It depends on your goals. Currently my goal is to extract from each mission with the absolute maximum number of rare samples that I can manage to find. Having to backtrack to an area of the map we’ve already been through to gather samples will cost time that could be better spent elsewhere.
Edit: on a difficulty 7 mission, I’d estimate ~75% of POIs and small/medium bases have at least one rare sample. Those are the samples I need most for ship upgrades so skipping these when I’m close to them is completely at odds with my current goals.
It depends on your goals. Currently my goal is to extract from each mission with the absolute maximum number of rare samples that I can manage to find. Having to backtrack to an area of the map we’ve already been through to gather samples will cost time that could be better spent elsewhere.
Edit: on a difficulty 7 mission, I’d estimate ~75% of POIs and small/medium bases have at least one rare sample. Those are the samples I need most for ship upgrades so skipping these when I’m close to them is completely at odds with my current goals.