First Observations of Biological Lifeforms
09 Nov 2021Starnemesis
I have made it halfway across the Oreo-Persean Gap. I'm resting up after a day of hunting for bacterial colonies. In an effort to share my observations this is what I found so far. Now, granted I still have very little experience in tracking down biological life but here goes. I have only encountered 23 different species from 11 different genera.From what I can see there are four categories of life that can be found, not three different species or even genera. These are solely based from an exploration perspective. The first category is those genera that can be found on plains or easily accessed from plains. The second are those that tend to grow in mountainous areas where finding a landing zone, even for my Longshot is hard. The third is those that supposedly grow everywhere on a planet's surface. And the last is those that grow in very specific places on a planet.
The first category is fairly easy from an exploration point of viewpoint. Simply find a flat area to land, get out and stretch your legs or even the SRV. It is quite common to find different species growing in and around each other on these plains. Tussocks are the most common, with stratum sharing the soil. Osseus species can be found on or near rock outcrops around the plains. Stratum and osseus varieties are the easiest to see from the air, so it is best to land near those and check for tussock and bacterium varieties around them.
The mountainous category is a little harder. Fortunately, they are not too difficult to spot from the air. But you still need to fly 10-30m above the ground to have a good chance to spot them. These will also grow on plateau's which are easy to land on, but when they are just in mountain ranges anding is difficult. The trick is to spot them from the air, land as close as possible, and hope you don't have a long hike or have to use the jetpack to get to the top of a mountain. I have mainly found fungoida and frutexa in this category. There may be something in their biology that distinguishes these from the plains species, where they only grow above certain altitudes. This would be worth exploring further.
We will skip the third category for now and jump to the last. Those that grow in very specific places. I have only found a single species so far that fits into this category, Recept conditivus which I found in a canyon less than 100m wide. These are actually easier to find since the surface scanner picks these locations and you can fly straight there. Fortunately, I was able to find several other species at the same time. These may also have more diverse colonies closer together than other species. But more evidence is required to make more accurate assessments.
Now for the third category. These are often the easiest to land on the plains to find. I have found cactoida, fonticula, and bacterium species to be able to be found widespread on a planet. However, as stated above I usually just land on the plains to collect the data. I will need to head into the mountains to confirm.
A note on bacterium, fuck that. Bacterium is best sought after if there is something nearby. It is the most common form of life in the galaxy, but incredibly hard to spot from the air. The colonies often blend in with their surroundings. On top of that Vista Genomics doesn't pay much for the data. I have found that when a planet is shown to have only bacterial life, it is worth a flyover on the planet to see if they can be spotted from the air, 10-20m up. Sometimes you get lucky. Usually, it is best to stumble upon _bacterium_ when you are looking for something else. I currently have 11 samples of bacterium for Vista Genomics, including Bacterium informem which is supposed to have the best payout for bacterium.
I'm sure that I will have more to come on this subject.