Other than checking converging patrol routes there is only one other way to find things for sure: a search pattern with custom waypoints. Below is a pic of such a pattern that i use to find everything there is. It might be a slight spoiler, but if you just take a look at the pattern and if you do not memorize the system properties too much it should be ok. The short waypoint routes that connect the long routes of the pattern should be about 12km apart at max because 6km is the effective sensor range of the navigation map, even when a cloud reduces the sensor effciency. Only the targetting scanners are affected by this limitation. One more thing: by my experience there is nothing to be found outside of clouds, debris/asteroid fields or other visible areas. The empty space seems always to be empty. I did some excursions to different empty space parts and didn't find anything.

here's the pattern pic:



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"Sorry for offending your delicate sensibilities. Perhaps my next film will be about a talking dog who braves the harsh realities of the world in a heart warming attempt to find his rightful owners, who mistakenly thought he was dead. That way you could watch it and get a fuzzy feeling inside and when it was over you could all go f*ck yourselves." - Troy Duffy, director of The Boondock Saints

Edited by - Lev Arris on 22-03-2003 03:11:07

Heya,
A good post above. Also, be sure to set your sensors to look for everything with the intertwining rings icon on your sensor display (so whether it's a ship or station or whatever you find it). That way you won't miss anything.
I do something similar to the above, only I use a zigzag pattern. I'll grant that it probably isn't QUITE as effective (you'll POSSIBLY miss a few things, especially if you make the zig zags too wide), but it's slightly faster, and you're still likely to find most everything.
The other thing - if you go into the map and have it display patrol routes, there are often patrols around hidden objects. I still sweep whole fields just to make sure, but it's never a bad idea to pay some extra attention to those patrol routes.
Finally, though derelict ships and such seem only in cloudy places like said above so far, jump holes and bases are in asteroid fields sometimes.

Anyway, good luck on your searches!

what is the sensor range in the rheinland particle soup?

Like i said: the range of the nav map isn't affected so special things always show up on it even in the thickest sensor jamming soup, as long as you get as close as 6km that is. The range of the targetting scanners however can be reduced to 600m.

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"Sorry for offending your delicate sensibilities. Perhaps my next film will be about a talking dog who braves the harsh realities of the world in a heart warming attempt to find his rightful owners, who mistakenly thought he was dead. That way you could watch it and get a fuzzy feeling inside and when it was over you could all go f*ck yourselves." - Troy Duffy, director of The Boondock Saints

I noticed that once I finished the SP story, my navmap detected jump holes and wrecks and everything else for that matter (planets, stations, jumpgates, etc.) at a much greater distance. Just thought it was pretty interesting. Like, before, I had t right on top of it. Now, I can find stuff within a three-gridblock radius of my ship.

"Mercy is the mark of a great man. ::stabs guy with sword:: Guess that makes me a good man. ::stabs guy again:: Well, I'm all right." - Malcom Reynolds, Captain, Firefly-class Starship "Serenity"

*************************************POTENTIAL SPOILER**********************************
Anyone else find a system called "Unknown system"? I was flying around in the Omicron Gamma system and just for the heck of it, decided to explore the green nebula in the upper right hand corner of the nav map...when all of a sudden a few Nomads came out of nowhere and attacked me. I knew this was strange...seing as how I had already finished the game. After the battle, I fly a little bit more. I check the navmap and viola! "Unknown Jump hole" So far I've found two planets. Both allow you to land. There's no merchandise to buy, only a bar. One planet...planet Gammu, is inhabited by Droids. The next planet, planet Primus...is run by a bunch of Orangatangs...strange... I hope there are more of these "unknown systems" out there.

goto the spoiler forum theres like 50 threads about it.

I've noticed that many jump holes are located somewhat close to their jump gate system's counterpart. Jump holes tend to be located on the fringes of a system and/or inside various space phenomena (e.g. debris fields, asteroid fields, gas clouds, etc.).

Because criminals and shady organizations tend to exist on the fringes, if you are neutral/friendly with them you can hail them and see if they mention a base or trade route that doesn't appear on the map. Fly in formation with them and see if you can hitch a ride to their destination. Found a few jump holes this way that did not have a jump gate associated with them (in that system).

To find wrecks, simply fly into asteroid/junk fields. Some I've spotted while zipping through trade lanes that take you through an asteroid/junk field.

there are two unknown sectors i have found

i mean systems

there are only 2 total