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Bren
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 Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:01 am Post subject: Starship Sensors |
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I apologize if this is covered earlier in the topic, but I have two questions on Starship Sensors.
1) It says that it is easier to Identify ships in Scan mode than in Search mode. It seems that it should be easier to Identify in Search mode, is this a typo/mistake in the skill description for Sensors on p. 51?
In the RAE rules from the same page and from Space Travel and Combat p.120 it says the base difficulty and typical statistics for ship sensors are the following.
Mode.......Detect..........Identify..............Typical Stats
Passive....Moderate......Very Difficult......15/0D
Scan........Easy............Moderate............25/1D
Search.....Easy............Difficult...............40/2D
Focus.......Very Easy....Easy....................1/3D
2) Does you (i) use the Sensor rules as described including ranges, (ii) use House Rules of your own, or (iii) more or less just wing it without getting too hung up on ranges? |
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Ankhanu
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garhkal
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| Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 6:25 am Post subject: |
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With me i have it as thus..
Passive sensors lets you know when things are out there with active sensors, or when things come within range. Will give basic info (ship type, size. Nothing on weaponry, combat status or whether it is hostile or friendly)
Scan sensors lets you know more than passive. Out to the limit of range, it will give you the following
V.Easy - a ship is there
Easy - its type and iff
Moderate - weapons and status of shields etc
Diff - internals (like if there are lots of cargo)
V.diff - whether the crew are armed or not (especially useful info if wanting to counter board)
Search - same as scan out to further range, but limited arc. All diffs are 1 cat less (so you will always know a ship is there)..
Focus. 2 cat less than search but only on a specific area. Can be used to counter sensor resistant areas.
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Bren
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| Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:55 am Post subject: |
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garhkal
That seems simple and elegant. <nab> Thanks, consider it stolen, I mean borrowed. 
So I would assume that life form detection searches inside the ship and is therefore Difficult for Scan. Correct? Would you then make identifying species a Very Difficult roll?
For example, if you roll say 19 - your scan detects there are 4 life forms aboard the vessel. Roll better (or maybe scan longer and roll a second time) and get a 23 - your scan detects 3 humans and 1 Wookiee. |
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Bren
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| Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:31 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Passive sensors lets you know when things are out there with active sensors, or when things come within range. Will give basic info (ship type, size. Nothing on weaponry, combat status or whether it is hostile or friendly) |
garhkal, some more questions
(i) At what range do you detect the active vessel? Only within passive scan detection or farther?
(ii) What does "or when things come within range" mean?
(iii) This may already be covered by (ii) above, but if two ships are both using passive sensors and are on a collision course would they actually crash into each another or would they get to roll sensors as they got close? |
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atgxtg
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| Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:29 am Post subject: |
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| Bren wrote: |
garhkal, some more questions |
Not garhkal, but I might be able to help.
The difference between passive and active sensors is that active sensors /send out some sort of signal that bounces off other objects and back to the sensing ship. Just like "pinging" a ship on sonar in one of those WWII submarinae films. Passive Sensors don7t send out any signal and just pick up whatever sensor data that other objects send out. Keep that idea in mind and it should help to work out how sensors are working.
For example, let7s say you were outside somewhere at night. You probably couldn7t see as far or as well in the dark. If you had a light, you could shine it on objects to get a better view, and to see farther out, but anyone else is almost certainly goingt to notice your light and figure out that something is there.
| Bren wrote: |
(i) At what range do you detect the active vessel? Only within passive scan detection or farther? |
I'd say only within your passive range, unless they do something to attract your attention. If the other ship is actively scanning you or firing at you you are probably going to get a good idea that something is out there, even if it is beyond your sensor range.
Big objects that throw off a lot of energy, like stars can be seen for light years, so you should probably detect them even if they are "out of range".
| Bren wrote: |
(ii) What does "or when things come within range" mean? |
Enter within the Sensor rangre listed for the scanning ship. Most ships have sensor ratings like Scan 25/2D, Search 40/3D and so on.
if, you were maiing sensors like those mentioned above, and were doing a scan, and someting closed to within 25 space units, it would "come withing range". If you were doing a search, you'd detect it out to 40 space units away, but only if it were in the "arc" that you were scanning. So if you were scanning in from of your ship and a TIE fighter came up on your tail, you'd miss it.
| Bren wrote: |
(iii) This may already be covered by (ii) above, but if two ships are both using passive sensors and are on a collision course would they actually crash into each another or would they get to roll sensors as they got close? |
They'd get a roll, but not until they got within Passwive sensor range. It would get even tougher if they were both trying to "run slient".
