Aint NEVER found a Geyser.

[Riverside]

Thank you, I think it probably means a lot more to me than to anyone else

I had been searching for these things primarily by spending long periods cruising at 3-5km altitude over canyons, looking out the window but mostly relying on the scanner to show a blue circle.

I modified my technique to briefly supercruise between geological features rather than flying there, which probably made the biggest difference, and I also managed to find a <300km MR moon which helped narrow down the search area.

The geysers I found were spread over quite a large area & were visible almost as soon as I dropped out of glide. If I log out & back in again the smoke effect starts from nothing each time so I think maybe the only reason they weren't visible straight away was because I only saw the fumes once there was enough to see (a few seconds). If they had been inactive I may not have seen them at all, although there was a small blue POI for this one too (presumably marking a nearby rock).

If they are active you really can see silicate geysers from a long way off against darker terrain, but of course now I have to find more types

 

[varonica]

Thank you, I think it probably means a lot more to me than to anyone else

I had been searching for these things primarily by spending long periods cruising at 3-5km altitude over canyons, looking out the window but mostly relying on the scanner to show a blue circle.

I modified my technique to briefly supercruise between geological features rather than flying there, which probably made the biggest difference, and I also managed to find a <300km MR moon which helped narrow down the search area.

The geysers I found were spread over quite a large area & were visible almost as soon as I dropped out of glide. If I log out & back in again the smoke effect starts from nothing each time so I think maybe the only reason they weren't visible straight away was because I only saw the fumes once there was enough to see (a few seconds). If they had been inactive I may not have seen them at all, although there was a small blue POI for this one too (presumably marking a nearby rock).

If they are active you really can see silicate geysers from a long way off against darker terrain, but of course now I have to find more types

The small blue POI marks minerals associated with vulcanism.

I also SC between geological features, I have been testing out the glide method lately although I still have yet to find any using it. I must have close to or more than 50 features in the list now. It gets easier as your technique matures. I have still yet to find any life though, that's one irritating thing!

 

[Riverside]

I have still yet to find any life though, that's one irritating thing!

I spent the first three months of 2016 looking for barnacles & only found two that were not only already known but were depleted so presumably easier ones to find. I don't know the 'rules' fungal life & those tree things use for generation but I would guess they will be similar to volcanic activity.

I'm encouraged that you think experience helps, given that I only found one when I had stacked as many odds in my favour as I could (looking in canyons on a really small, really hot MR world) it may be a while before I find another.

Or it may be tomorrow, such is the way with RNG

 

[Bomba Luigi]

Care to share some tips? What kind of planet, where to look on the planet?

Besides the novelty factor and some materials, is there anything to be gained from finding these? Are there rare materials in abundance or some such thing?

The smaler the planet the better, as more surface grounds means less chance to run into them. Less then 500km radius is good mark to go by, but I occasionly look on bigger planets and just yesterday I found Geysers on a planet with 860km radius. Above 1000km radius it gets real tough but its not impossible as I once did find Volcanism on a planet above that.

Where to look its all about Canyons, in curves or near curves I tend to have most success of finding them. As an example, places like that:

Spoiler

But the more important question probably is "How long should I look?", If I don't find something in about 10-15 min I normaly just leave the Planet, unless I really want to find something on a certain planet then I go to supercruise and change location on the planet itself.
Thats pretty much a "feel" thing tough and no science, but early experience kinda where that when I found something on a planet I did so in about 10-15 minutes, If I didn't in that timespan then I didn't find anything at all and just ended up flying around for ages without finding anything.


There are thse outcrops thingys you can find on Geysers and they do give you mats when shooting but I'm no expert there as I rarley ever did shoot and collect these.


Oh yeah, one more thing: Part of the reason I have quite a good success rate of finding volcanism on my current trip is probably because I have a Courier with over 700 top speed. Speed is a very useful thing to have when looking for Geysers as a lot of it is about covering ground.

 

[space voyager]

Is it at least certain that a planet with listed geological formation in the system map (after a detailed scan) actually has that formation to be found?

 

[varonica]

Is it at least certain that a planet with listed geological formation in the system map (after a detailed scan) actually has that formation to be found?

I would strongly suggest the answer is yes unless there's a bug in operation, for instance the current one where biological life appears to have vanished from some places they were previously found may affect volcanic features as well.

The thing is, I can search a couple of hours and not find anything, but in those couple of hours, even on a small world, you only really cover a small percentage of the surface when you search. There was one recently where I spent many hours searching and found nothing, but I had some other good targets in the same system so I did those, then went back to have another look, picked an area that was previously on the dark side and not visually searchable and found a site in around 10 minutes!

There's the other one where I refused to leave until I found something....six days later and I don't know how many hours and there they were.

I expect if you get enough people and spend enough time you will find volcanism on any planet where it is listed, it can be just hard to find sometimes. So personally I am as certain as I can be that if I spend enough time on a body marked as volcanic I will find them, I just don't have that much time available and my other mission priorities drag me away usually after a couple of hours if I haven't found any by then.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The smaler the planet the better, as more surface grounds means less chance to run into them. Less then 500km radius is good mark to go by, but I occasionly look on bigger planets and just yesterday I found Geysers on a planet with 860km radius. Above 1000km radius it gets real tough but its not impossible as I once did find Volcanism on a planet above that.

Where to look its all about Canyons, in curves or near curves I tend to have most success of finding them. As an example, places like that:

Spoiler

http://abload.de/img/teaka9ageysers2yaum2.png

But the more important question probably is "How long should I look?", If I don't find something in about 10-15 min I normaly just leave the Planet, unless I really want to find something on a certain planet then I go to supercruise and change location on the planet itself.
Thats pretty much a "feel" thing tough and no science, but early experience kinda where that when I found something on a planet I did so in about 10-15 minutes, If I didn't in that timespan then I didn't find anything at all and just ended up flying around for ages without finding anything.


There are thse outcrops thingys you can find on Geysers and they do give you mats when shooting but I'm no expert there as I rarley ever did shoot and collect these.


Oh yeah, one more thing: Part of the reason I have quite a good success rate of finding volcanism on my current trip is probably because I have a Courier with over 700 top speed. Speed is a very useful thing to have when looking for Geysers as a lot of it is about covering ground.

Cheers!