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Leon The Lion
Commander
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
Posts: 309
Location: Somewhere in Poland
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 Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 7:11 am Post subject: Idea: Simplifying Sensors |
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I'm not sure if this should be here or over at Ships & Equipment...
Anyway. I was wondering, would anything of real value really be lost if ship sensors were simplified to two modes only: passive and active? Limiting the scanned area in exchange for bonuses to rolls, like in the present scan and focus modes, would then be handled with actions from the sensor operator.
Just something to chew on. Opinions?
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atgxtg
Rear Admiral
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 2460
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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I suppose it depends on how much detail you are willing to sacrifice.
I believe D6 Space drops sensor ranges entirely and instead just go with a bnus to sesnsor rolls.
I have thought of simplifying sensor range to one number, and simply halve it for passive scans, and doibling it for a tight [90 degree] search arc. |
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Nico_Davout
Commander
Joined: 09 Feb 2009
Posts: 384
Location: Sevilla, Spain
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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I simplified many things, sensors were one of them. In fact my players never really used them except for casual scans. I changed sensors (and all stuff related to flying) as they are in games. Long range - something is there, short range - we know what is it. Unless it is hidden or have some cloak device it is always visible if in range.
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Barrataria
Commander
Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Republic of California
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| Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 6:19 pm Post subject: |
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| atgxtg wrote: |
I have thought of simplifying sensor range to one number, and simply halve it for passive scans, and doibling it for a tight [90 degree] search arc. |
I've come to this point too, although I was thinking of starting with passive and adding on. Your way might be easier but makes it hard for anything except even numbers.
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atgxtg
Rear Admiral
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 2460
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Barrataria wrote: | | atgxtg wrote: |
I have thought of simplifying sensor range to one number, and simply halve it for passive scans, and doibling it for a tight [90 degree] search arc. |
I've come to this point too, although I was thinking of starting with passive and adding on. Your way might be easier but makes it hard for anything except even numbers. |
Not too tough. A Scan of 25 would be passive 13 (round .5 up). THat is about as hard as it gets.
But you could start with Passive and use 2x that for scan, and 3 or 4x that for Search. It doesn't make too much of a difference, as long as you use the same method for all ships. |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14168
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe the groups i have been with use sensors more than most of you guys it seems, but adding ranges like this seems to make them father than normal.
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ZzaphodD
Rear Admiral
Joined: 28 Nov 2009
Posts: 2426
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| Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 6:20 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | Maybe the groups i have been with use sensors more than most of you guys it seems, but adding ranges like this seems to make them father than normal. |
You mean longer ranges than the RAW?
This has been discussed elsewhere here. I use significantly longer sensor ranges with short, medium and long ranges.
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Kemper Boyd
Sub-Lieutenant
Joined: 28 Jun 2008
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 8:10 am Post subject: |
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| ZzaphodD wrote: | | This has been discussed elsewhere here. I use significantly longer sensor ranges with short, medium and long ranges. |
The house rules that I'm going to use (with Star ORE) is that sensor ranges are the WEG stat x 1000. Large objects can be picked up on sensor even beyond that.
Recon ships and such have even better sensors, and tight-beam sensor scans can see ships from outside the actual system they are in. |
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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SO a ship with weapons out to 30 (lasers for an Xwing) will have sensors (search) out to 75000?
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Kemper Boyd
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Joined: 28 Jun 2008
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:12 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | SO a ship with weapons out to 30 (lasers for an Xwing) will have sensors (search) out to 75000? |
Yes. Of course, to actually detect something small at that range will require a really good sensors operator. If the area of space is cluttered by asteroids or a nebula or something, it's going to be beyond the average X-wing pilot to find something there. Like in real life, different sorts of sensors have a theoretical maximum range and a practical range. Friend of mine worked with air defense radars in the military here, and old air defense radars actually can bounce a signal off Pluto, but you probably can't make anything out of it.
Of course, my game is going to be more military scifi in Star Wars than anything else, so sensors and detection play more of a role there than in classic-type campaigns. |
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