Lander Hints

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Lander controls

Piloting the lander is similar to flying other types of ships (the default controls can be changed in keys.cfg):

Use LEFT and RIGHT to rotate the lander counterclockwise and clockwise respectively.
Use UP to go forward. Unlike space-faring vehicles, the lander stops moving forward as soon as you let go of the thrust key.
Use RIGHT CTRL or ] or ENTER to fire the blaster. Use this to shoot life forms, but make sure you don't shoot valuable mineral deposits.
Use RIGHT SHIFT or [ or ESCAPE or SPACE to return to the ship if the lander's storage is full or you're in trouble.

Deciding whether to land or not

What's to gain

You might want to land on a planet if it has lots of good minerals, biological life forms, or energy signatures on the surface. Run an Auto Scan (Mineral, Bio, and Energy Scans one after another) to check.

Check the "Cargo" menu option to remind yourself which colors of mineral are most valuable. You get more Resource Units per part from mineral types near the bottom of the list, like Radioactives and Exotics.
There's more to planets than just minerals. Life forms (revealed with a Bio Scan) often provide valuable data. Use the lander's blaster to stun the animal (it may take a few hits) and pick up any capsules it drops. Keep an eye on the blue "DAT" meter on the right, though -- like minerals, your lander can only hold so much information at once. Predatory animals can be dangerous to your lander!
Occasionally, you will find an energy signature on a planet. An energy signature could be a building, a ship or a useful device, so the size of the object on the surface varies. Energy readings are rare and indicate a point of interest in the game. They are always worth checking out even if conditions are not optimal.

Dangers

There are a number of bad things that can happen to your lander and its crew when on a planet. Atmosphere and seismic activity are rated from 0 to 8, where 0 to 2 (2 included) is perfectly safe, and 7 to 8 is extremely dangerous. A Lander can only hold 12 crew members at a time. If all 12 die, the Lander explodes. Returning to the ship will recrew your Lander, as long as you have more crew on the Flagship. When deciding to land or not, keep these factors in mind:

Atmospheric rating: When this rating is higher than 2, lightning storms will be present. Lightning storms are unavoidable and will kill crew when they hit your lander. Try not to land on planets with atmospheric activity unless you must.
Seismic rating: When this rating is higher than 2, earthquakes will happen. Since earthquakes are visible and localized to a relatively small area, it is possible to avoid them. You might be able to navigate planets with 3-5 rating with no loss of crew, depending on skill.
Temperature: The temperature of the planet surface depends on the color of its star and how close it is to its star. If the temperature is too high, there will be dangerous fire storms on the surface. While it is always safe to land on extremely cold planets, the minerals will be less plentiful than extremely warm planets. Try for under 300-400°c. Fire storms usually start at temperatures above 100°c (Water's boiling point).
Life forms: There are some life forms that will attack your lander, while others are harmless. Take note of which life forms are more aggressive and dangerous, and try to avoid them.

Other Considerations

Fuel usage: It takes fuel to land and lift off from a planet. The bigger the planet is, the higher the surface gravity, and the larger the fuel cost. The exact fuel amount required is shown when you select a place for your lander to set down. You can still abort at that time. The amount of fuel used is 2 times the surface gravity, though never more than 3.0 fuel units. Make sure it's worth it and remember to keep enough fuel in reserve to return to Sol.
Distance to Sol: Carrying back the gathered minerals to the Star Base costs fuel and time. Make sure it's worth it. If you're far away from home, you should not spend your valuable cargo space on common minerals. Remember that you can jettison your less valuable minerals to make room for more valuable ones if you run out of cargo capacity.

Tips for surviving semi-dangerous planets

Keep a finger on the escape button. If you are running low on crew or get into trouble, return to the ship before your lander gets destroyed. All minerals and data you had on your lander will be destroyed along with it.
It is wise to carry more than one lander at a time, in case one gets destroyed. This is especially important early in the game so you don't have to interrupt your scavenging session and use valuable fuel flying back to Sol to get a new lander.
Don't risk landing on very dangerous planets. Getting rare minerals is useless if your lander gets destroyed before you make it back to the ship. A capable pilot can maneuver around some obstacles, but an experienced pilot knows when it is best to give up and come back later. Make a note of the planet's hyperspace coordinates and the planet/moon number; you can come back when you're better prepared.
If a dangerous planet has large pockets of exotics and a low gravity, it may be worth hopping down to pick up just one deposit, and taking off again immediately.

Other Tips

If your lander's mineral storage (the red bar on the left) is nearly full, return to the ship and come back for another load instead of trying to cram in that last bit. If you try to pick up more minerals than you have room for, the extra minerals will be lost forever. The same is also true for bio data (the blue bar).
Remember that while your ship can hold much more than a lander can (as long as your ship has at least one Storage Bay), it still has a limited capacity. If you are near the limit, your lander won't be able to pick up very much. Head back to Sol and talk to the Starbase Commander to unload them.