| Author |
Topic |
Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 18:42:00 - [ 1]
Learning to use the ScannerOrigonal SourceThe long-range ship scanner is one of the most commonly used tools of piracy, something used far more than even weaponry itself. This device helps you discover viable safespot areas, locate a victim, estimate the saftey of a moon, and even review the status of complexes. In short, a good scanner pilot can locate a victim under 30 seconds. In long, let's get to the beef of how it all works: Understanding the InterfaceThere are three basic parts of the scanner: - The system graphical interface, also known as sgi (pronounced 'sigee'). This gives a basic visual representation of the solar system layout along with the choice to interact with everything at a distance. Hovering over the dots displays the moons, planets, gates, and stations below your mouse. You can remotely interact with them by right clicking on the dot, selecting the specific planet/moon/gate/station, and then choosing an action. Red = Asteroid belts, Green = Stargates, White = Planets and Moons
Also note the white and green cones coming from your ship's location. Notice that as you rotate your camera the cones rotate. This is because the ship directional scanner is determained by where your camera is facing, not your ship. The green cone indicates how wide your scanning range is while the white cone indicates how wide your camera viewing angle is.
- Scanning Display List, also known as the sdl, pronounced 'seedill'. Here you adjust the values in your scan, from range to angle of scan, including what to include in the scan results. Checking the box to use overview settings is incredibly important because it will only return the results that are listed in your overview, rather than every thing possible. There are multiple differences in the way you can configure your overview to streamline the scanning process, but as that will be a seperate tutorial for now just use your most common overview settings. First let's explain the Scanning Angle. Remember the SGI and the two cones on your ship? Narrow the scanning range down to 90 degrees and watch the green cone narrow down to almost the same size as your camera viewing angle. Now set it to 60 degrees, then 180 degrees. Note how it adjusts on the SGI so you can help get an idea of how wide an angle you are scanning in comparison to what you see with your camera.
Next, the Range controller. Keeping in mind that this is a long-range scanner it will only scan in Km not Meters. The absolute farthest you can set your scanning range to is 2147483647, which can also be achieved by simply typing 999999999999 so that it auto adjusts to the farthest distance. But, how far away is 2,147,483,647 km? An AU (Astronomical Unit) is currently measured at 149,598,000 km. So, how many AU in our farthest scan? 14.355 AU, from 2,147,483,647 / 149,598,000. That max range distance is important when combined with your overview settings as you can tell situations like "from this spot I can cover x x x x and x belt, but belt x is off scanner". Here is a short list to help cover AU scanning ranges, in general for easy memory, going in incriments of 150,000,000 per AU:
150,000,000 = 1 AU
300,000,000 = 2 AU
450,000,000 = 3 AU
600,000,000 = 4 AU
750,000,000 = 5 AU
900,000,000 = 6 AU
1,050,000,000 = 7 AU
1,200,000,000 = 8 AU
1,350,000,000 = 9 AU
1,500,000,000 = 10 AU
1,650,000,000 = 11 AU
1,800,000,000 = 12 AU
1,950,000,000 = 13 AU
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Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 18:43:00 - [ 2]
Edited by: Malka Badi''a on 06/04/2006 18:45:34Final aspect of the SDL is the results list. Three columns help to process the resulting information. The Name column shows the ship/item/planet name, while the Type name shows the actual item designation, such as Planet (Gas) or Covetor. Knowing the difference between these two are important because a few tactics of PvP is to rename your ship something completely different in hopes to confuse rookie scanner users, such as marking your shipname as Incursus so that the name column shows 'Incursus' but the Type column still shows 'Enyo'. The Distance column is only useful if the data is within a verifiably close distance and only works with player ships that are 1 AU and under, IIRC. - Scan Probe Results, also known as 'I have no idea how to make scan probes work', pronounced 'dubbayatee eff".
