Diary of an Explorer �My ship, Morovec�s Dream, a survey cruiser design is perfect. She glides through turbulence of a gas giant as though we were in deepest space. She can pull 3.4g thanks to the hi-spec engines � no mean feat for a fifty huller. When alone on the bridge during dark watch I sometimes find myself talking to her. Not crazy stuff, more sounding off about the mission and thinking aloud. Yeah, I may throw in the odd question but who doesn�t ask questions inside their own head. Some of the crew think I�m losing it, but I�m not, ain�t that right?.... hum, maybe they have a point.� He rose from the captain�s chair � not the original one that came with the ship, this was something that he had rigged himself. The seller called it an integrated, reinforced lazyboy. It was the recline option that sold him on it, that and flip open arm rests, chilled drinks and snacks on one side, a suite of controls on the other. With swivel settings, retinal projector and perfect acoustics he had the capability of being the eyes and ears of the ship. With vibro setting switched on it really felt like he was free-falling from space � and while sipping a cold-one to boot. The navy may have weapons that can punch a crater a hundred kloms across and the merchants may boast about being able to pack a fleet of survey cruisers in their bays, but for Captain Pickering, nothing was ever going to compare to this, though if pushed on the subject, it was probably the freedom he enjoyed most � no tight delivery schedules or dying horribly with nobody to mourn you.

His latest task, if that is the most suitable word for the work, was to scope out one of the outer moons in the Corosin system. The affiliation were pumping quite a bit of stellars into the operation overall. Words like gold-rush and collidium grab were being thrown about. He had opted to go for one of the ice moons with an atmosphere consisting of the usual suspects, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. He could have opted for one of the pretty biospheres or even one of the active worlds � fire and brimstone and all that, but this suited him fine.

The Dream reached the world and Pickering from the mid-recline position ordered the ship into a parking orbit and activation of Geological Probability Indicator (GPI) procedures. There was an audible groan from the crew � generally pointless days changing the orbit, breaking the surface down to strips and determining its geology. It was as much fun as filing reports or sorting laundry � neither of which he did very often. Occasionally such an operation resulted in the discovery of something valuable, but so what, it was not as though the discoverers ever got a share. There was nothing for the donkeys doing the work though no doubt a big fat bonus for the people at the top.

Captain Pickering seemed to share the crew�s enthusiasm for the whole GPI�ing shenanigans as he ordered only a basic planetary scan for uncommon and rare ores, pretty much the bare minimum to avoid a reprimand. He had been through this before � some weasel hauling his ass into an office and ranting on about missed opportunities, maximising fiscal investment in outposts and some other bureaucratic crap. The captain told him straight � nobody in their right mind is going to be lugging frozen methane from the back of beyond for a measly hundred stellars per k. Time spent bean-counting is time lost looking for the good stuff.

Following the GPI�ing came a surface scan. Nothing particularly exciting � ice, mountains and a bit of open crust. Intriguing though was the discovery of tectonic activity. What could be causing this � the gravitational interactions between the giant and the other moons? This raised the question about the mountains � were they true mountains or simply the exposed regions of crust surrounded by ice? How deep was the ice? What sort of tectonic activity � a hot molten core fuelled largely by radioactive decay or simply slush continuously squeezed by tidal forces?

�Undertake an orbital scan,� ordered Pickering. �Check for a local magnetosphere and see if it lies with the magnetosphere of the giant. I want to know about ionisation in the upper atmosphere. What is keeping that atmosphere in place?�

The data started to scroll across the main viewer while the primary image of the moon broke down into multiple segments, each with colour overlays around the limb of the world. A pulled back version revealed the interaction between the moon and its primary. Pickering hummed and stroked his chin, interesting, though nothing unusual. The data was stored for further analysis but for the nightwatch he ordered the active crew to continue with a low pass scan. Despite its size the world had a thick atmosphere � no light elements though.

The next stage was pretty routine, the crew knew the drill and after a short choppy descent through the atmosphere, they were preparing in the cargo bay � such as it was � not much larger than the airlock, though substantially more reassuring for anybody not locked into their suit.

