Normal vessels must spend two strategic movement points in a sector to do a full survey. A full survey reveals the number of stars and planetoids and their type. It will also reveal the presence of outposts, bases, and ground stations.
Systems planets are organised like this: A/B/C/D
| A: | #Inner (mining) planets |
| B: | #Biozone planets |
| C: | #Gas giants |
| D: | #Outer planets |
An asterisk (*) denotes the presence of an asteroid belt in that part of the system. For example, 2/1/5/3 has no asteroid belt, while 1/3/*/4/1 has an asteroid belt between the biozone planets and gas giants.
Survey cruisers (designated as such in their descriptions) need only spend one movement point for a full survey, and may perform a basic survey simply by passing through the sector. In addition, survey cruisers may gather basic terrain info on a sector by passing through an adjacent sector.
A full survey of a sector will reveal the number and type of worlds, but it won't reveal the actual production or colonization values of those worlds. For example, Sol has three biozone worlds- Venus, Earth, and Mars. Earth can be colonized right away, Mars would require minor terraforming, and Venus would require extensive terraforming for a colony to survive.
Any ship with special sensors may spend one turn in a starsystem to catalogue all of its planets and asteroid belt. For each possibly useful body, you will be informed of how it can be used.