Ok, I will ask. I searched around but can't find a thing.

 

After you deploy the seeker, and you get the circle with the green indicator, what do they mean?

 

Half circle = close? or Far? I also get 1/4 circle and even smaller one.

 

Trying to use logic, I thought half circle was something very close, ie, near you, vs the smaller green indicators to be farther away. I keep working on that theory, but in the end it almost seems random in relation to what I find. I usually put on a boost when I search, not sure if that makes a big difference.

 

Any info or links welcome.

When you use no booster or the green one, the circle is always half and it points to the general direction where the item is. I always listen to the sound it makes when the scanning ring appears as it seems to get higher as you get closer to the item.

 

If you pop a blue booster then the closer you get to the item, the smaller the scanning circle becomes. It can lock onto the item better as you get closer to it, giving you a more precise directional location.

The width of the filled in portion of the arc indicates range to the sonar target.

 

Narrow = far away

Wide = close

 

Also , the results of the sonar probe are based on the location where the seeker droid was deployed, not where your toon is standing at the time.

What do you mean by wide or narrow? To me they all look the same. It is always half circle and always the same width. So I have no idea what u are talking about. Can you please clarify better as I am also having problems understanding how to use this. It takes me hours to find the seeds and when I finally do it was because I teamed up with someone and they stumbled across it.

What do you mean by wide or narrow? To me they all look the same. It is always half circle and always the same width. So I have no idea what u are talking about. Can you please clarify better as I am also having problems understanding how to use this. It takes me hours to find the seeds and when I finally do it was because I teamed up with someone and they stumbled across it.

 

You only get the half-circles if you use the MK-II enhancers.

When the scan completes you'll see a pair of concentric rings round your toon.

 

1) if the scan doesn't find anything, both rings turn red & blink a few times

 

2) if the scan detects something in range, both rings turn green. And a portion of the space between the two rings will also be filled in by solid green. The size of this solid green portion varies based on distance to the buried object.

The solid green portion also indicates which direction it is to the buried object, and which portion of the scan was blocked by the buried buried object. So, as the droid is deployed closer to the buried target, the green arc grows wider.

 

When the scan reads 180 degrees the buried target is less than 5 meters from where you deployed the seeker droid. Male body type 2 is roughly 2 meters tall - so the buried object is VERY close to where you deployed the droid, when you see this wide arc.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Cleet_Xia

The size of this solid green portion varies based on distance to the buried object.

The solid green portion also indicates which direction it is to the buried object, and which portion of the scan was blocked by the buried buried object. So, as the droid is deployed closer to the buried target, the green arc grows wider.

 

I agree that when using the prototype booster the width varies, but I disagree on how it does so. I'm able to craft these so I run with them on constantly, and in all my experience the circle gets narrower the closer you get.

The discrepancy is why I asked.

 

On a true sonar (real life), if the object is farther the marker would be narrow, and when the target is close it widens up. But that doesn't mean that is how BW implemented it. They could have gone with "a smaller marker denotes a smaller distance" argument,

 

I have been following the "narrow arc means farther" and have been able to find targets in 2 or 3 casts. So when the arc is wider I cast right by me. This is another contention point : people seem sure the arc relates tot he droid position, but it always shows around you, even if you move between the cast and the appearance of the rings. So I started doing what some people said, after the cast, when dig starts, move tot he droids location. That way the droid and your position are the same. It doesn't seem to improve the location rate.

 

I have another theory : I don't think the items are on the ground before you cast. It is possible that as you enter a zone, the droids detects the active area. Then, each time you cast, a random % hit rate is applied to your dig, which decides if you "hit" or not. This explains how consecutive digs at one spot can give items or not. And how I get a seed in one area while somebody else gets one a few meters away. It could be we are just playing random dice.

Also , the results of the sonar probe are based on the location where the seeker droid was deployed, not where your toon is standing at the time.

 

Are you certain of this?

The text says: "....from your present location" so I would think it's from where you are standing when it was deployed.

I wish we could get a definitive answer on this. I could use the seeker droid better if I knew the protocol.

I tested this on Tat with the fossilized larva clusters as my intended target. I can confirm that the sonar pulse shows direction relative to your character when the pulse happens, not where the seeker droid was deployed.

 

How I tested it:

 

I stood south of a larva cluster and deployed my seeker droid to the north, east and west of a larva cluster. The sonar pulse always pointed north.

 

I then deployed my droid east of the larva cluster and ran north of the larva cluster while the droid was digging. The sonar pulse pointed south.

 

I repeated that but deployed my droid to the west of the cluster. Same result.

 

I haven't tested to see if the green indicator gets larger or smaller with distance.

