On the Ball: Scanning, for Fun and Profit

[JaredXE]

Yeah, I miss the Mako too. Drove like shit, but it was so much better than this crap.

Also, the planets don't make sense mineral-wise. Why the fuck is Platinum rarer than Palladium? Palladium is a radioactive isotope of Platinum and occurs much more rarely. And the Rich/Good/Mod/Poor/Depleted makes no sense because I can hit one good spot and drop a Rich planet to poor or even depleted, but a "Depleted" planet still has a few high spikes left. Well that's not very depleted, is it?

And can I PLEASE get paid for my discoveries? As it is, buying fuel and probes early on is a money waster that prevents me from buying gear upgrades. The economy isn't very nice to Shepard. You'd think TIM would pay me better.

 

[Abedeus]

That's why on my second play-through, I will either use a save game editor or a trainer. No way I am doing all those planets again.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

It's probably been said before, but it's not random.

Planets that used to have life on them have Element Zero. If you read the description of the planet you can almost always determine which type of mineral that planet has the most of. This information is in your codex, I believe.

The same goes for all the minerals. I think gas planets have more Palladium, rocky moons have more Platinum, etc. I can't recall all the details specifically, but if you read the planet description and the corresponding information about which planet types have which minerals, it makes the whole process much easier.

Also, the guide helps . Planetary database ftw!

Also, while the whole process is tedious and boring, if they bring back the Mako I will cry crocodile tears.

 

[MiodekPL]

I play on PC and never really complained about scanning - it took me a minute or two at max. Either way - after you completed the game once, you have 300k of all resources at start. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Virgil]

When you play through the game again you keep all your upgrades so you won't need to choose whether to upgrade your gun or save people....your gun will be upgraded at the very beginning.

As far as I can tell, you get to keep the guns, but not the upgrades. Those still need to be researched.

I play on PC and never really complained about scanning - it took me a minute or two at max. Either way - after you completed the game once, you have 300k of all resources at start. Correct me if I'm wrong.

200k credits and 50k of each resource.

 

[yzzlthtz]

Really? I never found it all that bad. Maybe because I'm playing on PC...

It's alright with the mouse. I can't imagine doing it with a controller, yeesh. What it makes me miss, actually, is Star Control 2's mining system. You can actually see the elements, at least. I gave Mass Effect a miss, but I'm quite fond of ME 2... I notice some cues taken from Star Control 2, or so it seems to me, and I am pleased.

 

[Lonan]

My first playthrough, only Jack (escort crew back to ship) and Thane (pipes. Hey, he was gonna die in 8 months anyway, I forgot about his son though) died. I had the cannon and shield upgrade for my ship and several others. I did BARELY ANY scanning. In fact I didn't even think it was important. Turns out, it wasn't.

And what is this stuff about the Mako? I didn't collect any resources from the Mako in Mass Effect 1 because I never saw the use. I just went to Virmire and killed people, then I went to get Liara, then I went to Illium to kill people. Then I was at the Citadel, where I beat the game. There was nothing tedious about it, and I won. Don't see what the big deal is.

 

[Starke]

Actually Jordan, it doesn't matter if you head straight for the Omega 4 relay right after your crew gets abducted. Because no matter what you do, no matter how long it takes you to rescue them, you'll only find Dr. Chakwas and Kelly in the Collector base.

You do get the rest of the crew back, you just don't see them.

Honestly, what would have made this so much better? (Aside from just a fog of war system.) If you could choose to scan a planet or not, but instead of launching probes, you could just fire off a single mining drone for the planet, and deplete it with one mouse click. If the drones were a little pricy 5k a piece, you wouldn't want to burn them on every planet, but you'd also be able to quickly decide if a planet was worth it or not and move on.

 

[CD-R]

I actually liked the mako. It reminded me of the tank from Blaster Master.

Let me be blunt; Scanning > Mako. It's not a hard choice. I would want something else than scanning, but at least I didn't have to sit through The Mako again.