Using it: An exampleHere is a brief example situation in which you can get an idea of how a murderer would use a scanner to pinpoint the enemy. Note that I use a combination of range/overview/pinpointing versus just Range or just angle Pinpointing. So bare with me, as I've found it to be the fastest combination. A good practice test is to do it with a friend or anchor a few cans. 1. You enter a system, scanner window is activated. 2. Let's keep things simple for now, and warp to Planet I. 3. Run a 360 degree scan upon arrival with the maxium scanning range, using overview settings. 4. If you spot your target on the 360 then narrow down your system into two quadrans, west and east, by running a 180 degree scan that covers the entire western area of the system (remember, use your camera to align it) and if it isn't in the western quadrant, run a 180 degree scan that covers the eastern area of the system. 5. Let's say, for now, that the target was spotted on the western quadrant. time to narrow down that quadrant into two parts, northwest and southwest. Split up the western half into two 90 degree scans. Think of it like a pizza. you cut the pizza in half, then you cut one of the halves into half. If he isn't on the north western quadrant, scan the southwestern quadrant Note! Common sense should be used. If there are no belts, moons, planets, or stations in the northwestern quadrant, for example, then there is no need to scan right away. Go straight to the southwestern quadrant scan and if you can't find him there first, then scan the northwestern quadrant, as it means he could be at a safe spot in the middle of no where. 6. You've got it down to a singular quadrant out of four in under 15 seconds. Time to pinpoint. By pressing the Alt button you will suddenly see Station, Moon, Belt, and Planet icons appear on your game display (not the scanner). By using this and narrowing down your angle of search (maybe to 30 or 15, depending upon where things are). Use these icons (you may need to make the overview scanner transparent to view results without hindering your camera view) you can find his exact location. How? When pressing alt there pops up a small, white square box in the middle of your ship. That is the direct center of your camera and therefore you would align that box up to the new icons on screen for accuracy pinpointing. An example would be to set your scanning range to 15 degrees, press and hold alt, rotate the camera so that your white ship box is directly facing an asteroid belt icon (triangle), and then scanning from there. Maybe, while pressing alt, you've pinpointed him down to Asteroid Belt icon VI - 1 and a Planet. Time to warp to the belt and have fun, and if he isn't there then do a quick warp to the planet. |
Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 18:43:00 - [ 3]
Of course having variable overview settings helps greatly, as if the belts are clear you can turn on planets and add the planets to the overview list to get an idea of where he is. A 30 degree scan may show two belts and your victim, but narrowing it down to 15 degrees and then scanning each belt (if they are not too close) is going to tell you straight away which belt you need to warp to. Other overview settings such as adding control towers helps you avoid warping to a moon with a PoS that your victim may be hiding in, but that is reserved for a seperate tutorial.
Conclusion
That's it. The basics of scanning are a peice of cake and it's up to you to find a method of pinpointing that is the fastest and most effective for your style. As time goes on you will get faster and eventually learn important aspects that can't be properly explained here without going into incredible detail, but are much more easily learned as time goes on (such as when multiple asteroid belts overlay, go to that planet instead of the belts to narrow down which belt it is easier than trying to 5 degree scan it.) |
Slink Grinsdikild
Brotherhood of Wolves
Astral Wolves |
Posted - 2006.04.06 18:48:00 - [ 4]
Great guide, I knew you were writing one. Should help the scanning impaired a lot.   Quote:
also known as 'I have no idea how to make scan probes work', pronounced 'dubbayatee eff"
Made me chuckle  |
Captain Thunk
Sniggerdly |
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:27:00 - [ 5]
Was able to work all this out myself in about 10 minutes. Only hard bit was discovering scan angle was dependent on camera angle - rest is a doddle.
Is this "sigee" and "seedil" nonsense from official CCP documentation somewhere or did you make that up? |
Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:30:00 - [ 6]
Edited by: Malka Badi''a on 06/04/2006 20:31:40The concept is simple yes, but if you visit the rookie forums or channels you will realise how hard a topic this is for some. And that's fine. Not all information can be processed or explored by all individuals. Thus, tutorials. Quote:
Is this "sigee" and "seedil" nonsense from official CCP documentation somewhere or did you make that up?
