I've been following the Engineers threads, including the frequent complaints on how long it takes to find yttrium and polonium on the surface of planets. This doesn't match my own experiences, even post 2.1, so I figure we've got a lot of newbie prospectors out there. I've even seen what I'd consider bad advice about how to find the stuff.
I'm hoping that this thread won't be about the 3-2-1 rule, or avoiding icy worlds, or which terrain is best. I'm also hoping that this tread won't be how to READ a wave scanner, as there's a whole website (http://wavescanner.net/) on how to read it.
I'd like this thread to be about once you've determined a place is worthy of a closer look, and you can tell the difference between mesosiderite and a metallic meteorite, how do you USE that wave scanner to quickly determine what very rare element is on planet?
This is my technique:
Once on planet, with my ship dismissed, I first make a slow circle to determine which direction is the most productive. There always seems to be one direction with more varied signals than the others.
Once I have a direction, I move towards it at a good pace, 25-30 m/s depending upon terrain. I don't go STRAIGHT at it, though, but weave back and forth along it, teasing out the individual signals from the background noise. It generally doesn't take too long, five to ten minutes on average, to find all the metallic meteorites and outcrop 2s in the area, and harvest them.
If 15 minutes has passed, or as I'm about to harvest my third node, I assume the area is played out, and move on. I recall my ship and take a quick hop to a new area, and start the process over.
It seems to me that meteorites tend to spawn in clumps, and those clumps are about 20 km apart, on average. If I have to travel that far to find a new one, I'm going to take my ship, which can travel at 300 m/s, as opposed to my SRV, which at best can manage 30.
So what's yours? I'm curious to see how everyone approaches this task.
I'm hoping that this thread won't be about the 3-2-1 rule, or avoiding icy worlds, or which terrain is best. I'm also hoping that this tread won't be how to READ a wave scanner, as there's a whole website (http://wavescanner.net/) on how to read it.
I'd like this thread to be about once you've determined a place is worthy of a closer look, and you can tell the difference between mesosiderite and a metallic meteorite, how do you USE that wave scanner to quickly determine what very rare element is on planet?
This is my technique:
Once on planet, with my ship dismissed, I first make a slow circle to determine which direction is the most productive. There always seems to be one direction with more varied signals than the others.
Once I have a direction, I move towards it at a good pace, 25-30 m/s depending upon terrain. I don't go STRAIGHT at it, though, but weave back and forth along it, teasing out the individual signals from the background noise. It generally doesn't take too long, five to ten minutes on average, to find all the metallic meteorites and outcrop 2s in the area, and harvest them.
If 15 minutes has passed, or as I'm about to harvest my third node, I assume the area is played out, and move on. I recall my ship and take a quick hop to a new area, and start the process over.
It seems to me that meteorites tend to spawn in clumps, and those clumps are about 20 km apart, on average. If I have to travel that far to find a new one, I'm going to take my ship, which can travel at 300 m/s, as opposed to my SRV, which at best can manage 30.
So what's yours? I'm curious to see how everyone approaches this task.
