Radar range

[Quax]

Hey folks, can you tell me the maximum distance a radar will be able to scan? In other words, do I need to expand my radars across the map in order to scan more distant areas? And im not talking about the charting feature. Thanks

[Kyralessa]

According to the wiki, it's 29 chunks square.

https://wiki.factorio.com/Radar

The Radar charts one distant chunk every time the sector scanning progress bar fills.
...
This is done in an 29×29 chunks around the Radar, excluding the nearby 7×7 chunks. With a total number of 797 chunks (29×29 − 7×7), it takes one radar 7 hours 20 minutes to complete one full scan cycle.

The radar continuously charts an area of 7×7 chunks, so the extra space it scans is 22×22, or 11 more chunks in each of the cardinal directions past the area the radar charts. A chunk is 32×32 tiles.

So if you're trying to spread your radars the maximum distance across the map, then each radar pair should have 22 chunks horizontally or vertically between.

[Quax]

Thanks ... I did read the Wiki, but obviously failed to understand it I was thinking the the "29x29 chunk" thing referred to what is seen as the highlighted area surrounding the radar in the map view. But actually this ist the actual maximum range. From looking at my map again, it became clear.

So thanks for that .. now I know what to do in order to find more oil

[Ghoulish]

Small tip, if you check the minimap with a radar in hand (assuming you are standing close to an already placed radar) Then the minimap will show the range of the radars - allowing you to align them neatly without coverage gaps.

[Kyralessa]

Small tip, if you check the minimap with a radar in hand (assuming you are standing close to an already placed radar) Then the minimap will show the range of the radars - allowing you to align them neatly without coverage gaps.

Yes, this. There's a blue shaded square that shows the radar's 7×7 chunk continuous-coverage area. As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter where within a chunk the radar is placed, whether in the center or near an edge; it covers the same 7×7 chunk area. So don't worry about pixel-perfect (well, tile-perfect) positioning of your radars.

[Quax]

Thanks, yes, I was already doing this. The question was more abput up to which distance a radar will detect ressources ... as I'm running - have been runninng, to be more precise - out of oil and I was wondering why my radar would not detect any new oil fields. But now it's clear that the detection range is limited by this 29 chunks. So I have to install new radars on th current detection perimeter to scan beyond.

Which is pretty obvious now, but has been hiding in plain sight until i started this topic

[astroshak]

After a while, you will see that your Radars are re-scanning sectors that have already been uncovered. If you are looking for, and not finding, a specific resource within the revealed area, this is your clue to go and spread some more radars around to reveal a larger area.

Alternatively, just load up a mod with larger scanning radius radars. I personally like the Vision Radar mod, which in the mod settings I’ve changed to continually show 100 chunk “diameter” area.

[JimBarracus]

artillery is good for fast scouting

but it requires some range research to be more usefull than radar.