What's the trick to prospecting specific mat types?

[ichigono]

I submittted this as a bug yesterday, at least regarding deposit tracking used in concert with Minor Mage Focus and Excellent materials (in Fallen Gardens).

I was getting led to the same location in Fallen Gardens using either Minor Mage Focus/Excellent materials 50m deposit tracking or just plain Excellent mats 50m deposit tracking. I tried the tracking from several different locations around the compass 30m from the site to verify that I was getting led to the same 3mx3m area. I prospected thoroughly in the area for over an hour (using 5m prospecting, 40 deg spread), finding only basic ambers and other mats of various qualities, but nothing of excellent quality. I double and triple-checked my actions to verify that I was set up properly to detect Excellent mats, then wrote it all up as a bug ticket.

A GM contacted me, then we went to the site and I went over my methodology at length. He agreed with me that it was likely a bug, and recorded the site location as a part of the bug ticket.

If this is not a bug and the deposit tracking is working as intended (finding random deposits of random qualities), Nevrax should remove the ability to add any qualification bricks like Excellent materials or specific materials focus to deposit tracking, as its extremely misleading to the average prospector as to function.

I must admit that I like the idea of the GMs actually visiting the game and checking out our reports. Sometimes a developer has to see for him/herself how the software is operating in order to track it down and fix it. This gives me hope for the longevity of this game which has already caused 2 sleepless nights, and I've only had the game since Monday LOL

[lyrah68]

Sounds to me as if you bought Node tracking and think it is source node prospecting action... Tracking is useful if you are NOT a Fyros, and were good, as a little kid, at the hotter colder games.

To find for instance Choice Oath Bark. First get the "find better materials-Choice" prospecting skill and program your prospecting button with it and any other fancies you like (longer range, wider angle, faster time etc) and then add the specific type of item to that list and ballance it with the credits. Then off you go.

I personally use find blade materials when making daggers or swords. The node of Choice Big shells I found is in the MIDDLE of other dagger mats, so I find shafts and fiber just as often as I find the shells, until I find a node. THEN I switch to a more focus friendly action with knoweldge and POP I get the icon over the node, so i KNOW which node to harvest.

I've picked up the skills for finding Points and for finding Shafts. I've made custom actions that combine the Find within 100 meters option and the Find Shafts option, or Find within 100 meters and Find Points.

I use these custom actions, they lead me to a spot, and then when I prospect I can NOT find the specific mat type. I've even tried making a custom action with range increase, angle increase, and the specific item type. When I use that, it will tell me there is no item of the specified type, but the specified material is "near by."

I've moved all over the area in small increments using choice prospecting too, and will find all manner of mats, but NEVER the type for which I'm specifically looking, even though my prospecting attempts with the mat-specific options tell me there is something either right in front of me or else "near by."

Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong here, or is this a bug I should report?

[daleknd]

I will agree, the minor specifications stanza are broken for source tracking. Source tracking with a mat specification will still lead you to the closest mat of any specification. Tracking with a particular Quality, fine, choice, excellent et al. will still give you the closest mat at or lower then what you specified.

So in the case of hoping to use either one of them, mat type, or mat quality, if you are in a field of other mats, forget it. You'll go nuts trying to get it to work.

I disagree with part of what you are saying here. If I am looking for a particular material type, I will not ever find anything else. I could be in a large field of shell that would be good for blades but if I am specifically looking for material to use as lining I will never pop one of those nodes of shell.

Quality does, however, give anything from the specified level on down and honestly I think this is how it should be. Just because I am trying to find choice for someting doesn't mean I will turn away fine. You still get the experience from harvesting it and can either sell to NPCs or use it to skill up crafting.

Dalwin

(edit: never mind ,you are specifically talking about tracking not prospecting. The things I was talking about only refer to prospecting. Too many threads on related topics the last few days.)