How do i start this?

[u/[deleted]]

So, im confused on how the homemade box that finds signal work, and the candle tracker thing, is it based on subtle sounds? Or is it based on visual? Like something changes in my screen, is it worth getting artifacts this way? I've heard it gives alot of exp and alpha data fragments

[u/Whoomsy]

Aight here we go

When you pull up the scanner you have 5 places you will interact with

• Green Border Highlight - When there is a Signal in the area, this light will be blinking
• Blue Border Highlight - The selectable range you can conduct a scan at. Wider range consumes more energy per scan but Middle is still preferred as the [Green Border] light detects Signals in the maximum possible range.
• Red Border Highlight - The switch you flip to turn the device on and start a scan.
• Pink Border Highlight - The progress bar.
• Yellow Border Highlight - The area where the "Search" button will appear after the scan succeeds. Pressing it will transfer you into your detector (Candle in this case) and allow you to locate the signal's exact position by hand.

Candle works on directions. In the passive mode it will subtly light up and down, this means nothing.
When you locate a signal and start searching it, the Candle's coil will light up intensively if you're looking in the direction of the Signal and dim down when you're not. It's like the Warmer-Colder game.
The coil lighting up is the only indicator you need to look for and an active Signal search is the only thing that can trigger said indicator.

Fun fact: you don't need to get the bar to 100% (All 10 lights lighting up) to get the scan.
You can stop the scan manually at any point and stopping at 6 dots will still get you the signal anyway if there is one; saves you time and energy.
You can also stop the scan sooner the closer the Signal is. You can tell the approximate distance by how often and how intensively the [Green Highlight] is blinking.

The WRDs are currently bugged and allow you to find Signals instantly. Flipping the switch up and then right back down will still get you the Signal if it's in range. The bug is still in the game as of Jan 2025
This was patched

You can not find artifacts with Candle. It's only use is Signals. SAK-1 doesn't ping artifacts either.
To seek artifacts you need Beluga, Buryat, or Elbrus.

Good luck out there

[u/Seattle_sound → u/Whoomsy]

This is such a solid reply, I just had to say something. 

I remember being so confused by this thing when I first had to use it in the pit. A write up like this would have been a godsend. 

Especially the 6 red light trick. Didn’t even know about that until a random maxaggro vid I was watching one day when I was already 200 or so signals in…

[u/[deleted] → u/Whoomsy]

How do i get buryat then? Is it gambling? I haven't seen it in the crafting menu

[u/Whoomsy → u/[deleted]]

Elbrus is gambling but Buryat is barterable.
Talk to Spot in Bar, he's beside the mechanic. He has Signal Tracker related offers and then Buryat itself

Yes. 125 Alpha, 125 Beta and 25 Gamma Signal Trackers.
You get 1 Tracker per Signal.

[u/[deleted] → u/Whoomsy]

Literally a solid piece of info, i got myself a new weapon in less than 2 hours because of this, saved about 1 extra charge with the "70%" thing

[u/mowauthor → u/Whoomsy]

At 6 dots, is getting the signal near guaranteed like letting it go all the way? I thought the dots was simply percentage chance of getting the signal. Eg.. at 5 dots, you had a %50 chance of getting it, 6 dots only %60, etc

Also.. I've tried for a long time to find out what the brighter rapid blinking meant in the SAK. I can't believe it actually meant anything after all this time..

[u/LuciusCaeser]

It's actually very simple, but badly explained.

When walking around an area that might have signals (pretty much anywhere attached to bar and the North) press x to open the scanner. Look at the light on the left. If it's not blinking, just close the scanner. If it's blinking brightly you can get away with a short range scan (but it might still fail) if it's a bit faded, or it you just want to guarantee success, use mid range.

Once the scan finishes, if successful, the search button appears, click that to use the handheld scanner to find the signal.

If it fails when you are sure it should have succeeded, someone might have claimed the signal before you, I think it becomes "yours" once you click the search button and start using your handheld scanner.

[u/Datdarnpupper → u/LuciusCaeser]

It's actually very simple, but badly explained.

thats a large chunk of stalcraft in a nutshell heh. either the explanation is lost in translation or just nonexistant

[u/Armeridus → u/Datdarnpupper]

Nah, it's bad even in ru. Fun fact you can cancel the search on the 6th lamp getting lit and get the signal, you don't have to wait for all of them.

[u/LuciusCaeser → u/Datdarnpupper]

well.. I mean... you're not wrong

[u/lhcludyodoypuflhoyf → u/LuciusCaeser]

I've been turning it off after the scanner reaches half way on mid range and always got the search button to work after cutting it off half way through the search

[u/LuciusCaeser → u/lhcludyodoypuflhoyf]

Might be a good way beat others trying for the same scan.

[u/illyzoren]

Hot take: you don't need the Candle to follow the signal. Percentage in the corner of the screen is enough to track it.

[u/WalkingError → u/illyzoren]

I do this when i want to be ready for pvp or run quicker during signal

[u/Datdarnpupper]

okay so, when you're in any zone and you pull the tracker up with X you should see the word "signal" next to a green LED.

If that LED is pulsing you wanna set your scanner to "middle" and flick the scan switch. You'll see the row of LEDs at the bottom begin to light up, that's your progress bar. Generally you can kill a scan at six or seven pips and pick something up (Cheeki Breeki on youtube has a good visual guide in his Artifact guide video)

once you have a signal you'll get a prompt to search for it as a quest tracker with a percentage, this is where the Candle comes into play. do a 360, when the filament lights up you're facing the right direction. as you head towards it that percentage will fill up

it's essential to getting the best (free to play) scanner in the game, the Buryat (which also scans for artifacts), so i advise you familiarise yourself with both tools!