I make a lot of acronyms or classifications for ease of communications (blame it on my entire family being in the Navy). Easier to say "Joe is AWOL*" versus "Joe is missing, and he didn't ask my permission. It's illegal." *Absent without leave. |
Captain Thunk
Sniggerdly |
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:32:00 - [ 7]
I didn't realise so many were struggling with the scanner, sure your guide will help them out
Your acronyms are blatantly not going to catch on - not that the scanner window or list ever need to be referenced. |
Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:38:00 - [ 8]
Quote:
Your acronyms are blatantly not going to catch on - not that the scanner window or list ever need to be referenced.
I'll disagree  The people I teach, guide, mentor, in game or in a help channel commonly refer or teach others with acronyms or words used to help them remember a certain way of thinking. It helps greatly with teaching, similar to how 'Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally' helped many people, when they were younger, keep in mind the Order of Mathamatical Operations (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction). Even if you never use them, I've seen such methods remain highly effective while I've taught or advised in EVE and in the real world. Did you have any other complaints, or is this just an alt troll? |
Donna Darko |
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:39:00 - [ 9]
What the heck is wrong with "the thigee...there, that, no, the other way!" ? Works wonders for me.
And I loved the scan probe comment as well :) |
Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:40:00 - [ 10]
Thanks donna :D Anyone that has a better understanding of scan probes (I'm clueless) please feel free to comment and inform. I'll add it to both here and the origonal forum post so that it's a more complete guide. |
OrangeAfroMan
Minmatar
Queens of the Stone Age
Rote Kapelle |
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:44:00 - [ 11]
I personally find them useful, and if i had a penny for every time i've heard someone say "how do you use the scanner" i'd have 100,000,000,000 isk by now. |
Donna Darko |
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:45:00 - [ 12]
Edited by: Donna Darko on 06/04/2006 20:54:39I'm feeling generous (and stupid, 'cause I said I'll never show this guide to anyone anymore, at least to make them give up and spare them the rage at the "No scan signatures found" message) so here is my guide. I wrote it as "semi-official" but on second thought, take it with a grain of salt, don't believe anything that's there to be written in stone. After all, it's my interpretation. I'd also like to point out something I had done when I started scanning: take one of those transparent sheets used for overhead projectors and draw circles to represent the scan ranges ( see this picture). Works damn well once you figured out where they are. It's a ***** to scan while holding the stupid piece of paper on top of your monitor with one hand while using the other to direct camera/change scan range, etc. |
Jacques Archambault
ISD YARR
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:47:00 - [ 13]
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Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:55:00 - [ 14]
Edited by: Malka Badi''a on 07/04/2006 16:01:33Thanks Jac :) As a side note and a thanks for that probe document, Darko, here is a neat tool to ease the scanning process for the general ship scanner. Whoa Nelly! Some people have been having issues with this since RMR. For whatever reason.. it still works on my client but crashes on a few others. Use at your own risk until we get a verifiable program. Scan AidWhat it does is overlay your eve client with circles that dictate where the scan ranges are going to be according to your camera, saving you the trouble of needing a physical overlay. Screenshot |
Donna Darko |
Posted - 2006.04.06 20:58:00 - [ 15]
Edited by: Donna Darko on 06/04/2006 22:56:16Edited by: Donna Darko on 06/04/2006 20:58:34 Originally by: Malka Badi'a
here is a neat tool to ease the scanning process for the general ship scanner.
