Ok, how exactly does scanning work?

Currently I have 5 Multiwave Sensor - Mark IIIs & the AI supercomputer installed on my ship. My scan total says it's 506.

When I 1st went to scan for planets my scan % was 43%. Now with all the same equipment still in place, it's only 20%. It has steadily dropped each time I've gone to scan.

Also, I'm not really finding any really good planets. What should my Scan total be to find anything decent? Why does my % keep dropping?

Thanks for the help!

The more planets you have, the harder it is to find new ones. You need to research better scanners, use buffs to increase your scans, use artifacts to remove planets from your list, etc.

Wait, the more planets I OWN or the more planets I've found?

This system is horrible if it's total planets found. People who keep finding enemy planets or really bad planets are basically screwed if they can't find a way to remove them from their list.

More planets you've FOUND!

And that is part of the game. I have found 129 planets. Thanks for star chart purgers, I am down to 122. Most of what I haven't colonized (29) are pretty crappy. That is part of the game.

If planets werent counted because someone else owns it, or it isnt good then there wouldnt be any reason to research scanning after a point. Its meant to be ridiculous.

From what I can tell the ideology behind it is "% of total energy used= amount of planets", at higher ranks planets are much harder to find due to limits in scanning research improvements but taking into account how much more energy you have to use you can still find the same number of planets. i.e. at rank 100 50% of your energy gets you 30 planets with %s from 60-25, at rank 150 50% of your energy gets you 30 planets with %s of 25-10. the amount found is still the sameish due to an increase in how many times you can scan.

There's also artifacts that increase scanning, these are invaluable. Likewise there's star chart purgers and the most valuable at higher levels is the one that automatically finds an uncolonized planet.

Theres also one that increases scanning by 10%, godly at higher amounts.

Tachyon Cylinder +50 Scan
Subspace Seeker +150 Scan
Sha'din Supercomputer +25 Scan
Prejor Beacon Sensor +40 Scan
Stryll Hunt Sensor +50 Scan (x2 max)
AI Supercomputer +5 Scan
Tachyon Router + 25 Scan
Flux Ringdisc + 30 Scan

Stryll Seeker +10% Scan
Protogrid Access Console +20% Scan

The protogrid only only last 5 min. so when you use it scan fast!!