Technically, if a ship was moviing faster than it7s Passive range it could, accoring to the RAW, plow right into another ship before it even got to make a detection roll, but that is just the way turn sequenicing works out. THe GM really should interrput movement to give both ships a chance to detect the other as soon as they get in detecton range, andsome sort of PER and Piloting rolls to avoid a collisoon at the last second.
Think of it like driving down the road at night and seeing some animal dart across the road right in front of your car. |
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Bren
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| Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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atgxtg, thanks for jumping in. I think I was not very clear in my question, hence you answered both more and less than I was looking for. Let me try to clarify. I'll go point by point, but will end with an example that I hope will clarify my thoughts.
| Quote: | | The difference between passive and active sensors is ...<snip> |
I get that. But what do you get if you are being actively scanned from outside your sensor (passive or otherwise) range. It seems like at a minimum you would know you are being scanned, e.g. "sir someone just pinged us." But would you be totally blind to the other vessel until they came in range of your sensors? Obviously you could go to active scan and increase range, but they might still be outside of any range you have.
| Quote: | | For example, let's say you were outside somewhere at night...If you had a light, you could shine it on objects to get a better view, and to see farther out, but anyone else is almost certainly goingt to notice your light and figure out that something is there. |
Actually I can see your light from far outside the range at which you can see with your light or that I can see with my light. Sensors seem to be written so that it doesn't matter if the other vessel uses a pen light or a huge spotlight. If the light is outside the range of your flashlight you can't see it. If it is inside the range you can see it. Their shining a light around just makes you notice them more easily. But if they are outside your range they are effectively cloaked or invisible.
So do people play it is like flashlights or like the rules as written.
| Quote: | | I'd say only within your passive range, unless they do something to attract your attention. If the other ship is actively scanning you or firing at you you are probably going to get a good idea that something is out there, even if it is beyond your sensor range. |
| Code: | | Big objects that throw off a lot of energy, like stars can be seen for light years, so you should probably detect them even if they are "out of range". |
So what is the mechanic if they attract your attention, but are outside your sensor range?
| Quote: | Bren wrote:
| Quote: | | (ii) What does "or when things come within range" mean? |
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| Quote: | Enter within the Sensor rangre listed for the scanning ship. Most ships have sensor ratings like Scan 25/2D, Search 40/3D and so on.
if, you were maiing sensors like those mentioned above, and were doing a scan, and someting closed to within 25 space units, it would "come withing range". If you were doing a search, you'd detect it out to 40 space units away, but only if it were in the "arc" that you were scanning. So if you were scanning in from of your ship and a TIE fighter came up on your tail, you'd miss it. |
I get what happens if you are actively scanning and they move within range. My question was what happens with passive scanning when you move within range, especially for targets that are not actively scanning.
| Quote: | Bren wrote:
(iii) This may already be covered by (ii) above, but if two ships are both using passive sensors and are on a collision course would they actually crash into each another or would they get to roll sensors as they got close? |
| Quote: | | They'd get a roll, but not until they got within Passwive sensor range. It would get even tougher if they were both trying to "run slient". |
It is not clear to me from what garhkal posted if one could detect another ship that is only passive scanning or running silent by using passive scanning along. If you can detect them, what then is the dfficulty? I suppose to keep it simple one could shift three levels so just detecting that a ship is in passive scan range would be a difficult roll with passive scans alone. This is really what I wanted garhkal to answer.
| Quote: | | Technically, if a ship was moviing faster than it7s Passive range it could, accoring to the RAW, plow right into another ship before it even got to make a detection roll, but that is just the way turn sequenicing works out. THe GM really should interrput movement to give both ships a chance to detect the other as soon as they get in detecton range, andsome sort of PER and Piloting rolls to avoid a collisoon at the last second. |
Yeah that's the don't drive faster than you can see problem.  Familiar with that. In a way it is just another version of Xeno's paradox and is amenable of a similar solution. As you suggested, divide the round up into sufficient segments so that there is time to notice the other vessel works.
