Hello everyone, and welcome to Katsumi Midori's guide to finding bacterium! Now, you've probably heard it before, that bacterium is hard to find and not worth the effort.
Well, I'm here to tell you that it's not hard to find. Okay, maybe it's a little hard to find… or maybe pretty hard to find sometimes. But we can make it easier!
And not worth the effort? Okay, that one's arguably true.
But if you're like me, you're not in it for the money. Well, not just in it for the money. If you've been doing this for a while, you've probably got more credits than you know what to do with. We're not out here to buy a giant mansion made out of pure platinum are we? No, we're out here to explore, to advance science, and write our names amongst the stars.
When we see a dark, icy planet with a single bacterium exobiological signal, we don't see that as a nuisance. We see that as a challenge before the whole human race. (And we're never going to lose.)
But enough preface, let's talk details.
PART 1: THE BASICS
Bacterium patches generally form on flatlands. Even if the Detailed Surface Scanner Biome Map shows it appearing everywhere, prioritize flat areas first.
Each biological sample must be taken at least 500 meters apart from the others. This makes searching on foot difficult at best.
PART 2: BACTERIUM VISIBILITY
There are four general grades of visibility for bacterium patches. The most effective method to use will depend on how visible the bacterium patches are from a distance.
High visibility bacterium patches have a color that is distinctly different from the surrounding landscape. They can readily be seen from the air below 100 meters. Usually found on High Metal Content worlds or worlds with many other biological signals.
Medium visibility bacterium patches have the same color as the surrounding landscape but still have a distinctly lighter or darker brightness. They're harder to see, but still visible enough to spot from the air. Found on any planet type.
Low visibility bacterium patches are similar to medium visibility, but are not as distinctly different from the surrounding landscape and/or are in a landscape with patches of color that create false positives when looking from the air. Found on any planet type.
No visibility bacterium patches are effectively invisible from a distance. Even when directly on top of them, they may prove difficult to see without the aid of a scanner. Usually found on dark, icy worlds.
PART 3: HIGH TO MEDIUM VISIBILITY STRATEGIES
With medium to high visibility bacterium, you can generally use the same methods you would use for all your other exobiology, with a few modifications.
The Orbital Method
I recommend the orbital method for general exobiology and when bacterium is mixed in with many other exobiological signals.
Start at the first sample site, then drive your Surface Recon Vehicle away for 500 meters before searching for your second sample site. (If I'm going 20 m/s, I'll count to twenty five.)
Then turn the SRV 90° to the right or left and start circling your ship.
You can pick up your final sample and any other exobiological samples you need before heading back.
When it is bacterium's turn, I recommend using the external camera technique. If you move the external camera drone between 25 and 100 meters up, you'll have much better visibility than you would have in the cockpit.
If you can get used to using the external camera with the stabilizer off, that's ideal. Otherwise, you can turn the stabilizer on and move in a square search pattern. Just turn the stabilizer off briefly when you make each turn.
The Short Hop Method (aka The Osseus Hop)
If you don't have any other exobiological signals to investigate or they all require long distances between samples, like stratum or osseus, you can use the short hop method. (Provided you're comfortable making repeated landings in short order.)
After finding your first sample, take off and go full throttle for a few seconds. (Depending on your top speed) Then slow down and search for the next sample site.
If cockpit visibility is an issue, and it often is, try advancing slowly while searching (about 10-20 m/s) with the nose tilted down, and use your maneuvering thrusters to provide upward lift. Once you get used to this method, you can potentially grab all three samples in only a couple of minutes.
PART 4: LOW TO NO VISIBILITY STRATEGIES
Low visibility is where things start getting tricky. If you're fond of those books where you find little character in a sea of other little characters, or those games where you're given two nearly identical pictures and have to find the differences; then you might be okay to continue using the above methods. Otherwise, it's time to change things up a bit.
It might also be helpful to aim for areas where multiple ground colors converge. It is possible that one of them will make the bacterium patches more visible than the others. What is low visibility against one background may upgrade to medium visibility against another.
You can turn the DSS biome map on and off by switching between Analysis Mode and Combat Mode as you're approaching the surface to help pick the best landing site.
In addition, icy worlds often have strong specular highlights on the surface. You can try flying into the light, slightly offset, or away from the light to see if different lighting conditions make the bacterium patches more visible.
But eventually, you'll come across a planet where the bacterium patches can't be seen from the air. Then it's time for something more serious business.
The Composition Scanner Sweep Method (Patent Pending)
Step 1: Make sure that your SRV and/or ship have the Comp. Scanner on an active fire group. Don't worry if you didn't equip one when you left port, they come as standard equipment.
Step 2: Make your approach to the surface. If you're lucky, you might find a wide open plain, but on many icy worlds, you'll need to look for even a small open patch.
Step 3: Land in the middle and deploy your SRV. Switch to turret cam as soon as you can, then drive around and waggle your turret reticle up and down, and all around.
If you're close enough to a bacterium patch, your reticle will light up and play a "blip," sound effect when the reticle passes over it.
Once you see or hear that blip, stop immediately (back up a bit if you have to) and make sure you can pinpoint the bearing before trying to approach closer. Sometimes I will even drive slowly with my eyes closed to cut down on distractions. Just turn up the sound and listen.
The Corkscrew search pattern has provided the best results in my tests. Tilting the turret up and down while driving in a spiral around the ship covers a lot of ground with minimal effort.
Optional Variation: If you're lucky enough to have a large stretch of flat ground, you can try the Radar search pattern. Drive in a straight line while spinning the turret around in circles. This is not as effective as the corkscrew method, but it is the lowest possible effort available.
Once you've found a bacterium patch and sampled it, head back to the ship and fly to a different search area. Nothing is worse than fumbling around in the dark to find a blip, only to realize that it doesn't have enough genetic diversity.
If you don't find a bacterium patch after a couple of hops, consider flying to a different biome that may have a higher density. Plains, craters, different patches of ground color, matte surfaces, glossy surfaces, etc.
I started using this method as a last resort, but after a while, I came to realize that it is surprisingly reliable.
You can use the Comp. Scanner on your ship to search as well, but it is much more difficult to waggle the reticle across a wide area. It's usually better used to test discolored patches for false positives to avoid needless landings.
PART 5: THE ABSOLUTE WORST CASE SCENARIO
Fonticula. An exobiological group that is often found on dark, icy worlds alongside bacterium. It is usually very easy to find. It will also absolutely complicate any attempts to use the Composition Scanner Sweep method.
You can still sometimes use the composition scanner, usually from the air, by avoiding fonticula patches, but at best it will still slow you down. Which brings us to…
The Absolute Last Resort Method
In my experience, bacterium patches will sometimes grow next to large fonticula patches, at a slightly higher frequency than random chance. (But I must admit this may be sampling bias.)
- Find a sizable fonticula patch.
- Get out on foot.
- Run and jump around like a crazy person. (Which you arguably are at this point.)
- Fire off the Genetic Sample Scan Pulse constantly.
The Genetic Samples scan pulse is just the worst tool for finding bacterium patches due to it's pitifully short range, but sometimes the worst tool is the only tool.
But if you stick with it, you will surely find your bacterium samples. Look at that, it's a thing of beauty, isn't it?
Thank you for reading, and good hunting out there in the black!
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/11yw9gr/bacterium_finders_guide/
