Sensors as an effect instead of a system

[GaeasSon]

I'm thinking sensors might actually be more role-play interesting as an effect rather than a system
Any sensor effect reduces the system damage to zero.

Types of scans.

• Damage beam + Sensor= Sensor beam that displays information about the structure that it hits.
• Damage Pulse + Sensor= Active scan of the local sector
• Missile + Sensor= (sensor probe) Travels normally straight ahead, or towards a waypoint set sector until it arrives, is destroyed, or runs out of power. Each time it hits a new sector, it reports its location. When it arrives in it's destination sector it does a sector scan. If it encounters a wormhole, it waits to get sucked through before reporting.
• Sensor + (Push pulse or amc)= ? I don't know. the stuff above was the extent of my creativity

What do scans return?

• On a scan of a natural body, they return a readout of the ores on the body in order of abundance.
• On scan of a a ship or station, they return a readout of the weapons and utilities on board.
• On scan of a sector, they return an entity list, including a list of anomalies that may or may not be cloaked ships. This might be useful for determining whether a spacial anomaly in the next sector is a wormhole or a black-hole, or a worm-hole that dumps you INTO a black hole or a star, or what have you.

 

[TartarusMkII]

I really like this ideas- the mixture of system combinations you've come up with make a lot of sense, and I find that they are reasonable in the sense of what is possible, versus what is too much to ask for.

I really like the scanners' antenna are really cool, but made nearly useless. I'd love for the modules to REQUIRE open space around them to operate, and for the length to not simply add to the power, but to be some kind of requirement (like stealth making the cost of power greater the more mass is, maybe the scanner operates with less power the bigger its antennae clusters are.)

 

[Magrim]

Great idea. All three of your examples sound like fun, especially like the missile+sensor combo. As far as linking sensors to other stuff, I don't know, we could always exclude those from being affected.

 

[alterintel]

Awesome Idea

 

[Mariux]

GENIUS. +100

 

[Ithirahad]

I really like this ideas- the mixture of system combinations you've come up with make a lot of sense, and I find that they are reasonable in the sense of what is possible, versus what is too much to ask for.

I really like the scanners' antenna are really cool, but made nearly useless. I'd love for the modules to REQUIRE open space around them to operate, and for the length to not simply add to the power, but to be some kind of requirement (like stealth making the cost of power greater the more mass is, maybe the scanner operates with less power the bigger its antennae clusters are.)

Requiring open space sounds like a bad idea; forcing people to have antennas sticking out of their ship is... well, not conducive to the nearly complete design freedom this game gives us.

 

[GaeasSon]

Requiring open space sounds like a bad idea; forcing people to have antennas sticking out of their ship is... well, not conducive to the nearly complete design freedom this game gives us.

I agree, but I'd also like to have more variety in the challenge of design freedom vs structural requirements. Antennas simply working on block-count doesn't really make sense to me. I would base antenna strength/efficiency on geometry, say X*Y*Z of the bounding box of just the largest group of antenna blocks. Now the challenge is fitting that into your design.

 

[FatCobra]

This idea sounds great.

 

[Megacrafter127]

I agree, but I'd also like to have more variety in the challenge of design freedom vs structural requirements. Antennas simply working on block-count doesn't really make sense to me. I would base antenna strength/efficiency on geometry, say X*Y*Z of the bounding box of just the largest group of antenna blocks. Now the challenge is fitting that into your design.

The current scanners work that way, AFAIK. I do not know how multiple groups are handled though.

 

[TartarusMkII]

Requiring open space sounds like a bad idea; forcing people to have antennas sticking out of their ship is... well, not conducive to the nearly complete design freedom this game gives us.

I agree, but I'd also like to have more variety in the challenge of design freedom vs structural requirements. Antennas simply working on block-count doesn't really make sense to me. I would base antenna strength/efficiency on geometry, say X*Y*Z of the bounding box of just the largest group of antenna blocks. Now the challenge is fitting that into your design.

