Q on metal detector

[geekygamergal]

How do you know where the metal it detects is? I have been digging around me and can't find what it's telling me is detected..I like the spelunker potion better..

[Nerdygamer1]

You don't really know. You can sort of use it to give you a rough idea where the general direction of an ore is. For instance, if you're digging to the right and it all of a sudden tells you there's gold, you know it's somewhere to your right. Then you dig either down or up until the notification disappears and you know it's wherever you just came from. So... it's not incredibly useful in this regard, but it's nice if you're searching for chests and life crystals. I've noticed that it kind of gets priorities mixed up when it comes to demonite. It seems to prioritize gold higher than demonite.

You are entirely right though, spelunker potion is vastly superior.

[geekygamergal]

oh, that helps, so at least if what I'm looking for is in the direction I am digging, maybe I can find those pesky life crystals. Thanks!!

[Nerdygamer1]

It's definitely a lot of work to figure it out. I'm not sure how far it detects, but I play at 1680x1050 resolution and it will detect stuff that's off the screen (discovered when I used it in conjunction with a spelunker potion). So I use it to determine the general direction of chests. If I'm digging towards the left and see that it's changed from detecting gold to detecting a chest nearby, then I know there's a chest somewhere to the left of the screen. So I'll dig left for a bit and if I don't see it after a litle while, I'll dig down and then up to see if I can find it. If the notification disappears, then I know that I'm moving away from the chest and need to backtrack.

[Drag]

Yeah, it's a pain. But it's still just one of the many things that can be combined into a cell phone, completely optional and it's nice to at least have the option.

[Celator]

You can't. Spelunker potion is superior.

However, I've found that when combined with the Magic Lantern, Spelunker Glowsticks, or Suspicious Looking Tentacle, it can be pretty effective, and all without costing you a spelunker potion (not that those are hard to come by anyway, but w/e). The Lantern/etc. shows you where the stuff closest to you is, and the Ore Detector tells you what it is, and sometimes you can also guess what something is based on the shape of the sparkles made by the Lantern/etc..

For instance, if my OD tells me there's Chlorophyte nearby, and I see just a tiny vein of a few blocks' worth of ore nearby, I know that that's probably it (since other ores usually spawn in larger veins, while Chlorophyte typically starts out as single blocks that spread). Similarly, if I sense a chest nearby and see a four-block square of sparkles, I know that's probably it.

Aside from that, though, yeah, it's a guessing game. I'd stick with spelunker potions unless you have both OD and ML/SGS/SLT, or if you have OD combined with something else.