Thanks, that makes sense. I seem to recall in GCII they would give the surveyor extra hit points, or military bonuses that would carry over if you ever upgraded your surveyor to a fighting ship.

Is the bonus permanent for that ship. I was confused by the use of the term fleet. I am now wondering if the bonuses are permanent. If so, maybe you could fleet up the surveyor with some fighting ships and take advantage of the additional range, speed, sensors, etc.

I have never noticed the surveyor(s) gaining long term speed and range bonuses, but I could be overlooking it. If it is just a one turn deal for your surveyor, then I remain, unimpressed.  

Hey, don't take away this one.  It's awesome. I seriously love have 20 or 25 move survey ships with more scanner range than you can shake a stick at.  Makes mapping Immense Maps so much more enjoyable.

One of these days, I'm gonna intentionally have a game where I put survey ships with fleets just to see if collecting the bennies is worth it or not.

That's a cool move. I'll use that in the future.

I usually self direct my surveyors to avoid worm holes until I have enough of them to keep getting the bonuses while 1 or 2 are finding their way home. 

In the game I just looked at, I had 9 surveyors found and bought from the other AI, with moves ranging from 5 -23, and some major sensor range. I never build a surveyor. They were all basic surveyors. I designed one with Phasers and Proton torpedoes, and named it Enterprise. I have never built it. Just knowing it's there makes me happy.