Most of the map starts hidden. Before a site can be used, it has to be found.

A site moves through up to four states:

Only mapped sites are fully usable for deliveries and navigation.

Rumors appear on their own over time, generally near existing supply or construction demand, and generally closer to one of your mapped Settlements — the further a site sits from the nearest one, the less likely it is to come up. A rumor gives you:

• A rough search area (a circle, not a point).
• A radio frequency to search on.
• A compass direction and a named anchor site for context (“reported south of X”).

Check the Current rumors list under F10 > Other > Tycoon > Navigation for every open rumor, its search area, and its frequency.

A rumor left unattended for too long eventually lapses back to unknown, and a site that just lapsed won't immediately show up as a new rumor again. It needs a little time before it can reappear, so the same site doesn't cycle back the moment it drops out.

Only a handful of rumors can be open across the whole map at once, so leads compete for the same few places — chase them or lose them. The Cartography Institute adds one more slot server-wide; it doesn't unlock anything a Survey Station unlocks, it simply lets the world track one more lead at a time.

Rumor search uses a simulated A/N radio range, the historical four-course radio beacon: fly the course line named in the rumor text and you hear a steady tone; drift off it and you hear a Morse “A” (dit-dah) or “N” (dah-dit) bleeding through instead, telling you which way to correct.

This requires SimpleRadio Standalone (SRS) — the tone is sent to you personally once your radio is tuned to the rumor's exact frequency and modulation, not broadcast to everyone in range.

1. Tune the rumor's frequency and modulation in SRS.
2. Fly into the search area, roughly along the compass direction named in the rumor text (e.g. “south of X” — fly the line running south from the anchor).
3. Listen for the tone: a steady, rhythm-free tone means you're on the course line; a Morse “A” or “N” mixed in means you've drifted to that side — the stronger the letter, the further off. The Gazelle (SA-342) hears a wider, more forgiving course and a slightly longer range than other airframes.
4. Flying near the actual site promotes it to discovered, with a provisional marker on the map.
5. Landing on it confirms it as mapped, unlocking its full details, beacon, and F10 navigation.

Some sites — richer ore deposits, advanced factories, oil — only start showing up as rumors once the region has a Survey Station built to a high enough level at any of its Hubs. Level 2 unlocks Tier 2 cargo rumors, level 3 unlocks Tier 3, and the unlock applies across the whole region, not just near that one Hub. Because the unlock is regional, only one Hub per region can host a Survey Station — decide which one, and level that one up. See Settlements & Projects for how to build one.

The unlock lasts as long as the Survey Station does: demolishing it drops the region back to whatever tier is still covered, which without another Survey Station means Tier 1.

A Survey Station also widens how far the search reaches, from level 1 onwards. Rumors favour sites near your existing mapped Settlements and stop considering anything too far out entirely — so extra range doesn't just make distant sites more likely, it brings sites into play that the region would otherwise never turn up at all. Tier 1 sites are rumored everywhere without any Survey Station, so this is about reaching further and faster, never about getting started.