How does the "search focus" option exactly work?

[Coldweather™]

Obviously focusing on for example stones will increase the number of stones you will likely be finding, but as stated in the wiki it is on the cost of other things.

What does that mean exactly? Does that mean that everytime your character finds something and the bubble pops up (still as unknown) the chance of it being a stone is increased or do you "miss" bubbles you would normally find if you weren't using search focus mode?
So basically the two scenarios when in search focus are:
1. You find the same amount of bubbles as usual, but the chance of them being ex. stones is higher.
2. Only the bubbles with stones are shown and the others are omitted.

if the latter: Is search focus even worth it? I mean if you aren't really increasing your chances, but rather just omit other item bubbles, then wouldn't it be smarter to let the other bubbles pop up and discard the items for xp, also the offchance of it being something more useful than what you are focusing on would be a nice bonus, wouldn't it?

I hope someone can help me with this or has done some testing to answer wether or not search focus mode is worth it. Thanks.

[martindirt]

Copied from official PZwiki:

As characters gain levels in foraging, they can choose a focus while searching. This increases their chance to locate items in that category (at the expense of an item in the other categories). More focuses unlock as levels increase.

[Zorlond]

Basically the 'cost' is just that it's less likely you'll find anything you're not focusing on.

[quothz]

Search focus has a chance of transforming a find into an item from the focus category. Each focus category has a max and min chance of replacing an item, and that chance is reduced by the original item's skill level requirement. The exact formula eludes me, but the basic numbers for the calculation are found in \media\lua\shared\foraging\foragedefinitions.lua.

For example, stones have a 25-40% base chance of replacing another find, divided by a number based on the original item's skill requirement (the code's comments say it's just divided by the skill requirement - but for most items that's 0 so there must be a modifier).

That's the best I can suss out in the time I have this morning, but it should give you a general idea and a place to start looking if you want more details.

[Coldweather™]

Originally posted by quothz:

Search focus has a chance of transforming a find into an item from the focus category. Each focus category has a max and min chance of replacing an item, and that chance is reduced by the original item's skill level requirement. The exact formula eludes me, but the basic numbers for the calculation are found in \media\lua\shared\foraging\foragedefinitions.lua.

For example, stones have a 25-40% base chance of replacing another find, divided by a number based on the original item's skill requirement (the code's comments say it's just divided by the skill requirement - but for most items that's 0 so there must be a modifier).

That's the best I can suss out in the time I have this morning, but it should give you a general idea and a place to start looking if you want more details.

Wow that's amazing, thank you so much!

[Another Mother's Son]

I so far only use Search for finding car keys that might be in the grass or under a car. I was surprised the first time a forage item showed up. I was so excited I just found the keys to the unlocked 94% cargo van I was sniffing around!