can carry in your cargo hold Core Sampling Probes (CSP) and Hydrogen. The Hyperdrive and the CSP's can be manufactured from your Space Station or purchased from the Galactic Market. Hydrogen can be gathered from gas planets or purchased from the Galactic Market.

If you are trying probing for the first time, I recommend you train using the Jam-1 system (discovered through the storyline) on one of the rocky planets. Use a Falcon with a Class 5 Hyperdrive, which takes 21 Hydrogen to jump from Vulcan to Jam-1. You do not need to take more Hydrogen if you use the Emergency Warp from the map (M key) to return back home. To be safe, carry 46 Hydrogen and as many probes you can carry. Read Deep Six for instructions on how to find Jam-1.

I am using a Rhino (Class 8 ship) equipped with a Class 8 Hyperdrive, Class 5 Ram Scoop, Class 1 Armor Panels (increases cargo room) and a Class 9 Capacitor (I warp a lot in star systems). The Rhino is a great deep-space exploration ship which can hold lots of probes and Hydrogen (1,039 cargo with my build). The Ram Scoop is used to collect more Hydrogen from distant gas giants.


Contents

THE SHIP COMPUTER

The Ship Computer is equipped on all ships and is needed for all scanning and probing. The computer responds to specific text input, so spaces, capitalization or non-capitalization of letters is important.


To access your computer, click the Manage button at the bottom of your user interface. A Ship Management window will appear. Click the Computer button. You can close the computer screen using the same procedure. An easier method is to use Ctrl-C on your keyboard.

Accessing the computer


This is Crazy Dave 6000. He is the talking computer that gives you voice guidance, compliments and insults. When he is not talking, he gives you valuable information in the form of text output. To get started, type a question mark (?) in the horizontal bar at the bottom of the computer window, then hit your return key. Dave will give you a list of high-level commands you can use with the computer. We will be using the 'show' command from the list.

Help Command: '?'


Now type in the command: show ?

These are the options you can use with the Show command.

Help Command: '?' and 'show ?'

LANDING ON A PLANET

From Vulcan, you can Hyperdrive directly to MrSnuffleupagus-2. For a Rhino, 51 Hydrogen is needed to make the jump.

Ship Landing Information


Once you Hyperdrive to MrSnuffleupagus-2, open your Autopilot menu and select Rocky Planet (5) View Range.

Jam-1 Rocky Planet (3) selection


When you finish warp, let your capacitor recharge, then warp to the planet. Sometimes, if you warp directly to a planet from a distant point, you end up inside the planet (not good).


Now fly towards the planet. Watch the bottom right of your screen as more information will appear which will help you land safely on the planet. Radar Altimeter is the immediate distance you are from the ground. Altitude is either the distance you are from sea level (if a sea exists on that planet) or the average height of the terrain (if an atmosphere exists). Landing can be difficult on some planets, so make sure your gravity anchor is off when you are touching the surface and your velocity is 0 m/s. You will know you landed properly when an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) button appears at the bottom of your screen. EVA allows you to exit and enter your space ship. Outside your ship, the Soil Sample button will appear.

Ship Landing Information


Don't worry about the planet. You are protected from all atmospheric and geological death with the latest space suit technology.

Prolapser in a space suit

COLLECTING GENERAL DATA

Now that you're standing on the planet, Dave 6000 can give you information.

Press the Soil Sample button. When you see this message, you have a MrSnuffleupagus2 Rocky Planet (5) soil sample in your possession.

You obtain a soil sample


Time to use your mining beam (mb.). Open the computer window (Ctrl-C) and type in the command: show mb.samples

The sample MrSnuffleupagus2 Rocky Planet (5) should be in that list. As you can see in the image below, I have a few samples from different star systems and planets. For this tutorial, we will analyse MrSnuffleupagus2 Rocky Planet (5) by typing in the command: show mb.analyse MrSnuffleupagus2 Rocky Planet (5)


Listing and analyzing soil samples


Already, you have lots of great information. Let us look at the first part.

Abbreviation
Name
Type
al
Aluminium
Mineral
si
Silicon
Mineral
geo
Geology
Concentration
c
Carbon
Mineral
fe
Iron
Mineral
ti
Titanium
Mineral

I am sure you are familiar with the mineral elements Aluminium, Silicon, Carbon, Iron and Titanium.

The Geology (Geo) of the planet signifies the concentrations of the different minerals. A Geo score of 1 (the lowest score) means the minerals are distributed evenly throughout the planet, which is undesirable if you want specific mineral concentrations. A Geo score of 5 (the highest score) means that minerals are concentrated in pockets. You can see these pockets once you use CSP's to scan a planet.


