I've run into that myself from time to time with scanners. Also for some reason I have problems infrequently with people in suits that aren't even scout not even appearing on the radar when they're about 2m away from me and given their armor levels, they aren't using dampeners.

if the scan db of the suit is lower than the scanner you wont pick them up. Learn to math.

So lets say I'm running a Gallente Logi suit. I know that you're running a scanner but I want to place uplinks discreetly.

I don't want to be spotted before I get those links down and my teammates spawn in. So my best option is to spend Skill POints on Profile Dampening. As a Logi, my profile signature is 50 dB, while your scan precision with your Active Scanner is 28. So my goal is to get my Profile below 28.

Let's sayt I have Profile Dampening lvl 3, and put on 3 enhanced profile dampeners. that's -6%, -20%, -17.38%, and -11.41%
That gives me 27.54 dB RAW. But DUST is funky with it's math so it rounds up.

That "margin of error" is from when we both have a value of 28. under 27dB you wont see, over 28 dB and you will.

if the scan db of the suit is lower than the scanner you wont pick them up. Learn to math.

When I scan, sometimes I get the, "No Margin of Error" message, but there are people around and they don't show up.


Also, I was in a PC earlier. I scanned around, and got, "No Margin of Error", although there was indeed a Scout gk.0 around. I assume I should've gotten, "Some Margin of Error", correct?

I've run into that myself from time to time with scanners. Also for some reason I have problems infrequently with people in suits that aren't even scout not even appearing on the radar when they're about 2m away from me and given their armor levels, they aren't using dampeners.

yeah, no.

in theory (based off of previous patches) if someone avoids the scan, it would say "SOME MARGIN OF ERROR" while Patrick is saying that people avoid it and it says "NO MARGIN OF ERROR" as if nobody avoided the scan.

to answer you, Patrick, the ongoing theory amongst us scouts is that if the db of the suit is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the scan, then you will still get "NO MARGIN OF ERROR". however, if you avoid the scan, but only barely, then you will get a "SOME MARGIN OF ERROR" reading.

hoped this helped.

Not sure if this is relevant to your case, but i've scanned, got the 'no margin of error' message but had nothing show up on my minimap for about 2-3 seconds. But then they do show up. I know they're my scan because i get the +15 WP when they're killed by squaddies.

This reminds me of another thread a while back where we were talking about tanks and heavies not showing up on the passive scan(the old shared system). I remember thinking back then that it was as if the minimap was lagging.

With the behavior of the active scanner it's a little more evidence that the minimap is lagging. For now that's going to be my working theory: minimap lag.

So lets say I'm running a Gallente Logi suit. I know that you're running a scanner but I want to place uplinks discreetly.

I don't want to be spotted before I get those links down and my teammates spawn in. So my best option is to spend Skill POints on Profile Dampening. As a Logi, my profile signature is 50 dB, while your scan precision with your Active Scanner is 28. So my goal is to get my Profile below 28.

Let's sayt I have Profile Dampening lvl 3, and put on 3 enhanced profile dampeners. that's -6%, -20%, -17.38%, and -11.41%
That gives me 27.54 dB RAW. But DUST is funky with it's math so it rounds up.

That "margin of error" is from when we both have a value of 28. under 27dB you wont see, over 28 dB and you will.

I haven't gotten "Some Margin of Error" since 1.5, leading me to believe that it was either removed or the conditions to getting it are so specific that it hardly ever comes up. I routinely use A-45 and Duvolle Quantum scanners. In testing scanning on a scout alt with two PS3s, I never received "Some Margin of Error" regardless as to whether I successfully scanned or did not pick up the scout; I always got "No Margin of Error".

Personally I think all messages should be removed. You know when your scan is complete because your scanner shuts off and enters cooldown. If you get scanned, your minimap should pulse for however long you are lit up on an enemy's radar. This would tell you specifically when you drop off of radar, giving you more freedom to move tactically. This would be a particularly good defense against the more or less unavoidable Duvolle Focused scanner, as this scanner has a short light up time and long cooldown.

So lets say I'm running a Gallente Logi suit. I know that you're running a scanner but I want to place uplinks discreetly.

I don't want to be spotted before I get those links down and my teammates spawn in. So my best option is to spend Skill POints on Profile Dampening. As a Logi, my profile signature is 50 dB, while your scan precision with your Active Scanner is 28. So my goal is to get my Profile below 28.

Let's sayt I have Profile Dampening lvl 3, and put on 3 enhanced profile dampeners. that's -6%, -20%, -17.38%, and -11.41%
That gives me 27.54 dB RAW. But DUST is funky with it's math so it rounds up.

That "margin of error" is from when we both have a value of 28. under 27dB you wont see, over 28 dB and you will.