Survey

Survey is a skill linked to the Archaeology profession.

Surveying is the skill used to obtain archaeological fragments. These fragments are later combined to form archaeological artifacts.

Using this ability at a dig site will cause survey equipment known as a theodolite to appear. It resembles a telescope on a tripod and points in direction of a nearby find. A colored light indicates how far away the find is.

<Gallery> File:Survey equipment - Far.jpg|Red: More than 100 yards away File:Survey equipment - Medium.jpg|Slowly blinking yellow: Between 50-100 yards away File:Survey equipment - Nearby.jpg|Flashing green: Within 50 yards

If you survey within 8 yards of the find, the find itself will appear.

Each successful survey run will gain you:

• 5-9 archaeology fragments
• a chance of finding a keystone

The theodolite aim can be off by as much as 30 degrees. While that isn't much when the find is within 50 yards, it can be substantial at longer distances. Still, it serves as a good approximation.

As a quick rule of thumb, a red light shows that mounting up will probably be worthwhile. You will probably want to run for about 5 seconds. You probably will want to stop short on a green light.

Survey results will only be gatherable for a few seconds before it disappears. If you are unsure you will be able to collect it immediately (because of interfering hostile mobs - or on PvP servers, hostile players), you will want to slay the mob (or discourage the player) before surveying. If players can stay in the same spot where the find appeared, survey again and it will reappear without counting against the total for that dig site.

If you survey at a dig site without exhausting it, then survey at a different dig site before returning to the first, the location of the next find at that first dig site will have been reset.

It is currently (early December 2010) possible for a find to be located within/on a wall steep enough that it cannot be reached from above or from below. In this case, reset the find location by going to a different dig site, digging, and returning.

There are also cases where the target location is outside the bounds you are allowed to use the Survey ability. For these cases, it may be possible to succeed by sidling along the boundary, surveying every few feet. If that does not work, or you lack the patience for it, you can also avoid this by going to another dig site and returning as above.

Priests can use survey while floating over water using Levitate, however, the surveying equipment will not appear on the surface of the water - it will appear on the bottom of the body of water the priest is standing on.