A Matter of Culture
10 Nov 2021Starnemesis
Today I visited a few more systems and found myself hunting bacterium again. I did manage to find variants of Bacterium acies and Bacterium vesicula. These would have to be some of the worst species to be looking for though, given that they payout the least amount from Vista Genomics.I also found some time to do some research. It turns out that Canonn Research has already looked into a lot of this already. I found the research here: Canonn Research.
Using my own observations and those from Canonn Research about species that I haven't found out in the black, I have come up with some notes about the different species. Atmospheric and volcanism conditions come from Canonn Research
| Bacterium | Atmospheric Conditions | Volcanic Conditions | Observations | Samples Taken | Vista Payout |
| Acies | Ne | This seems to be one of the most common forms of bacterium. It is actually grows the colonies underneath the soil. It only forms narrow cracks on the surface where the colour of the bacterium shows. For this reason, it is incredibly hard to spot since it is only a slightly darker discolouration of the surface that gives it away, which can often be mistaken for a shadow. It is best to have the composition scanner running over the surface and you might get lucky. To make matters worse, it does not seem to make clusters of colonies as readily as other species. This means that you need to get really lucky. The best bet is if you find a colony, look around as close as you can. | 4 | 50,000cr | |
| Alyconeum | NH3 | More research to come. But these can be spotted from the air since the colony spreads on the surface. | 2 | 119,500cr | |
| Aurasus | CO2 | This one grows on top of the soil and is easy to spot from 50m out. In addition, it can form in clusters making it more likely to be spotted. | 2 | 78,500cr | |
| Bullaris | CH4 | I haven't seen this one before. But from Canonn Research, it looks like it should be able to spotted from the air. | 89,900cr | ||
| Cerberus | SO2 and H2O | This is one of the easier Bacterium species to spot. Since not only does it form in clusters, but the bright colour stands out amongst the more mute tones of the soil and rock. Easily my preferred Bacterium species. | 2 | 121,300cr | |
| Informem | N | I have only found one of these. They seem to be much more rare and certainly have the highest payout amongst bacterial species. Multiple colours make this easier to spot from the air. They do not seem to form clusters though, making them less pronounced than others. | 1 | 426,200cr | |
| Nebulus | He | I have not come across this species, but from the Canonn Research, it looks like it should be easy to spot from the air. | 296,300cr | ||
| Omentum | Ne | N | I have not come across this species, but from the Canonn Research, it looks like this could be hard to spot from the air since it looks like a fractal pattern in the soil. | 267,400cr | |
| Scopulum | Ne | CO2 and CH4 | I have not come across this species, but from the Canonn Research, it looks like it should be easy to spot from the air. | 280,600cr | |
| Tela | CO2, Ne, SO,2 and H2O | He, Fe, SiO4 | I have only found one of these. The one that I found was difficult to find and did not occur in clusters. There is only slight discolouration of the surface. | 1 | 135,600cr |
| Verrata | Ne | H2O | I have not found this one before. But from images from Canonn Research, it looks like these form inside mud cracks, possibly due to the water-based volcanism. These look like they would be hard to spot from the air, but would likely be found in the low points of the terrain. | 233,300cr | |
| Vesicula | Ar | I have come across a few of these now. They can be hard to spot since they form under the soil and can be seen through the cracks. They are a bit more obvious than the acies species. It also helps that they tend to have colonies in local clusters. They seem to be more abundant on the planet's surface. | 5 | 56,100cr | |
| Volu | O | I have not come across this species yet. It does appear from the Canonn Research that they show only slight discolouration on the surface. But this is worth hunting for based on the payout figure. | 400,500cr |