Pickering�s instructions as always were simple � check out the high ground, valleys and any generally scan anything that seems unusual or interesting. It was actually a bit more professional that the orders would imply. The group of nine quickly split into three teams of three. Teams of three was seen as the optimal number for dead worlds. One to do the testing, another to handle the equipment and generally give advice, solicited or otherwise and the third was on point. While the likelihood of something carnivorous appearing out of the dust on a toxic moon 200 degrees below freezing was less than slight, landslides, explosive outgassing, storms and even pirates were not unknown. It always paid to have someone watching the horizon. It was also their task to keep chatting to the others on point. Pickering encouraged chatting between points. He thought it better than scheduling in check times as by that time the entire team could have been knocked unconscious by some hazard with only minutes to save them. Better to have continuous feedback and communication between the teams and the ship especially when interfering ground rock meant that direct communication between a team and ship was intermittent. This exploration�s topic was socks and how despite hundreds of years of advancements, finding a pair when in a hurry was impossible and speculation as to who may be nicking them from the scrub room. This of course moved onto the grooming habits of Pickering � though as he hadn�t worn socks or in fact any footwear for years ruled him out as a suspect. Rumours that his last pair had to be air-locked were still doing the circuit.

By this point, having completed a basic exploration and moved onto specific investigations, the teams had spread out over a twenty-five kilometre baseline with the ship in the middle. It was therefore over the headsets that those on the opposite side of the ship heard the initial rumble, feeling it as a gentle shove underfoot less than a second later. Communication ceased for a moment then exploded in a burst of questions directed at those that encountered the quake first. That was when the dust struck � moving at over two hundred kilometres per hour and due to the density of the atmosphere, hitting like a tidal wave.

One group down and the one close to the ship running back like they were being chased by Pirate Large and a tub of petroleum jelly � this survey was definitely turning sour. With just over seven minutes before the storm reached the last team there was little time to find cover.

Point ran a short distance to an outcrop and scanned. On the horizon in the direction of the ship a wall of grey spread from horizon to horizon though the thick murky atmosphere meant that it was without detail. Shit, shit, shit. The other direction was downhill and terminated in a fault, the edge of a deep ravine which judging from the far side was about six kilometres across and over four down. There was also nothing to suggest that the near side was any less precipitous that the far side. In both other directions there was only dust and gritty ice. The other two were screaming, asking which direction. Less than two minutes till impact. A quick glance back over and point was pointing and moving towards the ravine. Gravity was low and maybe they would get lucky. The other two turned from looking at point and though slower to react already had considerable ground. The low gravity and dense atmosphere hampered them as each step sent them into a slow arc, wasting valuable seconds before they could get the next foot down. It wass like running in a nightmare. Point saw one dig their heels in close the edge, sliding towards it while staring back. The other, more panicked misjudged their last step, maybe hitting a frozen lump or rock rather than the gritty sand that compressed under each step. The unexpected boost sends him, arms cartwheeling, out over the void � a good ten metres out before disappearing out of sight.

Point took a desperate gamble and veers slightly to the right, taking three steps up a large broken boulder and leapt, crossing the last fifteen or so metres to the edge. From this extra height the first one over the edge was be seen slowing disappearing into the fog below � poor bastard. For point however the situation looked more promising, there were some outcrops and the descent, was only around thirty metres. Low gravity and a tough suit should do the job.

That�s when it hit. Point saw the storm front sweep overhead � dust, snow, ice and clouds like a jet exhaust. It�s was going to miss. Then it descended in front, heading down into the ravine but also eddying back on itself. Point stared down in horror as the dirty cloud suddenly came up from underneath. They found one survivor wedged a few metres below the edge of the cliff, having found a narrow recess in the rock and used explosive pitons as an anchor while the storm blew itself out. Of the five missing members there was no trace. The landscape has also changed � new dunes more than sixty metres existed were it was flat ground before. Pickering formed the entire crew up in the cargo bay. The extra room in the normally cramped space was a reminder of the perils faced by explorers. He gave a few words of consolation � trite even to his own ears. Nobody looked up or moved when he finishes. He felt he should say a little more, �Fuck it, we can stay here for a few days and give them a send off we will never remember. Break out the Hanf Tequila. I call first dibs on their socks.� It was as though the air returned to the bay, animating the crew. As they dispersed, the names of the lost were on peoples lips and laughter erupted as anecdotes got shared � a temporary dressing for the pain they all felt. The anaesthetic would be soon be being applied. �It has its rough spots being an explorer, but like I said, no schedules and the occasional bloody good wake are reasonable compensation in a hostile universe.�

Generally surveying a planet for the first time is broken down into three stages.

