I would have considered the targeting rom to be using active sensors, while just about everything else is passive. It would be interesting to see a reaction from enemy ships upon being 'painted' with your targeting sensors.
Cardinal: Sure, the tech base in transcendence may be extremely advanced, but it's still understandable. About the only things in the game that make no sense are the stargates, shields, and some of the alien tech. The acceleration and such are skewed from what is realistically possible, but that was a gameplay choice on George's part.
Anyway, I don't think it would be in keeping with the rest of the game to add sensors for stuff we don't know exists today. Part of the fun is that it's plausible.
Of course I am in favor of any detection system which works - I just use infrared as an example because it works so well. No technology advancements are required.
Modern technology would be able to spot any decent sized craft from across the solar system just by it's maneuvering thrusters. Likewise modern x-ray, radio, and optical detection is more than good enough already. I'm not all all concerned about whether or not a ship can be detected or identified, yes it can, with current technology no less.
If we were to go entirely realistically, you would be able to see every ship in the system (every ship is 200 degrees hotter than the background, with everything shut down - even if you're not supporting a crew the engines still make heat) You'd be able to see a large drive like those in Transcendence from light years away if it was pointed anywhere near you.
But now we are talking about two different things. The above and it's related comments are why technobabble is unnecessary. My suggestion is that different types of sensors be added and each have advantages and disadvantages.
Now you see, in reality, we'd be able to spot a ship from across the system - via whatever means we chose.
But ingame this is not so because we have sacrificed reality for gameplay (stealth is more fun than no stealth, otherwise battles could only be fought with both sides' permission). This is okay, there is also FTL travel in transcendence and that's fine too because spending 100 years to get to the nearest star gets a bit tedious. Consistence is more important than reality.
Now we have nerfed the sensors down to a limited range. Whatever the sensors are, they can detect anything within this range, be it ship or rock or sun, and they can identify it. That's fine with me. I'm going to refer to the current LRS display as "current sensors' and suggest that they be only one of several options you may choose from.
A long range radar, perhaps, could see twice as far as the current sensor, but only in front of you (or in a rotating pattern).
Likewise there could be a radar-esque one that can see halfway across the system, but it won't identify targets.
Fossaman wrote:Cardinal: Sure, the tech base in transcendence may be extremely advanced, but it's still understandable. About the only things in the game that make no sense are the stargates, shields, and some of the alien tech. The acceleration and such are skewed from what is realistically possible, but that was a gameplay choice on George's part.
I was just thinking of an unconventional but plausable way the LRS could work...
Whenever humans enter a new system, the first thing they do is disperse a cloud of communicating nanos. The nanos form a matrix and communicate to each other about what they can see in order to stay in formation. In addition, they also tell each other about any ships, etc they can see. This information can easily be intercepted by any ship with a basic radio antenna. Its a little like Global Positioning System crossed with a Cellular network. Space Positioning Network
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
OddBob wrote:How would enemies hide in this system?
An EMP pulse maybe?
OddBob wrote:Can't the sensors on the nanos just be put directly on the ships?
Probably
In all honesty OddBob, I wasn't suggesting a matrix of nanos as a serious possibility. Put it in the "thinking aloud" bin. If anyone seriously attempted this, it would probably be considered inefficient: Dispersing a cloud of nanos through a whole solar system...
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
What if you were to just deploy them on the gates in the system? Any ship entering and exiting would be classified. If human stations were to automatically deploy them in rings surrounding themselves, any ship that passed within a certain distance around a station would also be classified.