Thanks, this looks neater than the program Drosssk wrote for me, but I think the idea was taken from the thread where I asked for it. Or at least I hope... You know, my 15 minutes of fame that's not really fame and stuff... *EDIT* NOT that Drosssk's program wasn't cool! It worked, so that was great! *EDIT 2* That thing freezes my computer :( Drosssk's doesn't. |
Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.06 21:01:00 - [ 16]
Just ran a spell check, bleh. Rushing to get to work ftl. I'll fix it tomorrow. |
Victor Valka
Caldari
Preta Light Industries
Naraka. |
Posted - 2006.04.07 03:25:00 - [ 17]
Damn nice guide. Good tips and some tricks here that I didn't know, or rather, realize. Some things I'd like to add, tho. Hope you don't mind. - 'roid belt icons and station icons should be visible without pressing ALT. That is unless I have some strange "Piewate Edition" UI.  - if you are using the ALT trick it is better, IMO, to go for the 5 degree scan angle. Less chance of a bad scan and a miss when telling your gangmates to warp in.  - having multiple overview settings saved is a must, like Malka already pointed out.. Personally, I had (and still have) several for scanning. Have NPC and cans in one of those and with a bit of guessing and experiance you can pick the best moment for an attack. Nothing like pouncing 'em when NPC have softened them a bit. That's all I can think off right now. Regards, W |
Zavernus Hamarabi
Caldari
Hotter Than Phyre Syndicate
|
Posted - 2006.04.07 03:43:00 - [ 18]
I use a slightly different, faster way. I sort my overview by distance and set these visable: Asteroid Belts, Cruisers, Frigates, Battleships, Battlecruisers and the like, stargates and stations.
I do a 360 scan, and judging by my max scan range (roughly 13au) i know that theres an object i want in that range. I then select each object starting from the closest and switch my scanner to 5 degrees, and scan each object.
Works ok i think, i've always found the angle reduction method rather tedious, and i often make mistakes with it.
Other than that, good guide :D |
TheDevilsJury
GoonFleet
GoonSwarm |
Posted - 2006.04.07 04:53:00 - [ 19]
that's a beautiful guide. I had to figure out how to use the scanner on my own, and that's exactly the method I figured out (360->180->90 etc). That was a week ago. Help channels couldn't help me, and they didn't have a comprehensive guide to refer me to. The best advice I got was "take 3 hours and go try and find stuff". If this guide had been avaliable a week ago it would've saved me 3 hours. Although learning it on my own has taught me more than reading a guide would've.
One question, should I always have my scan range to maximum? Is there any disadvantage to extending my scan range? |
Victor Valka
Caldari
Preta Light Industries
Naraka. |
Posted - 2006.04.07 06:08:00 - [ 20]
Originally by: TheDevilsJury
One question, should I always have my scan range to maximum? Is there any disadvantage to extending my scan range?
Only reason to set the scan range to something less then the maximum I can think of is when you are trying to bust a safe-spot the old-skool(  ) way. Other then that, no, there is no good reason to lower the scan range. /W |
Voculus
The Illuminati.
Pandemic Legion |
Posted - 2006.04.07 06:41:00 - [ 21]
Am I the only one who consistently has problems with the scanner not working when set below 60 degrees?
I can be sitting at a station with all my gangmates in front of me, and as soon as I scan with 30 degress, it finds nothing.
It's been this way since I began playing last December. |
Victor Valka
Caldari
Preta Light Industries
Naraka. |
Posted - 2006.04.07 06:55:00 - [ 22]
Originally by: Voculus
Am I the only one who consistently has problems with the scanner not working when set below 60 degrees?
I can be sitting at a station with all my gangmates in front of me, and as soon as I scan with 30 degress, it finds nothing.
It's been this way since I began playing last December.
Works damn fine for me. Do they [your gangmates] show up on your overview and/or do you have the "Use Overview Settings" box checked in you scanner window? /W |
Funk Masta
Voodoo Corporation
|
Posted - 2006.04.07 07:56:00 - [ 23]
Nice thread I thank you for it  |
Kibbler
Endemic Aggression
Exalted. |
Posted - 2006.04.07 08:39:00 - [ 24]
Beauty. Awesome guide :D
--Kibb |
Donna Darko |
Posted - 2006.04.07 14:09:00 - [ 25]
Originally by: Victor Valka
Originally by: Voculus
[...]I can be sitting at a station with all my gangmates in front of me, and as soon as I scan with 30 degress, it finds nothing.