So to restate what I am wondering is do you assume ships are effectively blind to other ships from outside their scanning range, or do you allow ships to notice objects ships, planets, stars, etc that are emitting radiation no matter the range. But increase the difficulty (or limit what can be sensed) or both when outside scanning range. I think increasing difficulty could work as a mechanic. I would suggest a 3 step shift when detecting non-active vessels with passive scan and a 3 step shif when detecting anything outside of normal sensor range.
Here's an example. Ship A is using passive scan only, ship B is using active scan. Ship A sensor tech, "Captain we're being scanned." (really this just means that Ship A is within the range of someone's active scan). Captain of A decides to see what his crew can determine with passive scans only. Cause maybe Ship B hasn't really spotted them, just swept the area with active scans. "Scans what can you tell me." Sensor tech A needs to roll, but the difficulty is shifted one level for passive scans if ship B is within passive sensor range so A needs to roll difficult Easy to detect/locate Ship B. If Ship B is not in passive range, then shift an additional 3 levels. So it would be very difficult to detect/locate ship B.
Suppose Captain A orders his ship to go to active scan. Now use garhkal's table if Ship B is within A's active scan range. If not, shift 3 columns of difficulty. Let's suppose Ship A makes a difficult roll, so A detects and locates Ship B. But A didn't roll well enough due to the -3 shift. Now A could use Search to increase scanner range even further and finally detect more information about Ship B.
I think something like this is makes more sense to me than a flat out we just can't see the other ship cause they are out of range. It seems silly to think ships are unable to see stars or fleet battles ourside their usual scan ranges, therefore I would be inclined to let them try to scan. Though typically if the difficulty reaches heroic I would think most scan techs would call that "out of range."
What do others think? |
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garhkal
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| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 5:39 am Post subject: |
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| Bren wrote: | garhkal
That seems simple and elegant. <nab> Thanks, consider it stolen, I mean borrowed. |
That will be 3 flumps initial use, 1 flump per gaming session thereafter
| Bren wrote: |
So I would assume that life form detection searches inside the ship and is therefore Difficult for Scan. Correct? Would you then make identifying species a Very Difficult roll? |
For generic ones yes. For a specific life form scanner, reduce the base 1 category, but the 'specific species' roll is 2 above THAT. Though only if programmed for.
| Bren wrote: |
For example, if you roll say 19 - your scan detects there are 4 life forms aboard the vessel. Roll better (or maybe scan longer and roll a second time) and get a 23 - your scan detects 3 humans and 1 Wookiee. |
That would be almost correct.
Basic scanner - 18 to tell you how many life signs
23 to tell you 1 wookie 3 humans,
Life signs scanner, 13 to tell you 4 people
and if programmed for standard species, 23 to tell you 3 humans and 1 wookie.
Basically all 'common' species are known. Those who are either new to the galactic shopping ground, or have been left out of the loop (coyonites keep themselves to themselves for a while) or are further afield from a human norm (such as those funky 3 headed chicken thinggies) would be separate add ons
| Bren wrote: | garhkal, some more questions
(i) At what range do you detect the active vessel? Only within passive scan detection or farther? |
Depends. A ship could be outside your effective range to tell they are there, but you passive sensors will tell you that there is something there sending out active sensor energy.
| Bren wrote: | | (ii) What does "or when things come within range" mean? |
If the 'target' ship is also running "silently" then you have to be within passive range to even get a chance to detect them. If they are running with sensors active, you can detect their energy signature sooner, even before the ship is within range (see above answer).
| Bren wrote: | | (iii) This may already be covered by (ii) above, but if two ships are both using passive sensors and are on a collision course would they actually crash into each another or would they get to roll sensors as they got close? |
That depends on
A) whether each side has any sort of collision warning system. IMO most military grade ships do, and so do mining ships.
B) whether someone is manning the sensor suite.. I have had some ships of pc's where they only manned it up when needed... So if not manning it someone won't see a 'blip' that may or may not pop up. and
C) how often they say they are checking sensors... In passive, i specifically need tem to tell me when they are checkig them. Active they get to roll each 'time interval they set up..
| atgxtg wrote: | | For example, let7s say you were outside somewhere at night. You probably couldn7t see as far or as well in the dark. If you had a light, you could shine it on objects to get a better view, and to see farther out, but anyone else is almost certainly goingt to notice your light and figure out that something is there. |
Correct. I can see limited amount of stuff at night, but much more when i have a flash light. And did you know if on a clear night sky, i can see someone's LIT Cigarette out to almost 2 miles away...?
| atgxtg wrote: | Technically, if a ship was moviing faster than it7s Passive range it could, accoring to the RAW, plow right into another ship before it even got to make a detection roll, but that is just the way turn sequenicing works out. THe GM really should interrput movement to give both ships a chance to detect the other as soon as they get in detecton range, andsome sort of PER and Piloting rolls to avoid a collisoon at the last second.