If you add up all the mineral data, the result should equal to 1. To make it easier to understand, convert all the numbers to percentages. In my scan, the data looks like this:

Abbreviation
Name
Result
Rounded Percentage
al
Aluminium
0.2516339869281
25.16%
si
Silicon
0.15032679738562
15.03%
c
Carbon
0.13398692810458
13.40%
fe
Iron
0.30392156862745
30.39%
ti
Titanium
0.16013071895425
16.01%

For mineral distribution, this planet is pretty good. The geo rating of 4 should show us decent pockets of each different mineral. Even if this planet had a geo rating of 1, there could be enough even distribution for colonies to harvest all the minerals.


The Agricultural Analysis shows us the capability to grow food on the surface of the planet. Each food type has three possible ability levels to grow. The worst type is Toxic, which means there is no chance to grow that type of food. In the middle, the Poor score indicates that the food type can be grown, but the yield is not great. Fertile is the best score and this means that a specific food type can be grown all over the planet. From our scan, we can grow fruit (Fertile) and some animals (Poor) on the surface of MrSnuffleupagus2 Rocky Planet (5).


From that one soil sample, we have the mineral and vegetable distribution of the entire planet, so there is no need to gather more samples.


Decision time!

The purpose of probing planets is to determine if a player wants to colonize. Most planets and moons are terrible for colonization, so at this point you may want to move on and find something else to scan (see Planet Evaluation for Colonization). Since this planet has lots of potential, this tutorial will continue.

COLLECTING ATMOSPHERIC DATA

Let us gather more data. Type in the following commands into the computer:

show gg.g

show rs.pressure

show rs.temperaturec

show rs.temperaturek

show rs.composition


Commands

The gg. in a command means Gravity Generator. The rs. in the command means the Ram Scoop is used from your ship to collect information. Any level of Ram Scoop can be used since they all collect the same information. Let us discuss each command.


show gg.g

This measurement gives the Gravity. Ideally, 1.0 is perfect for humans (Earth gravity). Anything less and we will feel light and floating (0.5) to vomiting (0.1) since our bodies are not use to low gravity without training. The human body can withstand up to three times (3.0) gravity. Gravity higher than 3.0 and you cannot maintain sufficient blood-flow to the brain [1]. Rocky Planet (5) has 1.356479 gravity, so your bathroom scale and ego will suffer a 35.6% weight gain on this planet.


show rs.pressure

This measures the atmospheric pressure of the gasses surrounding the planet. Ideally, the best score is 1.0 (comfortable Earth pressure), which means a human can walk on the surface of the planet without being crushed or disembowelled by the atmosphere. If the score is 0, then there is no atmosphere, so you can't get a temperature or composition reading. A reading higher that 1.0 would feel like the planet is hugging you tight and a much higher reading would indicate the atmosphere will squeeze you into a puddle of bones and flesh. Rocky Planet (5) has a reading of 0.49, so breathing becomes very difficult [2]. Approaching 0, your body will expand and probably pop open due to less atmospheric resistance (we need pressure in our lives).


show rs.temperaturec

This measures the temperature in degrees Celsius (°C). An ideal range would be between -40°C to +40°C (like living between Northern Canada and Kenya). Rocky Planet (5) is -63.08 °C is pretty cold and only tolerable by the hardiest humans.


show rs.temperaturek

For those that want to use a scientific measurement, this command gives you the temperature in degrees Kelvin (°K). Essentially, all you do is add 273.15 to the Celsius measurement.


show rs.composition

This measures the types of gasses in the atmosphere or the composition of a body of liquid. Here they are:

Abbreviation
Name
H2O
Water
CH4
Methane
NH3
Ammonia
N
Nitrogen
O2
Oxygen
CO2
Carbon Dioxide


If you add up all the data, the result should equal to 1. To make it easier to understand, convert all the numbers to percentages. In my scan, the data looks like this:

Abbreviation
Name
Result
Rounded Percentage
H2O
Water
0
0%
CH4
Methane
0.4104804
41.05%
NH3
Ammonia
0
0%
N
Nitrogen
0.1426492
14.26%
O
Oxygen
0
0%
CO2
Carbon Dioxide
0.4468705
44.69%

The first thing you look at is the Oxygen (0%) and Nitrogen (14.26%). Humans need at least 21% Oxygen to survive and Nitrogen is a safe breathable "filler" gas (Nitrogen doesn't harm or help us except to fill up the atmosphere). On Earth, Nitrogen takes up 78% and Argon takes up about 1% [3]. One exception is increased atmospheric pressure can cause Nitrogen Narcosis[4].