Stage One
A quick pass, looking at the map on Nexus and sending a ship there to perform the basic scans:
Scan Planet
GPI Planet
Scan Planetary Economy (if sentient life present)
Scan Planetary Population (if sentient life present)

Stage Two
If GPI'ing the world reveals anything interesting, it is worth GPI'ing small areas. There are a couple of ways of undertaking this. The first is a few overlapping squares using the GPI area order. This is handy for large worlds for narrowing down where rare ores may be present as rare ores tend to exist as only a few deposits.
If time is available, simply GPI'ing entire rows, essentially looking at the mineral composition of every single sector on the world. Make sure that the ship has as many sensors as possible.
If it is something of a dead-world or out of the way, it may not even be worth scanning for basic ores. At the end of the day, shipping metals, basic elements and hydrocarbons is often not worth it as they are relatively abundant throughout the Peripheries.
Deposits have a central maximum based in a specific sector, though they can often be exploited at lower yields from adjacent sectors. The higher the dispersion of the mineral deposit, the lower the yield degradation with distance from the central point.
Once you have narrowed down some sectors through the rise and fall of the yield across a world that have reasonable ores, the last stage is to land in sectors where the yields are high and prospect. This will give you the unique mineral resource ID which can be used by outposts and strip-mining vessels to tap the ore.

Stage Three
GPI'ing will only account for minerals that are associated with recognizable geology, in many cases minerals will form under anomalous conditions such as meteor strikes, hydrothermal intrusions, quakes and deep underground. In these cases, the GPI will not reveal them. This is where the player has to get hands on. This is also the stage where the player issued surface exploration and investigations (using the 'Surface Exploration' and 'Special Action' orders). These orders require the personal services of the Game Master. As such they have to be paid for per action (See Game Mastering in this issue if IGN).
Each sector type on a world will have a unique description � this can be determined through the use of Surface Exploration order. Once you have this, you can then perform all manner or investigations. For example, on the world in the story above, having got the description of the thick atmosphere, gritty icy surface, orders are given to investigate the rock. This could be a simple instruction, send the crew out to sample the icy grit from numerous locations and report on its composition and whether there are any minerals worth exploiting.
Generally speaking, a player will perform the following actions using the :
Surface Exploration (while landed in each type of sector)
- this gives a basic description of the sector
Special Action (while landed in a type of sector) - Subsurface Scan
- reveals information about the geological history of the sector and may indicate the presence of anomalous minerals
Special Action (while landed in a type of sector) � Investigate XXXX
- where XXXX is something that piqued the interest of the player from the surface exploration text.

More advanced are the use of special actions to look at the world as a whole before venturing down:
Special Action (while still in orbit) � Orbital Scan
Special Action (while still in orbit) � Low Pass Scan

These will give global information such as the interaction of a moon with its primary, the seasonal weather patterns of the world and maybe even revealing the occasional anomaly. Again, features revealed by these actions can be further explored. While theoretically a player can investigate forever on a single world, always finding something new, it is almost always the case that each level of investigate is less likely to reveal a new resource or if it does, the resource is likely to be either smaller or in some other way less valuable. Simply put, big resources stand out.

Dangers
Investigations do not always run smoothly. On hostile worlds, that are those with extreme environments (often with an orbital message indicating that bases on the world will be subject to damage on a regular basis), it is probable that the crew will be at risk during the course of the investigation. This is because investigations generally require members of the crew to leave the ship, possibly exploring tens or even hundreds of kilometres out from the vessel. Storms, quakes, hostile creatures are all dangers to be aware of. Many of these can easily be countered by the presence of an experienced exploration officer, though the more hostile the environment the better the officer should be.