I've been playing STO since it launched and I'm "suddenly" having trouble with data (samples & particles) farming for a couple of months now. By that I mean I've been searching for the following:

Chronometric particle trace and Vertion particle trace.

The farming guide (from these forums) I used to follow seemed pretty accurate up unto recently. It is at http://forums.startrekonline.com/sho...d.php?t=115026.

To be clear, I've spent literally hours every few days for months now looking in all the suggested areas and I'm about at my wits end. I simply can't locate Chronometric PT or Vertion PT.

Fellow STOers, can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?:

PS- I farmed B'tran Cluster at VA hundreds of time now, with no luck as regards these PTs!

The 'rare' trace drops are 100% random - so no matter where you farm for anomolies, unfortunately it's all up to the random number generator and the two you listed seem to be the rarest in my experience too (regardless of Dev claims to the contrary.)

Just have to scan and hope.

That is what I am afraid of too. After a couple of months and doing almost nothing but farming for those two PTs I can say that they clearly are too rare to find in my case. I was on vacation and played quite a bit over an 8 day period looking for both. Found nothing of either and I can tell you it is very frustrating. I too have seen comments about similar experiences to mine here and elsewhere. Thanks for your input, helps me with my decision to give STO a break for a while. Here is to hoping that when I come back, this VA can locate the materials he needs in order to craft, after weeks and weeks of farming for them.

Color me: NOT AMUSED.

A tip: your probability of finding a rare trace scales with your AUX power setting. The more power you divert to AUX when you scan, the more likely you will find rare traces.

Really? I will certainly try that! I'll try ANYTHING at this point!

LLAP

Umm, yeah. The Aux thing is plain nonsense. But you know what they´re saying, the thought is what counts.

I just have to laugh. As soon as I posted this I found a Vertion PT in the Edidan Belt. Been there over and over for months. Apparently the STO Gods have a cruel sense of humor.

Particle Traces are totally random. I have 8 characters at the level cap. Getting the Particle Tracker accolade was always a goal for them. I always gather anomalies. IT turn as there was always that one Particle Trace that I was missing to get the accolade. I've have upwards of 9-10 PTs but none of that one Particle Trace. And you know that that one Particle Trace was for each of my character? It was different for everyone of character.

Bottom line is that random means random. On my main character, I have 13(!) Antithorns. the count of the next closers is 5. I guess Antithorons are common? NOT!

I can concur with Fuzon on the randomness. My first char didn't get the accolade till she was a VA. My sceond got it at Commander(!).

I forgot to mention on the main character of mine. Th eone with teh 13 Antithorons PTs? I created the character during the Headstart period before the game launch. He has 16 days, 30 minutes and 30 sections of playtime as of this post. He only gained Particle Tracker last night. How's that for randomness?