Long range radar based on stations

    Joined
    Jul 22, 2013
    Messages
    524
    Reaction score
    135
    Ive seen a few posts about long range sensors previously but they were very complex, hard to implement and very idealized by their creator. My suggestion is concise and simple.

    Why?
    If anyone has noticed, combat is hard to come by. By introducing long range radar you can see whats going on around you and therefore intercept targets similar to how air defense and air interception works today. This would also motivate people to build ships specifically to catch up to and intercept targets.

    Implementation
    Implementing this would be simply, anyone within 20 sector radius of the station would be detected by the radar. The data detected by the radar would be given to everyone in the faction that controlled the station. This could be a simply list of coordinates, or by way of the navigation. As turrets, docked, astronauts, & asteroids etc.. are selected in the nav filter so could the Station based radar, this would simply place a waypoint at the sector of the detected ship.

    It is important to allow radar jamming ships to remain undetected by long range radar.

    Ideal configuration of LR radar should be a metal grid pattern. You should be able to link a LR radar computer to metal mesh so as not to take more ids. It is important in my mind that the range should be 20 sectors (not km) at least.

    @schema @Calbiri
     
    Last edited:
    Joined
    Jul 21, 2013
    Messages
    2,932
    Reaction score
    460
    • Hardware Store
    Ive seen a few posts about long range sensors previously but they were very complex, hard to implement and very idealized by their creator. My suggestion is concise and simple.

    Why?
    If anyone has noticed, combat is hard to come by. By introducing long range radar you can see whats going on around you and therefore intercept targets similar to how air defense and air interception works today. This would also motivate people to build ships specifically to catch up to and intercept targets.

    Implementation
    Implementing this would be simply, anyone within 20 sector radius of the station would be detected by the radar. The data detected by the radar would be given to everyone in the faction that controlled the station. This could be a simply list of coordinates, or by way of the navigation. As turrets, docked, astronauts, & asteroids etc.. are selected in the nav filter so could the Station based radar, this would simply place a waypoint at the sector of the detected ship.

    It is important to allow radar jamming ships to remain undetected by long range radar.

    Ideal configuration of LR radar should be a metal grid pattern. You should be able to link a LR radar computer to metal mesh so as not to take more ids. It is important in my mind that the range should be 20 sectors (not km) at least.

    @schema @Calbiri
    I'd actually say, that the radar's data is only given to s.o. in the computer. So a strategist has:
    a: a safe place to stay during operations
    b: can look at and analyze the battle from multiple angles to optimize the pilot's performance.​
    It'd also give a bonus to non-oneman-factions.
     
    Joined
    Apr 25, 2013
    Messages
    1,076
    Reaction score
    186
    • Purchased!
    • Legacy Citizen
    • Legacy Citizen 2
    Your idea is interesting, and I agree with part of it, but I completely disagree that the info gathered by the stations should be sent to faction members. It should only be viewable by people manning that station. They can then tell other faction members the info over faction chat (that's part of why it's there), and thus also give manning space stations a real purpose.

    That way you also don't have one-man-action-hero jerks building a sensor station while he flies around in his giant titan PVP-killing everyone his sensor station picks up for him. He has to get the help of others to be able to seek out long-distance targets. It encourages teamwork, faction events, and cooperation, while also fostering friendship between faction members as they work together toward a common goal.

    So yeah, having the data automatically sent to faction members means that it can be abused to allow rampant unwanted PVP encounters across the universe. And, those sensor stations end up becoming moreso annoying spy satellites. And knowing your faction, it's not hard to forsee that such an abusive method of executing this feature would cause a server's interstellar civilization to quickly come to an end.

    I like the idea of linking it to metal mesh blocks. My ships's (purely aesthetic) sensor arrays on the sides have metal mesh on them as a decoration.
     
    Last edited:
    Joined
    Jul 22, 2013
    Messages
    524
    Reaction score
    135
    Your idea is interesting, and I agree with part of it, but I completely disagree that the info gathered by the stations should be sent to faction members. It should only be viewable by people manning that station. They can then tell other faction members the info over faction chat (that's part of why it's there), and thus also give manning space stations a real purpose.

    That way you also don't have one-man-action-hero jerks building a sensor station while he flies around in his giant titan PVP-killing everyone his sensor station picks up for him. He has to get the help of others to be able to seek out long-distance targets. It encourages teamwork, faction events, and cooperation, while also fostering friendship between faction members as they work together toward a common goal.

    So yeah, having the data automatically sent to faction members means that it can be abused to allow rampant unwanted PVP encounters across the universe. And, those sensor stations end up becoming moreso annoying spy satellites. And knowing your faction, it's not hard to forsee that such an abusive method of executing this feature would cause a server's interstellar civilization to quickly come to an end.

    I like the idea of linking it to metal mesh blocks. My ships's (purely aesthetic) sensor arrays on the sides have metal mesh on them as a decoration.
    That one poor soul stuck on radar duty...

    Who would want to be stuck on radar duty during a battle?
     
    Joined
    Jul 22, 2013
    Messages
    524
    Reaction score
    135
    I would, it is a strategist's job to do so.
    Well you wouldnt be able to visualize your own fleet or theirs. Not knowing the orientation of either fleet would make you simply wasted manpower. Strategy can simply be done by someone at the fight, as we have done for a long long time.
     
    Joined
    Jul 21, 2013
    Messages
    2,932
    Reaction score
    460
    • Hardware Store
    Well you wouldnt be able to visualize your own fleet or theirs. Not knowing the orientation of either fleet would make you simply wasted manpower.
    Orientation can derived from movements/destructions of ships.(In case of movement I am talking about dodge/wedge maneuvers)
    Strategy can simply be done by someone at the fight, as we have done for a long long time.
    In general, good strategists are not as skilled in piloting as pilots. As such they make easy targets in the midst of battles. They also cannot focus on the battle itself that much, since they should stay alive and constantly have to accelerate in a direction.

    However, before this minor discussion goes out of hand, I'd just say: make it a config option to allow factions to enable broadcasting the radar's data onto their chat.
     
    Last edited:
    Joined
    Sep 13, 2013
    Messages
    569
    Reaction score
    220
    Interesting idea. Why not make it a new block type, one that uses extrem amounts of energy. Maybe the range could be regulated through the amount of blocks. And make it available for ships.

    Specialyced commend ships :)