476
Scans Performed 6953

Scans performed is an almost useless stat. It's really easy to inflate that number by doing most of your scanning at poor to grey area instead of purging down to good. I met someone who would purge ten planets and scan until grey and repeat because it was 'lucky'

As for people who say scan until grey because that's best well I've seen a lot of nice planets scanned even dysons when it wasn't a very poor scan chance. It's all superstition like the people who swear bumping scan finds more troop carriers or people who say certain spots on bases only give stations. Might as well start lighting candles and throwing chicken bones on the floor.

agree with the comments on superstition, but disagree on the scans performed as useless.

more scanning attempts = more chances at planets = more chances at good planets.

yes, scanning at very poor will take a bit longer and burn up lots of energy ... but only doing 100 attempts per scan run is worse.

we brought up the issue about scanning until grey because the OP said that he DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY to even do so. scanning until grey was not the critical issue - it was that he needed to ensure that he had access to enough energy to make sizable scan runs, rather than petering out after a couple dozen hits.

i do believe tree was saying the stat was useless as the correlation between that stat and total planets found ever is very weak.
and sizable scan runs do not matter.(at least in terms of finding planets. if you have to buy and sell scanners then yes doing bigger runs would be beneficial in that way)
in the long run more scan doesnt = scanning more often or even finding more planets (disregarding being able to find cloaked planets) and in the same way the amount scanned at once has no bearing on what it is you find.
you could scan and purge 1 planet at a time at good rating, and you would really only be missing out on highest number of planets you could have scanned - current number. which after a while becomes a small percent.

i'm sure someone who understands sampling theory will correct me ... but here goes.

the OP had the best researched scan modules and enough decks to install all of them. the issue was a lack of energy. so here are two scenarios.

#1. 500 energy, 7000 scan
#2. 5000 energy, 7000 scan

scenario #1 can make 100 attempts at 5 energy per scan attempt before calling it a day. assuming they never reached very poor, say 40 of those attempts resulted in planets. (40% success overall)

scenario #2 can make 1000 attempts. they reach very poor at about 300 attempts and keep going all the way. they get about 75 planets before hitting very poor and another 25 planets after very poor. so, 100 planets (10% success overall)

both players have an equal chance of scanning crappy planets, but scenario #2 has generated 2.5x the sample size of the total population of 4.9 million planets than scenario #1. this should result in a better reflection of the total population within the sample size, increasing the chances of a worthwhile planet. so, i am not saying a longer scan run is inherently better, but if it results in more total planets scanned, then you have improved your odds of scanning a planet worth taking (RNG BE PRAISED !).

having the best scan modules without sufficient energy is just as much a handicap as not having as much AP to pull purgers on a regular basis ... so the OP has to work on both of those elements. however, the scanning bit is easier for the OP to address than the AP bit, unless the OP is willing to buy the AP planets from others.

im saying long scan runs do not result in more total.
the first player can repeat the small scan run after acquiring only 40 purgers.
in order to get to where the started the second player will have to wait 2.5x as long.

this is assuming that player 1 get energy to scan faster than purgers. (dont think it would be possible not to)

Spending more energy for poor scan successes is entirely up to you.
It's just an expense to have those scans today instead of having your next scan run just a bit sooner.

Just need people to start separating their superstitions when giving advice and stop making it look like fact.
Cough cough unrepentant cough.

Good luck storm.
My advice is npc to make planets. Or trade if you can.
Don't blow your limited energy trying to scan until grey.

Hahah. Let me quote exactly what I said for the reading impaired:



I wasn't giving superstition, I was giving my data based on my results. I never told him that scanning to the grey would certainly yield him a dyson. I never said, "say these magic words and you will get one." I said, having tried both routes alternatively and interchangeably, I finally chose to scan to the grey and I advise others to do the same. This is the same argument as small ship vs large ship. It is the same argument as slow ranking vs fast. Ultimately it comes down to playing style. The best part you said, and I am glad you mentioned it was this:



I completely agree. I decided it was more beneficial to me to burn my last 7 purgers today and go poor scan, than to use those same 7 and start rebuilding toward the next scan run. It is not a superstition, it is a valid game play decision; just like so many others.