Planets and discoveries

Exploring is the foundation of Estelar Online. Every star, planet, moon, station and asteroid field can be scanned once per pilot, and the first time pays credits and experience. After the scan come the science readings, taken up close and on the surface, which complete each world’s record and move the game’s story, The Census, forward.

Scanning

Lock the body as your target ([T] or [Tab] by default, or click its marker).
Get close: warp ([G]) drops the ship at the right distance.
Press [F] and stay in range until the target’s scan bar fills.

Leaving range before it finishes interrupts the scan. Time and range improve with the Sensors attribute and with equipment (see Progression). Scanning a planet is what unlocks landing on it.

What each discovery pays

Body	Credits	Experience
Planet or moon	400 ¢	200
Inhabited planet (Earth)	750 ¢	375
Star	300 ¢	150
Station	250 ¢	125
Asteroid field	150 ¢	75
System (first visit, no scan)	100 ¢	40 + 25 × the system level

Docking at a station you haven’t scanned yet also counts as discovering it (250 ¢). Everything goes into the discovery log ([O] by default).

The world record

The RECORD ([Y] by default), in the THIS WORLD tab, shows what’s known about the planet or star around you: type, composition (iron, rocky, ice and water or gaseous, from its density), surface gravity, temperature, insolation, orbit, the landing site and the local sky. Each line says whether the data was measured (by NASA or by you), estimated (calculated by a model from other data) or not measured yet.

The record also gives a habitability score, using the first filter science uses: temperature in the liquid water range (240 to 320 K), a rocky-world radius and bearable gravity. The verdict goes from strong candidate to not viable. It’s no promise of life: it’s the same criterion astronomers use.

Science readings

Readings are the census evidence. Almost all of them use the measure key ([N] by default), which measures whatever can be measured from where you are. Each reading pays once per planet.

Reading	How to get it	Credits
Catalog record	Scan the planet	40 ¢
Orbital probe	With the planet scanned, within 3 radii of it, press measure	60 ¢
Soil sample	Landed, away from the pad, press measure	80 ¢
Atmospheric reading	Landed, during the day	80 ¢
Night sky	Landed, at night	100 ¢
Moon transit	Landed, with a moon above the horizon	120 ¢
Meteor count	Landed, during a meteor shower	150 ¢

There are also system readings: the star spectrum (scan the star, 60 ¢), field density (measure inside an asteroid field, 80 ¢) and the recovered record (destroy a pirate carrying stolen data, 120 ¢).

On the surface, the local day lasts 24 minutes, and meteor showers last 80 seconds and come back every 11 minutes at each site. The map’s EVENTS tab ([M]) tells you when the next one is. Surface readings only exist on planets with a landing site; on gas giants, only the flight ones.

The dossier

The record’s DOSSIER tab shows, world by world, which readings you already have and which are missing. Completing every possible reading on a planet earns an extra 400 ¢.

The Census: the story

After the training, the OBJECTIVE panel starts showing The Census. The client is the Stellar Survey Institute, headquartered at Sol Arena, and the job is to produce the first complete record of the neighboring stars. There are five chapters; your progress is in the record’s STORY tab.

Chapter	What it asks for	Payment
I · The immediate neighborhood	Go to the nearest system with a surface, record the star’s spectrum, scan the planet, collect soil, measure the atmosphere during the day and deliver the report at a station	900 ¢
II · What the sky tells	Record a night sky, a moon transit and a meteor shower, and deliver at a station	1,100 ¢
III · Where the resources are	Measure two asteroid fields and deliver ore at a station	1,300 ¢
IV · Who takes the data	Eliminate three pirates, recover a stolen record and play the Captain Hunt	1,600 ¢
V · The habitability report	Complete the record of three planets and deliver the census at Sol Arena	2,500 ¢

Each step is checked by the server. Finishing all five chapters gives you the Census Cartographer emblem, which shows next to your name.

First landing

Being the first human to set foot on a planet is a permanent milestone. It earns 500 ¢ and 300 experience, puts your name on the planet (the map shows “1st landing” and the name of who landed) and is announced to the whole universe. The stations’ HONOR tab has the board of pilots with the most first landings.

To land, the planet has to be scanned: press [L] and the ship warps to the site, approaches and lands on its own. See Surface.