Think of it like driving down the road at night and seeing some animal dart across the road right in front of your car. |
Correct. That is wh i have B and C.. Someone not paying attention might just ram someone else up the @$$..
| Bren wrote: | | But what do you get if you are being actively scanned from outside your sensor (passive or otherwise) range. It seems like at a minimum you would know you are being scanned, e.g. "sir someone just pinged us." But would you be totally blind to the other vessel until they came in range of your sensors? Obviously you could go to active scan and increase range, but they might still be outside of any range you have. |
that is correct. You would
A) know there was someone out there scanning you and maybe which direction it was from (based on how well you made your roll by). Some ships active sensors are much furhter than others full search modes.
And if you are not even searching in the right arc, you might still miss them!
| Bren wrote: | | Actually I can see your light from far outside the range at which you can see with your light or that I can see with my light. Sensors seem to be written so that it doesn't matter if the other vessel uses a pen light or a huge spotlight. If the light is outside the range of your flashlight you can't see it. If it is inside the range you can see it. Their shining a light around just makes you notice them more easily. But if they are outside your range they are effectively cloaked or invisible. |
Whether you realise it or not, you just made your own answer for us. You can see the LIGHT further out than you can see me... Case and point, i can have a camp fire up, and you can on a good night, see it from 3 miles away, but you won't be able to tell someone was around that fire until around 800 meters at the furthest.
| Bren wrote: | | So what is the mechanic if they attract your attention, but are outside your sensor range? |
There is none. If someone is outside your range you have to just wait till they are within range.. even if that gives them "free un answered shots your way", such as with most cap ships.
| Bren wrote: | | I get what happens if you are actively scanning and they move within range. My question was what happens with passive scanning when you move within range, especially for targets that are not actively scanning. |
As explained above, that depends on whether someone is even sitting at the station. Ever watch a sub or ship based film? Note how most when they ahve 'active' sensors (sonar or radar) on get a ping to tell them someone is out there... BUT when relying on passive, they have to actively monitor it?
| Bren wrote: | | It is not clear to me from what garhkal posted if one could detect another ship that is only passive scanning or running silent by using passive scanning along. If you can detect them, what then is the dfficulty? I suppose to keep it simple one could shift three levels so just detecting that a ship is in passive scan range would be a difficult roll with passive scans alone. This is really what I wanted garhkal to answer. |
I add a flat 15 if the target is also running silent... It has to be worth doing so... Especially since the pcs are more often than not, being the ones wanting to 'run silent'...
| Bren wrote: | | I think something like this is makes more sense to me than a flat out we just can't see the other ship cause they are out of range. It seems silly to think ships are unable to see stars or fleet battles ourside their usual scan ranges, therefore I would be inclined to let them try to scan. Though typically if the difficulty reaches heroic I would think most scan techs would call that "out of range." |
Nope.. That is why you get more powerful sensors, so you don't have range issues
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atgxtg
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| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Bren wrote: | | But what do you get if you are being actively scanned from outside your sensor (passive or otherwise) range. It seems like at a minimum you would know you are being scanned, e.g. "sir someone just pinged us." But would you be totally blind to the other vessel until they came in range of your sensors? Obviously you could go to active scan and increase range, but they might still be outside of any range you have. |
Naw, you'd get the "somebody just pinged us" effect. You7d know that you had just been scanned. So if an ISD scans a YT-1300 at 60 units the freighter crew should probably know that they are being scanned by a fairly powerrful sensor array. WHile they won't be able to detect an ISD, they should probably figure out that is it something with a powerful sensor with longer range, and probably guess that it is a captial ship.
| Bren wrote: |
Actually I can see your light from far outside the range at which you can see with your light or that I can see with my light. Sensors seem to be written so that it doesn't matter if the other vessel uses a pen light or a huge spotlight. If the light is outside the range of your flashlight you can't see it. If it is inside the range you can see it. Their shining a light around just makes you notice them more easily. But if they are outside your range they are effectively cloaked or invisible.
