Engineers Wake Scanning - Datamined Wake Exception Study

Duckfather · Jul 16, 2017

Hi all

I recently did a marathon wake scanning session (well, several really) and recorded the number of scans carried out in order to estimate the actrual drop rate of Datamined Wake Exceptions. I did it because they seem so painfully hard to come by. The results actually surprised me :-

Total no of Wake Scans : 251
No of scans giving no data : 53
No of scans giving Other data : 177
No of Datamined Wake Exceptions : 21

Datamined Wake Exception drop rate : 8.36%

That's actually a lot higher than I expected. I was thinking it was somewhere in the region of 1%. I think it just feels worse because of the amount of time it takes to scan all these wakes (several sessions of 1 to 3 hours a piece over the weekend)

I know it's not exactly a scientific investigation, and a larger data set would give a better result, but I just gave up the will to live!

PanTast · Jul 16, 2017

Thanks man for the data.
Could not rep again.

I think the balancing of material acquisition is currently just right. Of course everyone wishes the materials or data they need right now would drop more frequently

o7

Lucian667 · Jul 16, 2017

As somebody who's looking for them right now that's very good info, thanks for making the effort!

CMDR Cylixx · Jul 16, 2017

Thats a very good tidbit of info, thanks for taking the time.

Limoncello Lizard · Jul 16, 2017

8.3%, that's one in twelve.

Jethro49 · Jul 17, 2017

Thanks for the stat works, repped

Were you in specific system states (outbreak, famine) for your scanning sessions ?

My (poor) experience : I did dedicated datamined wake exception scanning sessions in a famine system, in a distribution center POI. It was a bit tedious, but quite productive (~15 in one hour of flight). Then I did 'casual scanning', by scanning the wakes out of stations when leaving. Seemed less productive, but in line with your observations.

ethelred · Jul 17, 2017

I just did my scans where I knew it would be busy - Eravate.

Does the system state make a difference?

Jethro49 · Jul 17, 2017

ethelred said:
I just did my scans where I knew it would be busy - Eravate.

Does the system state make a difference?

It might according to this. I tested, but didn't make any stats. By this method, I was able to scan a lot of wakes in a short amount of time without to look more or less randomly for a busy port... but if you already know a busy port, I think that same results can be expected.

Zenith · Jul 17, 2017

Scanning wakes at a Distribution Centre in a famine state system is one way to fill up on engineering data. I spent about 30 minutes last night scanning and got 12 Datamined Wake Exceptions. Then I went to Dav's Hope and spent another 30 minutes circling the settlement to get 12 Chemical Manipulators. Finally I went to Farseer and got a brilliant G5 FSD roll on the 3rd roll.
1.5 hours in total to crank up my ship's range, but I shouldn't need to change the FSD in this ship ever again.

Duckfather · Jul 17, 2017

I did my scanning in Sol, around the Abraham Lincoln station. I always go there as there tends to be a lot of traffic once the instance gets up and running

Wasp0 · Jul 17, 2017

Like Zenith, i use Distro Centres for my Datamined wake thingys! i gather roughly about 30 at a time (10 hits x3 =30), rarely do i spend more than 45 mins to an hour in a Distro Centre. not sure why people don't use these more to get these annoying data.

Rankaze · Jul 18, 2017

Wasp0 said:
Like Zenith, i use Distro Centres for my Datamined wake thingys! i gather roughly about 30 at a time (10 hits x3 =30), rarely do i spend more than 45 mins to an hour in a Distro Centre. not sure why people don't use these more to get these annoying data.

Another good way is to find a Boom system with only one station. It will generate constant traffic.

I find a Viper Mk. III with 3A enhanced performance thrusters, 3A sensors, and an A or B wake scanner (A may require overcharging the power plant) is the perfect vehicle for wake scanning, as it's the fastest ship that can equip 3A sensors (you want all the sensor range you can get).

A stripped Cobra III is almost as good, though, and doesn't need engineering.

Wasp0 · Jul 18, 2017

Rankaze said:
Another good way is to find a Boom system with only one station. It will generate constant traffic.

I find a Viper Mk. III with 3A enhanced performance thrusters, 3A sensors, and an A or B wake scanner (A may require overcharging the power plant) is the perfect vehicle for wake scanning, as it's the fastest ship that can equip 3A sensors (you want all the sensor range you can get).

A stripped Cobra III is almost as good, though, and doesn't need engineering.

Yep another good example you mention. However if in a distro, you don't need to zap around fast as once you find the exact spot these ships jump out you can just park up and not move an inch and they always jump out in the same area. You might have to move up or down oe side to side, but ya don't need super fast anything. I sit there in one spot, watch TV/Catch up on the Forum and about every 5 mins another load jump out!

Duckfather · Jul 19, 2017

Well, I went to a Distribution Centre in a Famine system to see what things were like. Wow! It's a constant conveyor belt of wakes to scan! Probably 3 times as many wakes as I was seeing around Abraham Lincoln station in Sol!

If anyone is ever in need of doing a lot of wake scans, I thoroughly recommend going to a Distrubtion Centre and sitting in the middle of it with an engineered long range wake scanner. You won't be dissapointed

Lightspeed · Jul 19, 2017

Thanks, OP, for a helpful thread +1

oflow · Jul 19, 2017

I've gone to 4 famine systems and cant find a distro center. Flew within 1000Ls of every planet/moon mostly getting combat threat 3 and 4 fire detected signal sources.