Nothing and I mean NOTHING will make the Mako seem like a good idea. Nothing even remotely. Probably one of the worst vechicle sections in a game ever, hell, even Bioware made fun of it(check out one of the t-shirts they sell).

Sure you can yoou just need to upgrade it. Add wheels that let you drive up walls and ceilings or can transform turbines so you can go underwater. Add some more heavy artillery and give you more stuff to blow up. Or add a gun that shoots lighting. Guns that shoot lighting are almost always awesome.

 

[GodKlown]

Aside from it crashing constantly on my aging 360, mining did get a bit tedious. One major advantage scanning had over driving the Mako was the lack of Thresher Maws! Holy flying asscrackers did I hate fighting those stupid things on remote backwater planets. Not to mention the Mako getting hung up on a pointy rock when you were trying to get to a location. I made out fairly well in the mining game, but that required nearly a third of my 30+ gaming hours invested in the search. Blah... I agree, why couldn't you buy resources on the planets? Oh that's right... you didn't get paid crap in the game. It wasn't until nearly the end that I could actually afford to go back and buy up the items I needed for weapons upgrades that were far out of my reach financially because the Illusive Man tips worse than a hobo in a strip joint. Otherwise, it was a fine game.

 

[MurderousToaster]

Regardless of these apparent flaws, I need to pick up ME2. But not before I'm done playing through ME1 again due to getting a new Xbox. Looks like a fun game.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Sure it's not the best mini game ever, but I really don't see what the big deal is. BioWare made it boring for a reason. This prevents the player from front loading on minerals and making the upgrades a given, rather than a reward. And unless you have carpel tunnel, this really shouldn't hurt your hand. I've spent up to an hour mining for minerals and it really isn't pain producing. Also, I don't know why everyone has such an issue with element zero. I've got more than enough. Maybe, I just got lucky with the planets I choose to scan. I frequently find it on planets labeled "moderate" rather than rich or good. I just mind all the planets in a cluster whenever I travel to a new one. It's a little tedious, but I know I'll always have enough for upgrades later on. Just suck it up. It's one blemish on a great game.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I actually don't find mining that bad. Sure, it could be better, but really, just clean out a system (or a cluster, if you're low on elements) for each mission you do and you should be fine, and even then only focus on Rich or Good planets.

 

[TheAmazingTGIF]

I would gladly take the mako over this crap, at least I got to kill things in it and ditch it when bored.

 

[Alex_P]

Scanning is almost effortless on the PC. Boring as hell, but very quick.

Still, the game really could've used a compromise between the scanner and the Mako. Star Control 2 is a good model here. In SC2, you drive your little car around in quickie top-down view on a planet, picking up resources, with a limit on how much you can carry back forcing you to prioritize a bit. Sometimes there are moving monsters you can kill for resources, too. Some of the choicest planets have natural hazards that require luck and skill or some upgrades to navigate safely. And there were special locations on some worlds -- essentially anomalies. All in all, it was a mini-game that gave you some stuff to do but made it pretty quick -- still a bit tedious by today's standards, but that's mostly because SC2 had such a big galaxy map to play on.

-- Alex

 

[DTWolfwood]

Id pick dmg over my crew too Deam ^-^

 

[red_one]

I also sort of liked the scanning... and I always ended up with more minerals than I could spend (and that even goes for Element Zero).
I'm also using the "fanning" technique and was bothered by not finding *every* last rich source.

 

[Darksier]

I didn't mind the mining, though on my second playthrough I really wished there was some sort of trading post to exchange minerals at a loss. It'd keep the immersion while providing some freedom on how to handle resources.

 

[Buccura]

Actually sometimes it can be even more tiring on PC, dragging that thing along with a mouse. Luckily my mouse has a button that allows it to go between 4 sensitivity settings but it still can cause strange carpal tunnel.

 

[Srkkl]

I didn't mind it too much, however my dad accidentily bought the guide and there's a detailed planetary database stating the nebula, cluster, and planet name along with what minerals said planet is rich in, worth the 20 bucks if not just for that.