Scanning for planets is a fundamental part of the game, however, parts of it are horrifically flawed.

1) Imbalance of resource:
It is generally accepted that artifact planets are the rarest, and so everybody is on the hunt for them. It's not that people are bad at looking, it's that the spawns for artifact are generally inferior to that of research and mining.

Let's take a look shall we?
Research:
VM/R gases, easy to obtain, easy to uplift. Generally a really useful planet. Comes under the "common" category. Very common.
Also, Icy, Desert, Metallics and Oceanics all occur naturally, normally with research as the highest resource.

Mining:
VM/ER Volcanics. Easy to find, can be demonized for additional effectiveness. Quite a good starter, and a staple for low ranks. Common.
VL/Any Toxics. Easy to find, easy to uplift. Have little market value due to this comparitively. Stupidly common.
Also, Metallics occur naturally up to VM/ER, often with mining as their primary resource.

Artifact:
VL/ER+ Terras. Rare, but the staple of artifact productions.
Deserts and Icies occasionally have good artifact productions, as can oceanics. The former two are generally crap, and they are all more often research.

2) Imbalance of seeds/rarity. Take your pick.

The seeds for many of the uncommon planets are horrific. They are normally worse than common planets, and are harder to find. That makes no sense. The exotic planets are even worse hit on this.

Toxic:
Only goes up to VL/VR. This is balanced by toxic purifiers, so they are okay, but are still outclassed naturally by the more common volcanic.

Icy:
Whilst the spawn goes up to VL/ER, these are generally small or below. Normally research, they're outclassed by any of the commons including some barren planets. (Around 75% are average size or below.)

Desert:
Suffering from the same curse as the Icy, these only go up to VL/VR, are normally research and have a pretty terrible time of it on the randomizer. Once again often outclassed by any of the common types, why are they rarer? (Again, around 75% are average or below.)

Exotic:
Extremely Rare... and they go down to Tiny/VA. Surely the bottom resource should be around UR and minimum size around large? These things are crazily rare, and can be crazily bad.

3) Scanning
I don't know about anyone else, but I find scanning takes too long. It also lacks any kind of strategy or customisation. Just click click click click click.

My suggestion:
Tiered scans and scanning locations.

Tiered Scans:
Light Scan:
This is the current scan. Will locate 1 planet, at a % chance for 5 energy.

Chain Scan:
For 50 energy, we can attempt to locate up to 10 planets at the normal chance.

Medium Scan:
For 15 energy, we can attempt to locate 2 planets at once, at an increased chance.

Medium Chain Scan:
For 75 energy, we can attempt to locate up to 10 planets at the normal chance.

Deep Scan:
For 30 energy, we can attempt to find 1 planet, at a doubled chance. Chance of circumventing cloak is also doubled (So 0% remains 0%).

Deep Chain Scan:
For 300 energy, we can attempt to scan 10 planets at a doubled chance.

Scanning Locations:
Scanning Locations are different "zones" you can scan. These would have different chances for different planet types.

Examples:
The Deadlands - Desert +10%, Barren +20%, Volcanic +10%. Icy -10%, Oceanic -10%, Terra -20%
The Cold Star - Icy +50%, Barren +10%, Oceanic -10%, Volcanic -20%, Desert -20%, Terra -10%
The Radiated Zone - Toxic +30%, Terra -30%.
The Temporate Star - Terra +20%, Volcanic -5%, Barren -5%, Icy -5%, Desert -5%
Now, before you all start going "But the server just plucks a random planet, how can you adjust the chances?"

Simple. The planets themselves are in the zones. So if you scanned a planet in the Deadlands, somebody will not find it if they're scanning the Cold Star - it isn't there.

Also, these areas would provide boosts to the planet.

As an example, in the Deadlands, it's obviously a harsh area, so all planets found there would have a passive attack, wheras the Temporate Star seems like a nice place to live, so you would get a production boost.

Thoughts, ideas, hookers, throw 'em my way.

I just skipped to the end...

Seems decent and fun.

Chain scans are pointless especially the medium one. Just saves clicks.

Only way the different occasions could work woukd be a major decease in chance to find any planet. Otherwise if just always use the terra one.

Overall not needed. Arti planets are the hardest to find and get because they are the best. Look at the evidence between talth chain and mylari and kronym

Also think you over estimate the rarity of arti planets, and also underestimate the production potential of smaller unguarded planets

no just no

the other scanning methods i dont mind so much

I like this idea, creative +1

But personally, i don't mind the click click .. part

I do like the scanning regions but i bet everyone is just gonna go for the temporate star region.

Anyways, in my experience, i have scanned 400 planets and i have found

Never found any :
- VL extremely rich Volcanics
- VL VR toxics

Found one or two :
VM ext rich metallics
VL ext rich Icy
VM R Gas

Those planets are quite rare, i have found about 30 terras though and two exotics.

+1

Why? As I say, chance of circumventing would be doubled.

As in, if the planet is too cloaked to detect (say, 20k cloak) it is still too cloaked to detect, but if it had, say, 5k cloak, versus 7k scan, normally you would have a 28.6% chance to scan it, but that chance would increase to 57.2%.


That was exactly the point of the chain scans.

RE: Scan zones. Everyone would go to the Temperate zone

thats exactly why

that gets around the restriction of the limited artis that only last 5 minutes.

Ah, you have a point there...