Do they [your gangmates] show up on your overview and/or do you have the "Use Overview Settings" box checked in you scanner window?
First, are you pointing the camera towards them? try moving the camera so your ship looks like it's on top of your gangmate's ship then scan. It should show you their ships regardless of your overview not displaying gangmates. If not, erase the cache and try again. One more thing I noticed with the scanner is that, when scanning a lot of objects the scanner can hang (i.e. doing a 360° scan in a hub system) and it takes a long time to display results. The only solution I found is to close the scanner and re-open it, then scan again. |
Malka Badi'a
Doomheim
|
Posted - 2006.04.07 15:57:00 - [ 26]
Edited by: Malka Badi''a on 07/04/2006 15:58:48 Quote:
First, are you pointing the camera towards them? try moving the camera so your ship looks like it's on top of your gangmate's ship then scan. It should show you their ships regardless of your overview not displaying gangmates.
QFT. I've noticed over time that the scanner 360 runs a 360 degree scan for both the X, Y, and Z axis. However when narrowed down it feels as if it almost has a lack of Y scanning, stuck on a thin horizontal scan in which you would have to rotate the camera up or down to directly point at things that may be off the horizontal plane. Again, it may just be a bug. But glad people are enjoying the guide :) Quote:
'roid belt icons and station icons should be visible without pressing ALT. That is unless I have some strange "Piewate Edition" UI.
Every so often I lose the icons if they are too far away. I know they 'fixed' it in the patch but I remain paranoid and thus keep the alt pressed during the final pinpointing phase for two reasons: 1. Just in case a bug happens and the icons were missing 2. Just in case the are not at the belt, I already have the planet/moon/station/belt/gate icons up and ready to be scanning without a change in the overview settings. Nasty hack, but it works. |
Mr Raine
Caldari
Flashpoint.
Landlord. |
Posted - 2006.04.07 15:57:00 - [ 27]
The Use of Scanning probes,
There is a bit of an art with this, if you have masterd the above, and have a good sense of direction and range you will have no problems,
number 1,
you may ask your self how you get close enough to drop probes, well there are two ways of doing it, i will start with the hard but shortest in time to complete.
scaning the hard way is quicker but is for the slightly more advanced scanners out there, once you have a target say an "enyo" as above and you have a good idea about what direction its your job to get as close as you can and find 3 different spots around the target in a tryangle. i would suggest using a ship that warps slowly and not an interceptor/covert ops if your not used to making book marks as when your warping at 13au a second its hard to judge it correctly.
so you get one BM 3au away from the target, but the direction of the ship in space seems to be some were you cant get to. open your scanner and look at the picture of the sytsem in the top left as this will give u and indication on your location in the sytem and what warp path the person must have taken to make that safe spot,
remeber that there are player safe spots and then there are missions book marks, missions bookmarks are alot harder to find as most of the time there not on a "warpable" line, i will explain how to find these below.
scaning the easy way..
fact: if your within 150,000,000 = 1 AU you can drop 3* 3AU probes ontop of each other and find your target.
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breaky1
THE FINAL STAND
The Final Stand. |
Posted - 2006.04.07 16:50:00 - [ 28]
very nice guide, thanks! |
Victor Valka
Caldari
Preta Light Industries
Naraka. |
Posted - 2006.04.07 19:15:00 - [ 29]
Originally by: Malka Badi'a
Every so often I lose the icons if they are too far away.
Damn. I forgot that. It is true. There is some set distance past which the belt icons simply disappear or rather, don't show up on your screen by default. Totally my bad. It has been a while. Anyways. Good guide and keep it up! /W |
Ander
Gallente
Sniggerdly
Pandemic Legion |
Posted - 2006.04.07 21:54:00 - [ 30]
Hey Malka. Stop forum-w***ing for a while =) and post a copy of this guide on Eve-pirate.com . Thanks a bunch! :D |
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[Tutorial] Scanner - The swiss army knife of piracy