El Yatta
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Posted - 2006.05.15 20:13:00 -
[1]
We had an interesting experience busting a spot that was around 100au, almost vertical (around 340-350 degrees is straight up is 0/360). Now, dropping 192's anywhere in the system, even at something elevated, of course found nothing, because they were nowhere near a 1au pancake the probes made.
So, we observator'd and we started getting results. Now, because an observator deviation is RARELY within the 14au detection range of normal scanner, you have to keep analysing observators, until you get a deviation within that range. NOTE: the minimum deviation on observators is broken, unlike other probes, so you CAN get a deviation that small. This is a good bug.
Here's the interesting bit, ALMOST ALL of the deviations we got were vertical, when in theory it can deviate you in a 97au sphere, as the probes themselves are the only ones that work spherically instead of in 1au thick pancakes. So, if you keep analysing enough you can get one deviation within 14au of the spot, and then another one on the other side of them, in a line with the main part of the solar system:
(d for deviation)
D1 ---- more than 14au ----- d2 --- say, 10au ---- TARGET ----- some more au ---- d3 ----- some more deviations --- 100au ---- main part of solar system, stations, gates, planets.
So, you manually warp and narrow it down, until you are within 3au of them - but vertically. Now, we should be able to use the method described in the OP to drop probes either side of them, and bust. But no. So, we narrow down further and get to within half an au - now they almost horizontal to us, on the same plane, so if we drop 3au probes here, they are well within the 3au sideways, and within the 1au pancake vertically!
COMPUTER SAYS NO.
Now we are foiled by another property of scan probes - one that I have not personally tested, but appears to be true. If you drop 3 probes in thes ame place, the overlap area is too small (I know, I know, normally you wouldn't be concerned about this, but it does play a part!), and you scan MUCH LESS than the full "width" (horizontal) of the pancake. So, you need probes on either side of them in a horizontal factor, as well!
This was impossible in our case, as the targets weren't sitting on the line we had drawn between the sun (or the station), and the furthest observator deviation, even though all the other observator deviations were! They were sitting less than an au OFF TO THE SIDE, so at a SLIGHT different angle. You can't go sideways, as we only have points on a line to deal with, and the solar system was so far off we couln't get a diagonal line by going to someting on the edge of the system, it was all more-or-less vertical from that height.
SO: does changing the PLANE of probing, by dropping probes in a line, work? Yes! You can move them from a "horizontal plane". BUT, you still need to get either side of them to work, because of the effects of 'overlap area'.
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