suggestion : Cloaking devices

[the_holy_thom]

OK, a couple of things.

1) If we can have not yet invented cameras, then Im having not yet invented paint. It reflects no light at all, and therefore looks a lot like the rest of space. It would just be a moving shadow.

2) Outer systems, behind large planets on the dark side, in nebuale and many more are examples of sistuations where cameras wouldnt be of the greatest use. I realize light can deflect around plaents, but there are times when the plaent is too big, you are too close etc. I was pointing out cameras are not the infallible thing they were being described as.

3) Jamming signals could easily have been invented, and could be in common use.

even black holes

you can only view a black hole by the light it blocks. unless we now have mega cameras that pick out the entire electromagnetic spectrum. But they wouldnt be very useful to watch.

[Betelgeuse]

just as a side point black holes are very easy to see if they have acceleration disks. Those can be brighter than any star if they are big enough.
I thought the reason you could see around planets is because you where never on the same plane as the planets (you never can run into them or the stars never sure how that blocks shots though ) so there wouldn't be shadow from them. Also we never go far enough into the outer system far it to be too dim.
But the nebula point is a good one maybe we should have the visaul display shortened? (but this depends on what nebulas anyway in Transendence you can still see several light years through real nebulas)

Anyway light detector trackers (cameras you are not the only one that can use that information) can be just as good as the rest of the detection systems. No detection system has be be used only they can be used in a combonation with the other detection systems.

[OddBob]

Best way to detect ships in space: Heat. Even just living on a spaceship produces a lot of heat, there being nowhere for it to go except out into space. Air-cooling is not an option, so everything must be radiated out.

Radars were introduced in late WWII, the previuos inexistence of this useful invention didn't stop airforces from both sides to shoot down the other side's planes. Both sides had similar tech levels. In Transcendence you can acquire (most of the time) the tech to match your opponent's tech level.

Before radar, the "targeting system" was the Mk I Eyeball. By "targeting system" I mean the system which finds your opponent. Perhaps "sensors" is a better term.

Cameras and Painting it Black:
Combat in transcendence takes place at extreme range. I would say ALL combat ships would be painted black.
Visual (actual real visual, with your eyes or cameras) detection in space is poor at best and pointless at worst. First of all, you'd have to actually watch the cameras, or have a computer do it (let's face it, even in the future asteroids look like Sandstorm gunships) Long before a ship (unless it is huge, miles and miles huge) would be in visual range it would be in either radar range or infrared range or be detectable by it's radio emmisions.

Once on UTF I brought up the question of shields and radar. If shields absord radar energy like they do lasers, then radar in space is effectively useless. If they reflect it, however, then there is another interesting question. Are they form-fitting or round? A round object is extremely detecable on radar. But a form fiting shield could take advantage of radar deflecting angles. The existence of Stealth plate and it's description about angles leads one to belive they're form fitting.

I for one would like to not be able to see ships on the other side of planets, even if it was only on the LRS.
It would be an excellent strategic extension. Asteroid belts would then be twice as dangerous, with both ejecta and hidden enemies to worry about, and ambushes would be possible.

[SparcMan]

You have to consider that "visual" is really more like short-range sensors while "radar" is long range. Short-range gives you a good deal more detail for your immediate surroundings. It would be likely to surpass limitations of what we know as a camera. What about an invisible cloud of nanite sensor drones that each have a camera and sensors and your onboard computer uses data from the nanites to generate a virtual image of your suroundings? I'm not saying that's the case, but I think it makes a good example of how things COULD be.

[Betelgeuse]

I have no problem with a shield that makes the ship not appear on the LRS. (I don't agree with the planetary shadow thing planets.I think that is already nicely represented by planets blocking your shots)

Heat can be used in other ways to reduce the amount the heat a ship has to radiate.
The problem comes in how to do it close in. Shields don't drop when weapons are fired and missile ships would benefit greatly from you not being able to see them up close. How could it be handled that is consistent with the explanation of the "cloaking".

[palmiche]

Also we never go far enough into the outer system far it to be too dim.

Againg you have made this reply useless. Anyway...

even in the future asteroids look like Sandstorm gunships

Yes, but the don't behave the same, that's what makes possible for current military systems to know the difference betwen a dolphin and a torpedo. In the game we have far more advanced computer and systems, and the combinations of the various "sensors" should make possible to "see" anything at a very long range.

I for one would like to not be able to see ships on the other side of planets, even if it was only on the LRS.

I liket that!!! If you can't fire at a target behind a planet I suppose you can't see it neither, unless you fire a missile with a certain angle so it hits the target when turning. Also in the game it's possible the existence of ships bigger than planets, because we humans compare everything with what we have, we compare stars with the Sun and planets with the Earth and so on; we messure in human terms. For for a space evolved specie, the size of their bodies is not a limitation because they don't suffer the effects of gravity, and having changed the meaning of "normal size" the size of the ships they can build (proven they find enought raw materials) has no limits. I don't think of a Sapphire in terms of the size of a Boing 777 but much bigger even than a Shuttle. And I also think of the Iocrym as big enought to obscure the hole planet Earth if placed in front of the sun. The Sapphire in a more realistic scale is just a dot over the surface of the Iocrym.

Taking this into consideration I agree the fight against the Iocrym MUST be a lot harder because no matter how how well armed and shielded you came, the fight is David vs Goliat and this time Goliat is bigger, has better weapons, and a shield twice as powerfull as the best you can get in the game.

[obsidean]

I realize this is a necro bump, but I was wondering if there are any plans to make any sort of cloaking device a part of the game.

One sentence bump I know, oh well.