Build exploration data on a route by discovering systems, surveying bodies and mapping selected planets.
PC Live / Odyssey; console users remain on Legacy and lack current Live content
WHERE & HOW TO FARM
Where to farm
Unexplored or partially explored systems along a route; sell at Universal Cartographics after returning to a station or suitable carrier.
Exploration data comes from scanning systems and bodies, with the Full Spectrum System Scanner revealing bodies and the Detailed Surface Scanner mapping selected planets. The practical farming loop is to scan on arrival, use the FSS to identify promising bodies, map targets that justify the probe effort, then sell accumulated data at Universal Cartographics. This is useful alongside exobiology because the same trip can reveal biological worlds. Values and discovery status depend on what has already been recorded; avoid assuming a particular credit amount or first-discovery outcome.
A ship with a Discovery Scanner, Full Spectrum System Scanner and Detailed Surface Scanner.
A route through systems you can safely visit and leave.
A station or carrier with Universal Cartographics for banking data.
Odyssey is required only if you also intend to collect exobiology on mapped bodies.
Enter a system and use the Discovery Scanner to reveal its system contents.
Open the Full Spectrum System Scanner and sweep the frequency range to locate bodies not already identified.
Review body types and biological signals, then select targets that suit your trip.
For a chosen planet, use the Detailed Surface Scanner probes to map its surface.
Check the system map for the resulting body information and any surface regions relevant to landing.
Continue scanning systems while keeping track of unsold data and travel risk.
Dock at a station or carrier that offers Universal Cartographics and sell the accumulated exploration data.
Farming tips
Map selectively when a body is worth the probe time or supports another goal such as exobiology.
Bank data before hazardous travel; death before sale can remove unsold exploration and biology data.
Repeat, collect and use
Repeat in each system on an exploration trip. Scanning a body already fully recorded may not provide the same discovery value; this is a continuing route activity rather than a repeatable payout from one body.
Common mistakes
Using only the Discovery Scanner and expecting it to identify every body; use the FSS to resolve the system.
Mapping every planet without considering the route; prioritize relevant bodies to keep the trip practical.
Carrying valuable unsold data through avoidable danger; sell at Universal Cartographics when convenient.
When to stop or switch
Stop the current run when you have enough data to justify returning to a cartographics service, or switch to a new system if the current one has no useful unresolved targets.