 

No matter where my character stood in relation to the cluster the sonar pulse always pointed in its direction relative to my character, not where the droid was deployed.

I agree that when using the prototype booster the width varies, but I disagree on how it does so. I'm able to craft these so I run with them on constantly, and in all my experience the circle gets narrower the closer you get.

 

I tested this on Tat with the fossilized larva clusters as my intended target. I can confirm that the sonar pulse shows direction relative to your character when the pulse happens, not where the seeker droid was deployed.

 

How I tested it:

 

I stood south of a larva cluster and deployed my seeker droid to the north, east and west of a larva cluster. The sonar pulse always pointed north.

 

I then deployed my droid east of the larva cluster and ran north of the larva cluster while the droid was digging. The sonar pulse pointed south.

 

I repeated that but deployed my droid to the west of the cluster. Same result.

 

I haven't tested to see if the green indicator gets larger or smaller with distance.

 

No matter where my character stood in relation to the cluster the sonar pulse always pointed in its direction relative to my character, not where the droid was deployed.

 

Both of you are correct. Using these as "guides", I've been able to find the seeds within 5 tries. Thank you both for finally clarifying.

In my own little test, on third cast I got a VERY narrow green arc.

 

Far cast, nothing.

 

Ignored the next sonar, and deployed right next to my feet, got the seed. It was within a meter of my feet.

 

It would seem that contrary to normal life sonar behavior, the shorter the green arc is the closer to you the object is.

It would seem that contrary to normal life sonar behavior, the shorter the green arc is the closer to you the object is.

 

Bingo!

 

That's a MK-II enhancer behaviour. It's quite helpful, though. Consider that normally, the probe checks the location you specified, and if it finds nothing, a pulse from your present location is used to scan in a 25 meter radius. A hemisphere is filled in, to indicate the direction of buried stuff, if there is any. But, it's actually indicating a 180 degree range. The object could be anywhere between you and 25 meters away from you, along any angle within that hemisphere. If you were very close to the object, this could result in the player covering a tremendous search area, when in fact they were nearly on top of the object. So, when you are close, the enhancer offers a more precise directional range, in order to save you the trouble of scanning such a wide set of angles

 

Odd little system to get the hang of, but neat!

I've been at this for an hour on taris and found nothing. I'm losing faith in this damn droid. Are guys sure the green bar shows where the item is? The reason I ask is because I've sent the droid down in the same location three times and got 3 different results of where the treasure is. ***? Does this thing teleport around?

 

Can someone PLEASE explain to me how the hell you do this in simple terms or with pop up picture book or video or something because I'm about ready to uninstall.

I agree that when using the prototype booster the width varies, but I disagree on how it does so. I'm able to craft these so I run with them on constantly, and in all my experience the circle gets narrower the closer you get.

 

How do you get the schematics ? GSI reputation vendor ?

 

I've been at this for an hour on taris and found nothing. I'm losing faith in this damn droid. Are guys sure the green bar shows where the item is? The reason I ask is because I've sent the droid down in the same location three times and got 3 different results of where the treasure is. ***? Does this thing teleport around?

 

Can someone PLEASE explain to me how the hell you do this in simple terms or with pop up picture book or video or something because I'm about ready to uninstall.

 

That's how I understand it :

 

The green ring (to me it's one ring) gets filled, and the filled part gives you a general direction where to go to.

 

Use it like an RL compass. If you don't know how it works, go into a shop and let it be explained.

 

So, you get a green direction indication. You move forward. Next try.

 

So, what happens if you went too far ? Of course, it will indicate a different direction than before, because you went too far.

 

It's like asking for a specifig building in a street. Let's say you want to find a carpenter. You ask someone : "Where is it ?".

He or she replies with : "Oh, it's over there, about 100 metres away."

"Thank you" you reply, and walk on, into that direction.

But, you have no measuring instrument, that's why you can't say whether you have been walking 50 metres, 150 metres, or 100 metres, or maybe even 200 metres.

 

Let's imagine you were so much in thought that you just didn't notice. You walked in fact 200 metres, but you didn't notice.

 

After a while you find that you didn't find the carpenter's house yet. So you ask another person. "Where is it ?" you want to know.

"Well," he says, "it is behind you ! You just need to walk something like ... 30 metres ? Well, I can't say, I'm bad at measuring." "Thank you," you respond. "Good luck !" he says to you.

 

As you walk back, you notice someone you know on the other side of the street. You cross the steet to say "hello" to her.

After a small talk you two decide to go into a café. But the way to it goes through a few narrow streets.

 

After you go out again, a few hours later, you have forgotten the directions. You find the way back again, finally see the street, but can't find the carpenter's house yet.

 

So ou ask another person. "Where is it" ? you ask.