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Not really. Like I said about big object, just becuase a star is out of sensor range doesn't mean you can't detect all that energy it is throwing off.
I think your point about seeing my light at a greater distance than the light does me good should apply. With real "seonsors" range is not just a factor 0of the sensor itself but also of the strength of the signal being sent. For instance, a walkie-talie with a quart mile range could pick up or be picked up by another radio with a more powerful tansmitter.
| Bren wrote: |
So do people play it is like flashlights or like the rules as written. |
Probably neither. Sensors were thrown in with 2nd edition. Most of the time people just wing it. With the exception of that TIE fighter thant "bounced" the Faqlcon in EP 4,or Slave I in EP 5 ships seem to detect each other. Hmm, maybe there is something wrong with the aft sensors on the Falcon?
| Bren wrote: |
So what is the mechanic if they attract your attention, but are outside your sensor range? |
For big ships there is a bonus listen in the R&E book, I believe.
I'd say that If they hit you with an active sensor scan, detection, not identication, is automatic.. For most else you should probably wing it.
If it helps there is a thread where I did up some sort of energy "signature" and a bonus to sesnor ranges I think I used something like 5 times the log of the length/diameter of the object, but I didn7t really intend on people using it.
| Bren wrote: |
I get what happens if you are actively scanning and they move within range. My question was what happens with passive scanning when you move within range, especially for targets that are not actively scanning. |
For the most part they don7t see each other until they get within Passive range. THe one with the higher Passive range would have an advantage and might be able to set up an ambush.
| Bren wrote: |
Yeah that's the don't drive faster than you can see problem. Familiar with that. In a way it is just another version of Xeno's paradox and is amenable of a similar solution. As you suggested, divide the round up into sufficient segments so that there is time to notice the other vessel works. |
Frankly, I think the "faster than you can see" problem exists becuase the game allows "multiple moves". The sensor ranges (not to mention weapon ranges) would work fine if the ships Space rating was it maxmium rating and ships coudn't move at 2x and 4x that. IMO ships shouldn7t be able to move faster than a laser cannon's max range in one round.
I7ve cnsidered dividing space speeds by 4 or treating sensor ranges as "short range" allowing fo for medium (x2) and long (x4) range scanning. Diving speeds by 4 really help to keep starship combat on the map board.
| Bren wrote: |
So to restate what I am wondering is do you assume ships are effectively blind to other ships from outside their scanning range, or do you allow ships to notice objects ships, planets, stars, etc that are emitting radiation no matter the range. But increase the difficulty (or limit what can be sensed) or both when outside scanning range. I think increasing difficulty could work as a mechanic. I would suggest a 3 step shift when detecting non-active vessels with passive scan and a 3 step shif when detecting anything outside of normal sensor range. |
Noether, but something else that is closer to the latter.
What I tend to do is increase sensor range based upon the object being scanned. Hence that log formula I mentioned earlier. For example,, we can usually see the sun in the sky during the daytime, despire it being something like 250 million km away. But we can7t see a man at 10km.
| Bren wrote: |
Here's an example. Ship A is using passive scan only, ship B is using active scan. Ship A sensor tech, "Captain we're being scanned." (really this just means that Ship A is within the range of someone's active scan). Captain of A decides to see what his crew can determine with passive scans only. Cause maybe Ship B hasn't really spotted them, just swept the area with active scans. "Scans what can you tell me." Sensor tech A needs to roll, but the difficulty is shifted one level for passive scans if ship B is within passive sensor range so A needs to roll difficult Easy to detect/locate Ship B. If Ship B is not in passive range, then shift an additional 3 levels. So it would be very difficult to detect/locate ship B.
Suppose Captain A orders his ship to go to active scan. Now use garhkal's table if Ship B is within A's active scan range. If not, shift 3 columns of difficulty. Let's suppose Ship A makes a difficult roll, so A detects and locates Ship B. But A didn't roll well enough due to the -3 shift. Now A could use Search to increase scanner range even further and finally detect more information about Ship B.
I think something like this is makes more sense to me than a flat out we just can't see the other ship cause they are out of range. It seems silly to think ships are unable to see stars or fleet battles ourside their usual scan ranges, therefore I would be inclined to let them try to scan. Though typically if the difficulty reaches heroic I would think most scan techs would call that "out of range."
