📋 New Feature
- A new line of work has opened up across the mid and outer systems: Planetary Surveys. Twenty Planetary Surveyors — geologists, cartographers and field-hands who have walked more dead worlds than they can count — have set up desks on promenades from the frontier inward, and they will pay you to chart a planet’s surface from end to end.
- Each contract sends you to a single explorable world, assigned when you take the job. Land on it and explore the surface zone by zone: every new zone you set foot in counts toward the total. A survey runs anywhere from 200 to 400 zones, so expect a proper expedition — though planets are far kinder going than the wreck fields, with no drifting hulks to chase down. Backtracking is free — only fresh ground counts — and the tally is capped at the contract figure, so there is no penalty for wandering. A live counter on the surface panel keeps your progress in view as you go. When the survey is complete, return to the Surveyor who hired you and hand it in through the Mission Hand-in screen.
- The reward is paid as a lump sum on completion — credits and Captain experience both, plus a little Social standing — and wilder worlds pay better: if your assigned planet sits in low-law space, every law level below 8 adds a hazard bonus that climbs toward a hefty premium in the most lawless reaches. The surface is no place to be caught short, so load Exploration Kits into your ship before you set off to keep your captain’s survival stats topped up. Dock somewhere new, track down the local Planetary Surveyor, and go put your boots on an unmapped world.