I read through every topic on this topic before trying to post here, so I hope I got them all before throwing my idea out.
Anyway, I've been playing this game for awhile and I finally bought it on steam to help support everybody and after playing with it even more I decided to join the forum and throw my own take on things in.
The first element is jamming. Now I'm not sure what system that is being modeled as far as detection of other bodies/vessels goes, but I assume it is some kind of omni-radar or some kind of passive infrared/visual system. With the addition of the sensor computer and modules I would assume even more that this would be the case.
So trying to be brief: Active sensors use acoustic or electromagnetic waves to detect signals by comparing the time it takes for a signal sent out to when it is returned. These signals can be checked for direction to get a pretty good idea of the elevation, azimuth and range of a target. Ignoring the fact that active sensors give away their position (as long as the target being pinged has an antenna that can read the wavelength it is being hit with), these sensors are pretty reliable.
Jamming falls into two broad categories: Broadband/Barrage and Deception Jamming. A barrage jamming basically floods a wavelength with garbage to essentially blind the receiver to the actual return. On a radar screen it looks like a big cone of lines instead of a neat blip. Deception jamming creates false wavelengths that replicate a true radar return. This creates multiple blips that are totally false with one true one buried in them.
When you jam in the real world, everyone anywhere who can sense the wavelength you are jamming on knows you're there (you're transmitting after all) but they can still acquire you in azimuth and elevation, just not range. (Unless you get too close, then they can "burn through" the jamming. They can even acquire you with their transmitter off as long as their receiver is working.
The game jammer is the ultimate because the opponents don't know they've been jammed and they have no reason to suspect anything. And where I get confused is that you have no active emissions, so what is really being jammed?
My suggestion is this:
Leave the in-game jammer the way it is, but add two effects: The first is that on the 3d system map of the ships being jammed there appears to be random red dots appearing in strange places that come and go (this simulates the deception jamming) and second, when the jamming ship is targeted, there is no range information unless you are right on top of it.
For the second part I leave you with this article (an amazing website too if you don't know it):
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewardetect.php
The short version: There is no stealth in space. The background of space is 3 Kelvin. Your body is about ~310 Kelvin. In other words, on a thermal scanner you'd stick out like the moon on a clear night, even at interplanetary ranges.
Anyway, I've been playing this game for awhile and I finally bought it on steam to help support everybody and after playing with it even more I decided to join the forum and throw my own take on things in.
The first element is jamming. Now I'm not sure what system that is being modeled as far as detection of other bodies/vessels goes, but I assume it is some kind of omni-radar or some kind of passive infrared/visual system. With the addition of the sensor computer and modules I would assume even more that this would be the case.
So trying to be brief: Active sensors use acoustic or electromagnetic waves to detect signals by comparing the time it takes for a signal sent out to when it is returned. These signals can be checked for direction to get a pretty good idea of the elevation, azimuth and range of a target. Ignoring the fact that active sensors give away their position (as long as the target being pinged has an antenna that can read the wavelength it is being hit with), these sensors are pretty reliable.
Jamming falls into two broad categories: Broadband/Barrage and Deception Jamming. A barrage jamming basically floods a wavelength with garbage to essentially blind the receiver to the actual return. On a radar screen it looks like a big cone of lines instead of a neat blip. Deception jamming creates false wavelengths that replicate a true radar return. This creates multiple blips that are totally false with one true one buried in them.
When you jam in the real world, everyone anywhere who can sense the wavelength you are jamming on knows you're there (you're transmitting after all) but they can still acquire you in azimuth and elevation, just not range. (Unless you get too close, then they can "burn through" the jamming. They can even acquire you with their transmitter off as long as their receiver is working.
The game jammer is the ultimate because the opponents don't know they've been jammed and they have no reason to suspect anything. And where I get confused is that you have no active emissions, so what is really being jammed?
My suggestion is this:
Leave the in-game jammer the way it is, but add two effects: The first is that on the 3d system map of the ships being jammed there appears to be random red dots appearing in strange places that come and go (this simulates the deception jamming) and second, when the jamming ship is targeted, there is no range information unless you are right on top of it.
For the second part I leave you with this article (an amazing website too if you don't know it):
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewardetect.php
The short version: There is no stealth in space. The background of space is 3 Kelvin. Your body is about ~310 Kelvin. In other words, on a thermal scanner you'd stick out like the moon on a clear night, even at interplanetary ranges.
