Planetary Interaction: Difference between revisions

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== Scanning and Surveying ==

These two are distinct - "Scanning" in the PI context refers to scanning a planet for a specific raw material, bringing up a heat map showing geographic ~~abundancy~~. Surveying is done from a placed Extractor and will show you what deposits are available to extract at that spot.

These two are distinct - "Scanning" in the PI context refers to scanning a planet for a specific raw material, bringing up a heat map showing geographic abundance. Surveying is done from a placed Extractor and will show you what deposits are available to extract at that spot.

=== Planet Scanning ===

[[File:PI-~~UnalteredHeatMap~~.jpg|right|~~Heat Map~~]]After you've familiarized yourself a bit with planets and resources, you'll probably want to extract one from the other. Finding a planet that is simply abundant in a resource you want is only the first step. Now you need to find out where on the planet you'll want to place your stuff. To get started, get yourself into Planet Mode and make sure you're on the "Scan" tab. You should see the five available resources, a "NO FILTER" bar, and a colorful "heat" bar.~~<br style="clear: both" />~~

[[File:PI-AlteredHeatMap.jpg|right|Contrast Bar]]After you've familiarized yourself a bit with planets and resources, you'll probably want to extract one from the other. Finding a planet that is simply abundant in a resource you want is only the first step. Now you need to find out where on the planet you'll want to place your stuff. To get started, get yourself into Planet Mode and make sure you're on the "Scan" tab. You should see the five available resources, a "NO FILTER" bar, and a colorful "heat" bar. Click any one resource and you'll get a heat map showing where on the planet that resource is abundant.

~~[[File:PI-AlteredHeatMap.jpg|right|Contrast Bar]]Click any one resource and you'll get a heat map showing where on the planet that resource is abundant.~~ The colored bar will allow you to modify the contrast of the heat map - as very rich or very poor resources may completely white out or appear invisible if your contrast is off. There are two triangles on the contrast bar. The left one will set the minimum resource abundance you want on the map (if you move it right poorer areas will disappear), and the right one will determine how rich a resource have to be to show as white (if you move it left poorer resources will show more distinctly). Ideally you'll want a balance where you can clearly see where the richer parts of the planet are.~~<br style="clear: both" />~~

The colored bar will allow you to modify the contrast of the heat map - as very rich or very poor resources may completely white out or appear invisible if your contrast is off. There are two triangles on the contrast bar. The left one will set the minimum resource abundance you want on the map (if you move it right poorer areas will disappear), and the right one will determine how rich a resource have to be to show as white (if you move it left poorer resources will show more distinctly). Ideally you'll want a balance where you can clearly see where the richer parts of the planet are.

~~[[File:PI-PlacingExtractorOnHotspot.jpg|right|Place a structure]]~~You can leave a resource highlighted as you shift to the "Build" tab so you can more easily place an extractor on a rich spot. To remove the heat overlay click the "NO FILTER" bar.<br style="clear: both" />

You can leave a resource highlighted as you shift to the "Build" tab so you can more easily place an extractor on a rich spot. To remove the heat overlay click the "NO FILTER" bar.<br style="clear: both" />

=== Deposit Surveying ===

''~~TODO~~'' - should ~~all survey info go here~~ and ~~none go under~~ Extractors on ~~the building page? Probably~~

[[File:Surveying.png|left|Surveying window]]Surveying is done ''after'' you've placed an Extractor, but is kept here with Scanning since they're similar concepts. Surveying relates to the availability of a single resource in a single spot, right under an existing Extractor. To perform a survey simply select an Extractor and click the left-most button, highlighted in this screenshot.

If any extractable material is present (it is possible to place extractors where there is nothing to extract) you should be presented with four "Deposits" - each of a varying total amount, cycle time, per-cycle yield, and total lifespan. If you have ample time to check on your Extractors often you can get a higher yield over shorter periods. If you do not want to check very often you can instead select long-term deposits so you won't need to babysit your extractors.

