Exobiology

Captain's Log keeps track of the Odyssey exobiology side of things - the bio and geo signals you pick up, and the lifeforms you sample and analyse.

Bio and Geo signals

When you sweep a system with the Fuel Scoop System, Captain's Log records a count of the bio signals and geo signals found on each planet. These counts show up in the Planets panel and on the Overlay, so you can spot at a glance which bodies are worth landing on to look for life.

The BioTracker

The BioTracker kicks in the moment you take the first sample of an organic lifeform. It then keeps track of the whole three-sample process for you:

• It tracks your distance from that first sample, and shows when you've reached (or gone beyond) the minimum distance you need before you can take the next sample.
• It then tracks your distance from the second sample, and shows when both minimum distances have been reached so you're clear for your third and final sample.
• Once the final sample is done, the main overlay reverts back to the Navigation display.

It also shows a running count of species scanned, and a separate count of species fully analysed.

Handy touch: if you stop playing part-way through a lifeform's samples, the BioTracker's state is saved. Restart Captain's Log and it picks up exactly where you left off, so you don't lose track of a half-finished specimen.

Species List overlay

The Species List overlay (toggle it with ALT-L) lists both the species you've scanned (discovered) and the species you've analysed, for a given planet. It's handy for seeing what you've still got left to sample and analyse - compare your analysed list against the detected list and the bio heat map to work out what's still out there to find.

Bio Tracking Map

The Bio Tracking Map is a graphical overlay showing the radius of the minimum sample distance for each sample point, plus an updated marker for where your CMDR currently is. It makes judging those sample distances a lot easier than reading a number. You can turn it on or off in the Overlays tab of the Configuration Manager.

Species Analysed in the main window

If you've analysed biolife on a planet, that information is also shown in the planet info area of the main window for that planet, so you've got a record of what you found there without needing the overlay up.