"It's over there !" the person points to the house - and you get in fact a third, very different direction, very different from the direction those two other people had given you much earlier. In part different because you crossed the street.

 

So, in the end you got 3 different directions based on where you had been standing. You have been "overwalking" the distance needed to the carpenter's house, and then you were told the house was actually lying in your back.

Then, you crossed the street, and got a third direction.

 

It all depends on where you stand, and this is called : Context.

Edited November 28, 2013 by AlrikFassbauer

Spent a couple hours on my first site trying to figure this out. Since there is no active participation tutorial for this mechanic,I would suggest that players experiment on the any of the planets that don't have too many enemies roaming about.

 

Here are some things I figured out:

• The green directional feedback given when within range is relative to the location of the recent seeker droid dig. I figured this out by staying in one place and casting a wide net with the seeker attempts, which resulted in arcs that pointed in different directions.
  
• Your target can be hiding anywhere in the sweep of the resulting green arc. I got faster unaided results by thinking of the 180-degree arc as a wall: "It's anywhere (within range) on the other side of this line." The boosters can help narrow the arc to save on a few passes, but they are not so necessary.
  

 

The biggest problem I had on Taris (my first attempt) is that the target was buried on an overhead structure . I figured each location would be randomized when the player enters the region, but never considered that something that should realistically be buried would be nested above me.

 

Hope this helps people save some time. Good luck!

Everyone is talking about this "ark" and "distance" but no one has adequately and graphically described EXACTLY how the arc works. How do I know which direction it's actually pointing. It's not so obvious as you might think since it's not an arrow.

 

Plus someone said that the blank part of the circle is "blocked out" by the object. So now I'm really confused.

 

I mean, if I have an result arc like this ( which direction do I go? Right or left?

 

At first I was going left because the curve is essentially pointing that way but then I started going right thinking about the blocking point raised by some of other commenter.

 

Frankly, and I absolutely love this game, but I think this seeker droid line was designed by a myopic sadist.

It means that the object is somewhere within the arc in a distance of... something.. Idk.

 

The game knows where the object is, and knows where the item is. It uses a random number generator to determine how the arc should look.

 

( <--- if the arc looks like that, then that means you want to go left.

Seeker droid DOES get broken sometimes. This is what happened to me and totally lost faith in it.

 

A ------ B ------------- C

 

Those are locations examples. This is what happened.

 

I am near point B, scan the nearest debris and get pointed towards A.

I go to next point closest to B at direction pointed, it led me to A point.

I scan it and sonar points me back towards B. I scan something else near B but stand at line between A and B. Sonar points me back to A.

I start to get frustrated and go scan something else near A, sonar points me back to B direction.

Next I scan something else near B, sonar points towards A again.

I ignore sonar and start scanning spots I did not scan yet until I find Seed of Rage from point C which is far away from both A and B.

 

Yeah..

Seeker droid DOES get broken sometimes. This is what happened to me and totally lost faith in it.

 

A ------ B ------------- C

 

Those are locations examples. This is what happened.

 

I am near point B, scan the nearest debris and get pointed towards A.

I go to next point closest to B at direction pointed, it led me to A point.

I scan it and sonar points me back towards B. I scan something else near B but stand at line between A and B. Sonar points me back to A.

I start to get frustrated and go scan something else near A, sonar points me back to B direction.

Next I scan something else near B, sonar points towards A again.

I ignore sonar and start scanning spots I did not scan yet until I find Seed of Rage from point C which is far away from both A and B.

 

Yeah..

 

The problem here is that it doesn't point you in one direction, it points you in several direction. About half of all available directions IIRC. So there's a lot to choose from.

Seeker droid DOES get broken sometimes. .

It's not really broken, it's just because of the way it works.

 

1. It's a "post-dig" scan. If there is more than one target in range, it appears to fix on the closest target, or it may just randomly choose one (I don't know which). Using one of the boosters narrows the scan width and helps to resolve a single target. (I've has instances where I've gotten 2 items within a few feet of each other.)

 

2. In many areas there are sub-surface creatures which move around the area. Sometimes the post-dig scan can fix on those and either temporarily confuse the issue, or even lead you off to where you either end up fighting the creature or the creature goes out of range and the trail fizzles.

 

With reference to the "arc" - the target is anywhere in the "green" direction. With an unaided scan (no boosters), that means that the target can be in any direction within the 180 degrees shown - not in the exact direction the arc's center is pointing. The boosters can narrow the range of direction.

Edited January 20, 2015 by JediQuaker

I just search in a grid pattern untill I find what im looking for. Sometimes the post dig info is helpfull sometimes I just find it. The seeker droid is very easy to use. Ive never used the boosts.