After you select a deposit of your choice be sure to hit the "Install" button (and you may want to route the output right away too, more on that later)

== Planetary Buildings ==

@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 == Scanning and Surveying ==
-These two are distinct - "Scanning" in the PI context refers to scanning a planet for a specific raw material, bringing up a heat map showing geographic abundancy. Surveying is done from a placed Extractor and will show you what deposits are available to extract at that spot.
+These two are distinct - "Scanning" in the PI context refers to scanning a planet for a specific raw material, bringing up a heat map showing geographic abundance. Surveying is done from a placed Extractor and will show you what deposits are available to extract at that spot.
 === Planet Scanning ===
-[[File:PI-UnalteredHeatMap.jpg|right|Heat Map]]After you've familiarized yourself a bit with planets and resources, you'll probably want to extract one from the other. Finding a planet that is simply abundant in a resource you want is only the first step. Now you need to find out where on the planet you'll want to place your stuff. To get started, get yourself into Planet Mode and make sure you're on the "Scan" tab. You should see the five available resources, a "NO FILTER" bar, and a colorful "heat" bar.<br style="clear: both" />
+[[File:PI-AlteredHeatMap.jpg|right|Contrast Bar]]After you've familiarized yourself a bit with planets and resources, you'll probably want to extract one from the other. Finding a planet that is simply abundant in a resource you want is only the first step. Now you need to find out where on the planet you'll want to place your stuff. To get started, get yourself into Planet Mode and make sure you're on the "Scan" tab. You should see the five available resources, a "NO FILTER" bar, and a colorful "heat" bar. Click any one resource and you'll get a heat map showing where on the planet that resource is abundant.
-[[File:PI-AlteredHeatMap.jpg|right|Contrast Bar]]Click any one resource and you'll get a heat map showing where on the planet that resource is abundant. The colored bar will allow you to modify the contrast of the heat map - as very rich or very poor resources may completely white out or appear invisible if your contrast is off. There are two triangles on the contrast bar. The left one will set the minimum resource abundance you want on the map (if you move it right poorer areas will disappear), and the right one will determine how rich a resource have to be to show as white (if you move it left poorer resources will show more distinctly). Ideally you'll want a balance where you can clearly see where the richer parts of the planet are.<br style="clear: both" />
+The colored bar will allow you to modify the contrast of the heat map - as very rich or very poor resources may completely white out or appear invisible if your contrast is off. There are two triangles on the contrast bar. The left one will set the minimum resource abundance you want on the map (if you move it right poorer areas will disappear), and the right one will determine how rich a resource have to be to show as white (if you move it left poorer resources will show more distinctly). Ideally you'll want a balance where you can clearly see where the richer parts of the planet are.
-[[File:PI-PlacingExtractorOnHotspot.jpg|right|Place a structure]]You can leave a resource highlighted as you shift to the "Build" tab so you can more easily place an extractor on a rich spot. To remove the heat overlay click the "NO FILTER" bar.<br style="clear: both" />
+You can leave a resource highlighted as you shift to the "Build" tab so you can more easily place an extractor on a rich spot. To remove the heat overlay click the "NO FILTER" bar.<br style="clear: both" />
 === Deposit Surveying ===
-''TODO'' - should all survey info go here and none go under Extractors on the building page? Probably
+[[File:Surveying.png|left|Surveying window]]Surveying is done ''after'' you've placed an Extractor, but is kept here with Scanning since they're similar concepts. Surveying relates to the availability of a single resource in a single spot, right under an existing Extractor. To perform a survey simply select an Extractor and click the left-most button, highlighted in this screenshot.
+If any extractable material is present (it is possible to place extractors where there is nothing to extract) you should be presented with four "Deposits" - each of a varying total amount, cycle time, per-cycle yield, and total lifespan. If you have ample time to check on your Extractors often you can get a higher yield over shorter periods. If you do not want to check very often you can instead select long-term deposits so you won't need to babysit your extractors.
+After you select a deposit of your choice be sure to hit the "Install" button (and you may want to route the output right away too, more on that later)
 == Planetary Buildings ==