What do others think? |
I think it depends on how poweful the thing you are scanning is. THat is, how much enegy it is throwing off.
Using your example, ship B might just be out of range, but ship B active scanner system probably isn't. You might consider adding B scan range to attempts to scan it's sensors. This might mean that ship A doesn7t know what is out there, but might be able to identify that theyve been scanned by a sesnor with the same power signature as the model used on an Imperial (II)-class Star Destoryers, and be able to make a good guess as to what ship B is.
Of coruse, if ship B has a powerful sensor array, it is probably putting out a lot of power, and might be detectable out to longer ranges. That is where I did that log(length) formula. So a 1600m long ship would be worth a bonus to sensor range. |
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ZzaphodD
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| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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Because I dont like complicated sensor rules I just use the ranges and bonuses as indicators of how powerful sensors a ship have. If they have a longer range than the enemy they have a chance to see them first. I dont worry too much about exact ranges.
Having said that I dont think that a passive sensor have a more limited range in space, it just doesnt get as much information as it just 'listens'. I situations where there are many objects to keep track of, lack of information will make it more or less impossible to differ between different types of objects, filling the screens with anonymous 'blips' instead of different types of ships.
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garhkal
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| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Not really. Like I said about big object, just becuase a star is out of sensor range doesn't mean you can't detect all that energy it is throwing off. |
And to me, navigational hazards like suns, pulsars etc, are easily pick upable on sensors, even from out of range for a freighter.. but then again they are more likely to be seen with the mark 1 eyeball before then.
| Quote: | | Hmm, maybe there is something wrong with the aft sensors on the Falcon? |
Cannot remember where i saw it, but it was wrote out downto the comm dish on the top of the falcon gave it a sensor shadow/wake directly in its aft, so ships could be there and not get noticed...
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atgxtg
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| Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: |
And to me, navigational hazards like suns, pulsars etc, are easily pick upable on sensors, even from out of range for a freighter.. but then again they are more likely to be seen with the mark 1 eyeball before then. |
TO me, too. I did up the sensor bonus becuase someone wanted that level of detail in another thread. Most of the time, sensors and ranges are used to see how far away the bad guys are when the PCs detect them.
| garhkal wrote: |
Cannot remember where i saw it, but it was wrote out downto the comm dish on the top of the falcon gave it a sensor shadow/wake directly in its aft, so ships could be there and not get noticed... |
It would make sense. That TIE fighter went right by them before they noticed it. |
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Bren
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 9:05 am Post subject: |
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atgxtg, ZzaphodD, garhkal - thanks for your thoughts. You have been very helpful. 8)
I like the idea that passive sensors require more attention from an operatior than active sensors to be able to pick up something. Gives the PCs something to do (or not do).
I like the idea that ships can detect being actively scanned by a more powerful sensor suite at longer ranges than they themselves can scan. If the actively scanning vessel is outside the target's scanning range, the target should know the direction but not the distance or identity of the scanning vessel. This gives a good reason for the target to use search rather than scan mode, to move closer, or to start evasive maneuvers.
BTW, I don't remember the scenes where the Falcon fails to detect, but according to RAE if you are using search or focus scan mode you are blind to other angles. I don't fully like this, but I do like the idea that the operator would have a significant negative modifier on sensors outside the search arc or focus diameter when in the latter two modes.
I like some fuzziness to the ranges. That allows better scan operators to (possibly) pick up information at longer ranges than poor operators. I also like the idea that you can't 100% know that you are safely outside a target vessel's range.
Goals (as I see them):
(1) Good sensor operators should sometimes be able to detect vessels at ranges that average or below operators cannot. Good operators should be able to get more information more quickly than average or below operators.
(2) Better sensors extend range and ability to detect, but good operators can (somewhat) compensate for inferior equipment.
(3) It is possible that someone can see you when you cannot clearly see them.
(4) However, active sensors alerts the target vessel that they are being scanned. To me this could either come across as (calmly) "Captain we are being scanned" or "They are scanning us!" The latter in the same tone of voice as a modern fighter pilot saying "They have missile lock!"
(5) Sensors should provide enough information to give the PCs a chance to decide to investigate further - whether by using active scan, search or focus mode, or by moving in closer.
I may try to write up my thoughts later. Possibly after some play testing. |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14133
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:22 am Post subject: |
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Pretty much sums it up, other than no matter how good you are, you cannot compensate for range/power of your sensors...
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