I mean, I agree that maybe forcing the player to have a big antenna sticking out of some direction may be silly, but I think it's less silly than asking a player to arbitrarily stick a line of antenna modules buried somewhere in the ship to never be seen again.

I definitely feel that the challenge GaeasSon mentions is what I'm speaking to.

 

[jayman38]

Maybe the cannon combo could create a subtle auto-aim slow-homing capability on the bullets, making anti-fighter weapons and point defense slightly more powerful.
Subtle homing is not needed on the other weapon types, because pulse is too close to need it, beams are insta-hit, and missiles already have two homing options.

 

[Awdred]

I really like this ideas- the mixture of system combinations you've come up with make a lot of sense, and I find that they are reasonable in the sense of what is possible, versus what is too much to ask for.

I really like the scanners' antenna are really cool, but made nearly useless. I'd love for the modules to REQUIRE open space around them to operate, and for the length to not simply add to the power, but to be some kind of requirement (like stealth making the cost of power greater the more mass is, maybe the scanner operates with less power the bigger its antennae clusters are.)

If they required open space, they'd be too easy to hit, therefore, scanners would be nearly useless once shields were down. In order for them to be useful, you'd have to have a shield tank.

I do like he idea for sensors as an effect, but I also, like scanners how they are, so maybe this as a bonus? Like have both, maybe, but one would probably over-power the other, just because more people might use one.

 

[GaeasSon]

If they required open space, they'd be too easy to hit, therefore, scanners would be nearly useless once shields were down. In order for them to be useful, you'd have to have a shield tank.

I do like he idea for sensors as an effect, but I also, like scanners how they are, so maybe this as a bonus? Like have both, maybe, but one would probably over-power the other, just because more people might use one.

Maybe just leave them as they are now as the passive effect.

 

[Awdred]

Maybe just leave them as they are now as the passive effect.

Yea, then you could have the effect give you information about the object scanned, and the scanner tool just reveal it.

 

[TartarusMkII]

If they required open space, they'd be too easy to hit, therefore, scanners would be nearly useless once shields were down. In order for them to be useful, you'd have to have a shield tank.

I do like he idea for sensors as an effect, but I also, like scanners how they are, so maybe this as a bonus? Like have both, maybe, but one would probably over-power the other, just because more people might use one.

They are not vital, so maybe it's okay if they were easy to hit- again, anything to discourage people from buildings giant armored cubes.

 

[Awdred]

They are not vital, so maybe it's okay if they were easy to hit- again, anything to discourage people from buildings giant armored cubes.

It would be limiting. If I want to have the lining the inside of my ship, I can, but if they did this, I couldn't. I'd be forced to have them on the exterior, where they're vulnerable.

 

[Lecic]

I dislike this idea. The only part I like is the sensor probe, and that could also be accomplished by allowing AI (once we get fleets) to send their scan data back to you, which I'd like much more.

 

[StormWing0]

Well the default Sensor on its own could act like it normally does. This way we we could have something like this and have what we currently have as well.

 

[jayman38]

I dislike this idea....

Do you see some sort of overpowered or balancing problem? Does it seem like too much work for too little return?
Inquiring minds want to know the reason why you don't like this.

 

[Lecic]

Do you see some sort of overpowered or balancing problem? Does it seem like too much work for too little return?
Inquiring minds want to know the reason why you don't like this.

Sensors are a much more active system. They don't make sense as an effect, because they aren't passive. Additionally, most of this stuff is already somewhat in the game (being able to see enemy stats to a degree, scanning the sector you're in (and then some), seeing what ores are in asteroids, etc) or stuff I'd like to see as an improvement of AI fleets instead (scanner probe.)

I'd rather just see the existing scanner system get upgrades that allow you to find out things like resources on planet plates, or weapons/active/passive systems on a ship, than have it shoehorned in as an effect because "combining things is cool!"