can't say that its that hard.
I took my Termis, a standard geoscanner (78% accuracy) and the  1km and 3km charges.
First scan with the 3km charges made me spot a nuimquol stash in 2km away from the terminal.

my first travel was a fail, and i lost the signal somehow.
second attempt was successfull (using the radar range indicator to see where it could be, and if you click on the groundplate of the last scan-indicator, you can compare the delta of the scanresult with the distance you traveled.

btw, all three results i got during the testing, have been far away from npc spawns.

The bad scan accuracy has a huge impact, especially when using the 5km charges. If you feaer demobs - take a laird or gargoyle, later a sequer mk2 or laird mk2.

This patch breathed a bit of fresh air into the game, but the extended downtime (we practically lost a day) was a bit of a downer.

The grind factor possibility (having to grind artifacts for Mk2 CT's) is a bit concerning if it proves that these Mk2 robots are required to be viable in PvP.

I got this impression when reading your notes on the new system, good too know Zoom. Still I will have to wait till next week to get in game to try this out.

I had more than one artifact with more than 3u

I was wondering about that. So a sequar could be a winner if you plan on hunting down more than a couple; maybe setup to tank instead of speed.

I've been having LOADS of fun running around and scanning out these hidding gems, now if there just were a market that I could sell my loot to... Seems to be no one is buying T2+ mods on Alphas, or if they are, it's the basic "buying it for fraction of it's real price" thing...

Same on selling, I put up mods for sale for reasonable prices and they don't sell...

Ok, second impresion ...

I started scanning and found my first cache! 3 hours later I was still going. Which is saying something because I acutally lost my T3 fitted baph trying to get the second artifact. I think i would have been done, with the game not just the night, but I checked the market and there were actually T3 items for sale, at a reasonable price! Thank you who ever put them up, you saved me from making a mistake, because after i stopped trying to run 2 accounts (I just let the combat alt sit in the home base) scooting around and avoiding npc's became part of the fun of scavenging!!

I think my lesson here is the market really is important, and the availablity of replacement parts, to the playablity of the game.

I ended up buying a T3 scanner too, doing my part to revitalize the market, and I have to say getting the accuracy upto 90% made a HUGE difference in how fast i was able to hone in. The unti was 1.5M the T4 was there for 5M, but I wouldn't say it was necessary.

All told, I didn't find anything of great value; lots of flawed T0 items. Not counting the assault or the new scanner, I would say it was about break even. That is 3 hours with no profit, but it was still fun, and there could always be something of value in that next cache...

TL;DR I highly recommend this activity, but if your accuracy is less than 70%, be prepared to waste a lot of time (30% of 5000 is 1500 M you can be off on the first scan) until you get close. And don't skimp on the 1000 M charges, if your not using at least 10 your just making it harder than it needs to be.

As a side note, if your accuracy is high enough, scan and move 100 M and scan again. Any change greater than + 50M is a good direction, the closer to +100 the more directly you are aligned. If your less than +50, turn 45 degrees and move 50M. If your delta is negative, go back to your previous red marker and turn the other direction. Also, use your distance meter on the radar set to topology, the artifact could be on the other side of impassable terrain.

The less accurate your %, the further you have to move to eliminate the error margin

Happy hunting!

I just like clicking the button alot

Your method is definetly more economical.

I searched down a Observer III on ICS Alpha tonight. It required being less than 40 M to discover. Being in the Argano, I did the scan and was ready to immediately select the container and hit 'v' and 'g' and auto ran like the water bottle I was.

Spawned (2) grand observers, an Artemis and a Baphomet, the loot from the container wasn't anything special, Flawed med plate and fair amount of ammo, but it small laser ammo.

They despawned ... I think it was about 15 min. I did get a few shots in on it, but I don't think I could have killed it with my Artemis alone, between the ECM and the magnetic FU ray, it's nothing to sneeze at.

Has anyone on Alpha got a nice drop yet?

wrong, if your not in an argano or termis.
Any other bot gets only 84% accuracy with a T4 scanner and lvl5 extensions

Final observation -  Alpha

I have found a fair number of caches now, and only a couple I searched for were under NPC's, so really it is entirely feasible for solo players to do. It is even possible to do the level III infestation caches, you just need to be ready to grab the loot and run.

Reward wise, I did get a couple of T3- items, but what I liked most is the items do not need to be repaired. This is really a boon to the new player. You can find modules to make test fits with, even if they are flawed, to see how they work without having to buy it. It won't hurt the market, because they will eventually buy the std or tiered item to replace the flawed.

And, as a bonus, you can also get Med. items from lvl 2,3.

Keep in mind, if your an advanced player, the items you find on Alpha are going to be mostly useless (not bad, just no use to you), and you have a better chance of getting better stuff from the beta hunting.

TL;DR - Great for industrial players to get lower level items without needing combat, and for combat players to get starter replacement gear; and bonus items. As a souce of NIC, its too random, transport missions are better but this is certainly more entertaining. If you need cash, run missions, if you want diversion, play artifact lottery.

Thanks for the range info, great to know!

Have you thought of teaming up with some friends? Look at Cobalt's rant about him being a fighter and not wanting to aquire industry skills. Send him an invite next time you go artifact hunting.