These results pretty much means instant death with additional assistance from the high percentage of Methane (41.05%) and Carbon Dioxide (44.69%). Humans can tolerate about 0.004% Ammonia [5], so a reading of 0% is great.

In conclusion, Rocky Planet (5) hates humans. That's fine, colony domes will shelter us from the harsh atmosphere.

PREPARING PROBES TO COLLECT DETAILED MINERAL AND FOOD DATA

This is where you use your CSP's. Let us drop one onto the planet using the command: ch eject 1 core sampling probe

Eject one probe


I did some other things and waited for 10 minutes. Then I took a look at the status of my probes using the command: show mb.samplemaps

Samplemaps after 10 minutes


Time for some mathematics. The reason I waited for 10 minutes is to calculate the scan percentage per day.

(1440 minutes in one day) / (10 minutes of scan time) * 0.005202789% scan result = 0.749201616% scanning done per day


So, only 0.75% of the planet is scanned per day for one probe. To complete the scan:

(100% scan / 0.75% scan per day) = 133.33 days to scan the entire planet.


Let us speed this up by ejecting more probes so the scan only takes two days:

133.33 days / 2 days = 66.67 probes


So, it will probably take about 67 probes to scan the entire planet in two days (rough estimate). Since I already have one probe on the planet, I will eject 66 probes:

Eject sixty-six probe


You can eject as many probes as you want to increase the scan rate or you can go do other things. At any time, you can access your computer and look at the status of your probes. I took another reading later that day.

Samplemaps after some time

COLLECTING DATA FROM LIQUIDS

Rocky Planet (5) has liquid on the surface! To measure the composition of the liquid on Rocky Planet (5), I took my ship for a bath and used the show rs.composition command in the fluid.

Measurement in a fluid


The liquid is water (H20) and Ammonia (NH3). This measurement does not provide a percentage, just an indication of what is present. Notice at the bottom right of the image is my depth under the fluid (30.0 meters deep).


Now I will surface and use the show rs.composition command again.

Measurement out of fluid

Look familiar? The results are the same atmospheric readings we previously reviewed.


ANALYSING PROBE DATA

Before we begin the next section, I should warn you that the next part of planet analysis can be painfully tedious if you are looking to build a colony at this location. Also, if you are color blind or have trouble differentiating between shaded colors, the overlay map will seem confusing.


After two days, my scan of Rocky Planet (5) in the MrSnuffleupagus-2 star system is almost ready.

Rocky Planet (5) at 99.96%


Let us verify that that the scan is done with another show mb.samplemaps

Rocky Planet (5) at 100%


Now the show begins. The probes have provided a map of the elements scattered around the planet. To make the next command work, you need to be near the planet (View Range is fine). Enter the command: show mb.samplemapoverlay

Rocky Planet (5) at 67%


The computer is building the overlay map. Once the build is done, your view of the planet changes. Close the computer (Ctrl-C) to have a better view.

Rocky Planet (5) samplemapoverlay complete


What happened? Warp to the planet and find out.

Rocky Planet (5) samplemapoverlay - close to planet surface


The computer has divided the planet up into resource types. Rectangle sizes vary depending on planet or moon size. There are many shades of colors, each representing the quantity and type of resource in that specific rectangle. As you can see, the number of different colors is vast.


The next step involves looking at the resources in each different rectangle and determining resource distribution. Fly to the surface, hover between 1 and 5,000 meters above the surface and face your ship on a rectangle. Make sure your velocity is 0 m/s. Bring up the computer (Ctrl-C) and enter the command: show mb.coresample

Rocky Planet (5) core sample of green rectangle


A laser will shoot out and gather a core sample, then give you the results. Greenish rectangles usually supports abundant vegetation and minerals. The lighter/brighter the shade of color, the more resources.

Rocky Planet (5) core sample of bright green rectangle


Dark shades and greyish rectangles have very low to non-existent resources.

Rocky Planet (5) core sample of grey rectangle


Every other color rectangle mostly has minerals.

Rocky Planet (5) core sample of pink rectangle Rocky Planet (5) core sample of blue rectangle

SUMMARY

That's it! You now have the basics to do planet scanning. There are other tools and skills available to increase your efficiency, but those you can learn yourself (unless I create an advanced probing wiki page). See Planet Evaluation for Colonization for more details on how to choose a decent planet for colonization.

If you have any questions or concerns about the information on this page, I am IdeoPraxist (in-game) or Prolapser (in-game or through Steam). The Ascent community is very helpful, so don't be afraid to ask lots of questions.

See you in space.

Isn't he adorable


Continue to EVA


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