Treasure Hunts
Everything you wanted to know but were too afraid to ask.
Nanite Systems has run an annual Treasure Hunt every year since 2015. In theory they are Halloween-themed and timed to coincide with October, but exigencies have sometimes caused them to be delayed until December.

The format of the treasure hunts see 3-4 items released each week. The hunt lasts for 4-5 weeks in total. Around half of hunt items are "reprints," that is, re-released versions of previous items. In most years the "grand prize" for the treasure hunt is a limited-edition main controller unit which is not available for purchase, although in one year we had batteries instead.

The goals of the treasure hunt are as follows: to increase foot traffic to the NS store, to increase the traffic number for the Eisa sim overall, and to test beta versions of new product ideas. Prizes from the treasure hunt rarely receive bug fixes and are usually no-mod. Some prizes may mature into commercial products; ownership of a treasure hunt prize does not entitle you to a free copy of the final product.

The exact format of the treasure hunt varies from year to year. These are described, along with a partial list of prizes from each year, below. Prize lists for some years were not extensively planned and many items were listed ad hoc.

Items marked with † have been released as commercial products.

Gallery of limited-edition controllers

2015


Format: Basic clues in a notecard.

- Demo Stand 3†
- Metalloplastic Moonlight (Ivory)† (became Nova Ivory)
- MSH-2100b† (became MESH-2100)
- Tam's Taser
- Heart Icon†
- Amy Voice Gestures 2†
- Rotomatic Holosculpture
- Metalloplastic Poison
- Magina Slider Telegadget
- NS Logo Bellyring
- Instructor NanoChip
- Shampoothrower
- Pleated Ankle Hovershoes
- Missing Robot Head†
- Missing Robot Arms†
- Missing Robot Legs†
- NS-44 R Fullstop†
- Zootie Infection Tattoo
- Flamethrower
- Extra-Short Battery
- Fortune Teller
- Memories of Holly
- Tori's Disk Drive† (became CSU)
- Chipped Horns

Final prize: NS-304 Daybreak Main Controller

2016


Format: Currency collection. Boxes spawned throughout the sim which gave a random amount of 乃 when clicked. A fishing minigame also allowed for more sedentary accumulation. vi0let distributed prizes via a turn-in menu, as well as converting fishing items into 乃.

Information on prizes from this year has been completely lost. Likely items include:
- Rainbow Titler
- Spray Can
- NS ARC 47-2704-A† (since withdrawn)

Some of the items listed as being from the 2015 hunt may actually have been held back until 2016.

Final prize: NS-476 Aegis Main Controller (Refurbished)

2017


Format: Component crafting. Crafting components spawned throughout the sim which gave an associated material when clicked. Players could trade components with each other to obtain the ratios they required. The starting notecard included a list of special combinations that could be traded to vi0let in return for prizes.

- FSD 12-6099-D Wall Outlets† (different style)
- FSD 12-6686-X Building Kit Plus
- NS Lyric Horns
- OC Novelty Bone Dance
- NS Companion Manual
- NS Spookometer
- NS-203X Newton Telekine† (Maxwell)
- NS-882Y Mandate† (Maxwell)
- NS Cryolubricant Barrel
- NS Cortex Prototype† (VL8 SuperCortex)
- NS Grenade Satchel†
- NS Portal to Eisa
- NS Flow Horns

Final prizes: NS-304 Daybreak Main Controller and NS-226 Hephaestus Main Controller

2018


Format: Component crafting. During the 2017 run, the hunt's popularity caused competition for the crafting components to be a source of vexation for many players, so instead of having the components spawn in the wild, each player had a radio tracking device that led them toward an anomaly. Contact with the anomaly caused a hostile monster to spawn that had to be destroyed in order to obtain a small bundle of resources. Anomalies were per-player, so there was no advantage to competition. A final "boss fight" event located on another sim rewarded a special Participation Trophy prize.

