Understanding the wavescanner for dummies written by a dummy.
At the end of the post will be some summary bullet point helpers.
Before we get into a tutorial for best finding stuff on planet surfaces, did you know that your wave scanner can differentiate items that its picking up? Yep ! it can ! and this will help you greatly in deciding which targets you wish to hunt down.
This is a very key factor and before we delve any further, we need to understand how the wavescanner shows us what it is picking up.
On the picture below is your wavescanner (disregard the return its picking up). It sweeps from left to right with a verticle bar that spans vertically the entire scanner from the very bottom to the very top of the scanner display (like a radar).
Now we want to divide in our mind the scanner into 4 equal sections from the bottom of the scanner to the top (as shown in the picture). I call these Bands and number 1 to 4 from bottom to top.
The following Bands represent the following returns.
BAND 1 (From bottom up - First quarter of the wavescanner) Mineral deposits from outcrops or landed asteroids used for construction or synthesis
BAND 2 (From bottom up - Second quarter of the wavescanner) Unknown, not found any returns in this band yet.
BAND 3 (From bottom up - Third quarter of the wavescanner) Ships, crash sites, canisters, buildings (the one you most often will likely follow)
BAND 4 (From bottom up - Top of the wavescanner)Transmitting beacons for collection of data.
Now you know what you are looking at, here is my steps for finding stuff on the surface.
Fly above the surface MINIMUM 2klm (higher is ok, under 2klm and the pictures will fade from your screen. Just above 2klm is the ideal height.
Set your radar to maximum range to help you spot SOI’s.
on the next picture I am just above 2klm with max radar range and an SOI (blue disc) is just coming into scanner range.
Now try to fly roughly to the centre of the blue disc, it will fill most of your scanner. Its hard to get it spot on, but you don’t have to be perfect, that is why we have a wave scanner. As best in the middle as possible. You want the middle as SOI’s can hold more than one item of interest so being in the middle will help you locate one or more. Once you think you are roughly in the right spot, head straight down to the surface rotating and looking out. Quite often large items or lights attached to items can be seen easily as in the picture below.
In the picture below, I am still over 2klms high roughly in the middle of the SOI and I can see an unknown installation easily.
More to come