I disagree sorry. I believe the concept of future tech will be misled this way. It is already possible with our tech to identify minerals presence IF we know what and how to look. If you want to modify that aspect, which I agree, then you may consider developing a tech expanding the simple geo sensor survey and advanced. You could have a basic sensor that tells you if there are minerals on a planet/asteroid but then you need to land there a team to identify how many and what. Then develop a series of more advanced geo survey sensors. Level one with an accuracy of 10% or so till the latest level 5 or 10 or whatever with 100% accuracy for late games. This module scheme will increase a lot of exploration depth and resource management in terms of where to focus our efforts pretty much becoming a game in the game without involving too much micromanagement as well.
Sorry to be blunt, but this sounds like micro hell, even worse than the team system we have right now. Under this system, you would NOT BE ABLE to use a planet until you geosurvey it, by bringing troops on it. That's seriously horrible, this is a game, a happy medium of realism and playability is the key. Besides it's not even realistic, geology does not work like that. Yes, yes Tn material are basically imaginary elements, but still it is reasonable to suppose that in game lore they DO have preferred "spawning" environments, that it is not completely random.
After reading the rest of the thread, I will remodulate my original proposal a bit.
- All bodies under a certain size can be completely surveyed by a geosurvey ship. The size is up to Steve of course. Maybe, 400km or smaller?
- All larger bodies cannot be completely surveyed, because sensors are not magic and cannot completely penetrate the larger body. However, just by studying the planet (maybe using some extra time for geosurvey? Or, just for free as a roleplay element) an estimate can be made of the potential of finding additional TN minerals. Most bodies will have no potential ("Its just a dirt/silicate/ferrous/whatever rock boss, sorry but we're not going to find any TN material here" ), some bodies will have "Some potential", and a few bodies will have "high potential" of finding additional TN materials.
I believe this to be a happy medium of usability, balance and also roleplay potential. All the while, reducing the tedium of moving the teams around AND making the galaxy a more interesting place. Because not all worlds are the same, and even a planet with potential can become a strategic target.