Radar
Template:Machinery The radar is used to remotely explore a large piece of the map and to provide a smaller area of remote vision on the player's map. It is has a high power demand of 300kW so a radar indirectly creates more Pollution when powered by Boilers and steam engines, which attracts more biters. The radar will be attacked by enemies that come within very close range like turrets, but will not attract biters from long range like polluting structures do. See Let's see your clever builds.
The radar continuously scans a nearby 7x7 area to provide constant monitoring of nearby enemies, but will also slowly explore a much larger 29x29 chunk area. It will show enemy lifeforms and structures, as well as trains, cars, and other players in the scanned area.
Nearby Pulse Scanning
Radar continuously scans a 7x7 Chunk (224x224 Tiles), centered on the chunk the radar occupies. This nearby area is updated as a single pulse approximately every second. At reduced power levels this nearby pulse scan will take longer, which can lead to 'blinking' on the player's map similar to the long range scan. This is particularly noticeable at dawn and dusk on solar powered radar stations.
At 20% power the radar will pulse about every 4 seconds which will still keep the nearby area continuously lit on the map, but will provide reduced detail on incoming waves of aliens. 20% power can be achieved by a single solar panel, or by using one isolating accumulator for every 5 radars. Reduced power also slows down the long-range scan.
Long Range Survey Scanning
Radars explore (= scan) one far away Chunk every time the sector scanning progress bar fills, every 33.333... seconds at full power. Mouse-over or click-open the radar details to see this progress bar. Long range scanning is visible on the map as a single chunk lighting up for several seconds, then slowly darkening.
- It scans the unexplored country first, represented by pitch black areas on the map.
- One chunk scan takes 10 MJ to complete, with a power draw of 300 kW it takes 10 MJ / 300 kW = 33.333... seconds to scan one chunk.
- This is done in an 29x29 chunks around the Radar, excluding the nearby 7x7 chunk.
- With a total number of 797 chunks (29x29 - 7x7), it takes one radar 7 hours 20 minutes to complete one full scan cycle.
- If everything is already explored it continues to scan by re-scanning the oldest scanned chunk within range; one of the long range 'darkened' chunks on the map.
- Multiple additional radars will smartly share long-range chunks, reducing the amount of time it takes to complete the long-range survey scan.
It is possible that the natives will build a new nest or village while you are not scanning the area. Don't be surprised!
It is always possible to stack more radars, to get more frequent update of the surrounding area.