- NS Zero-Point Lepton Sieve Power Cell (13-7036-Z)
- Crown of the Sun
- NS-3ARVX Formsphere† (Mobility Kit)
- NS Telos (2018 version; buggy; didn't really work)†
- Personal Space
- Terminus Est
- NS Calendar b1
- NS-705 Iris Drone
- NS Hard Light Shield 1.0
- NS Lux Cuffs 1.01
- (plus various reprints)

Final prizes: NS-476 Aegis Main Controller (Refurbished) and NS Magitech Main Controller

2019


Format: Hexagonal maze game. Players had to guess the correct sequence of steps on a hex grid to receive the prize. Eisa was under construction at the time, so previous formats were not viable. Widely disliked for the amount of trial-and-error involved.

- Key Fob†
- Statuesque Walker
- Poputchik
- Quad Laser
- Ocua Warp
- Mind Control System
- Descry Warp
- Arachne Vox
- Power Plinths
- The Robot Hardware Handbook
- (plus various reprints and remasters)

Final prize: NS Magitech-B Main Controller

2020


Format: Basic clues in a notecard. The new sim build meant that even a simple format was adequately interesting.

- BFG9000
- Cardassian Akashic Icon
- Concrete Maze Generator
- NS-812XE Apogee XIII Blockade Buster Orbital Strike
- Metalloplastic Theory Ozodycus
- NS MREs #17, #10, #11, #14
- Telos (2020 version)†
- WillFromAfar Vox
- (plus various reprints and remasters)

Final prize: NS Nanite-Augmented Metabolic Power Cell 13-0002-E/C

2021


Format: A variation on clues in a notecard, each clue only led to a general area. Players had to use a special RLV-based scanner HUD to decipher successive clues and find the prize items.

- Drinkable TESI Puddle† (part of NS-24 Stallion)
- EisaNet Info Station†
- NSX Kamikaze† (NSX Fukushu)
- NS MREs #6, #23, #16, #18
- NS-89P Ostraka Flak Cannon
- (plus various reprints and remasters)

Final prize: VAR/H Metropolis Main Controller

2022


Format: Building on the format from the previous year, the scanner HUD was used to spot virus-infected computers. Players were expected to then hack into these computers using another HUD. Successful and efficient play required basic knowledge of port scanning and OS fingerprinting.

- Swirly Particle Friend
- Jar of Angry Bees
- La Chancla (throwable shoe)
- BFG9000
- Pinball Bumper
- Iris Door
- LaserLine (robot serial number spotter)
- NS MREs #19, #9, #1, #13
- NS-190 Navarch Phaser Pistol
- Tubehead
- NS SuperExhibition Preview Version
- Saerrium
- Scroller (1x16)
- Rainbow Titler

Final prizes: NS-130 Magitech Main Controller and NS-304A Daybreak Main Controller

2023


Format: This year saw the launch of the Conversant/VT system for non-player character (NPC) interaction. Conversant is an on-screen HUD that displays preprogrammed text at the bottom of the screen similar to a dialog system in a role-playing game. Characters can additionally animate and (although not much used in this experience) play sounds to match their behavior. In general this was well-received, although our reliance on the decrepit Radegast codebase meant that the agents performing as NPCs sometimes failed to load reliably. (There were also some kinks to work out relating to Experience permissions that took a while to work out.)

- Arachne Voice for Companion (reprint) & ARES
- Black Mesa Stations
- Extremely Compromised Taidee (GLaDOS voice)
- La Chancla (reprint)
- NanoSec Bounty Blotter
- NS Book - Drawing Board
- d20 Roller
- NS MREs #2, #3, #4, #20
- NS Scout Agility Preview
- NS Various Eye Textures
- NS-4R Reuleaux Power Switch
- NS-06GL Tremor Grenade Launcher (Quake 1 grenade launcher)
- Poputchik (reprint)
- Spookometer (reprint)
- Urban Renewal Kit (reprint)
- Visual Noise HUD

Final prizes: ARES NSX-773 Rhodotron Controller and VAR/H Metropolis (Companion only)

This was the final year of the treasure hunt to support Companion. Future years will provide ARES controller panels rather than complete systems.