Forums » Suggestions
SuperMegaMynt: I like your style. It's cool that you're necromancing all my favorite topics that sadly won't make any progress for quite awhile. Also, anyone who can be both infuriated and overjoyed (or happy at all) by being blown up without a chance, is cool by me. Very entertaining post. Sorry I've brought this off topic, but how long have you been with VO?
You can set your proximity warning bleep to 4950m, then you only need to check the U list when someone new arrives.
The scanner bind should work on Macintosh, yes. I tested it myself :)
My fellow forum monkeys...
Yes, I share a similar enjoyment in our mutual discussions over these favorite topics. And at the same time a certain remorse for waiting so long to reveal myself to the forums personally. Heh.
I've been following the game itself for over a year now, excitedly checking each update, watching it grow as I might take delight in commenting to my freind's child "My, you get taller each time I see you!". But to give you an idea of how new to playing the game itself, I'm still on my trail account. I do intend to become a paying member soon however.
Yes, I share a similar enjoyment in our mutual discussions over these favorite topics. And at the same time a certain remorse for waiting so long to reveal myself to the forums personally. Heh.
I've been following the game itself for over a year now, excitedly checking each update, watching it grow as I might take delight in commenting to my freind's child "My, you get taller each time I see you!". But to give you an idea of how new to playing the game itself, I'm still on my trail account. I do intend to become a paying member soon however.
Overview
Here's some ideas for two umbrella kinds of radar. The first would be Electromagnetic radiation (henceforth, EM) and the second would be "Gravimetric". (GM) Both types would operate passively or actively. Passively would be automatic; if a ship registers in your scan range, then it shows up on the HUD. Active scanning would require the use of a module, and if a tareget is picked up it'd remain locked for a time. The equations are set up so that a ship can remain mostly undetected if it shuts down certain portions. Shutting down your turbo, would for example, bring your turbo max speed to 0. Mostly, the power cell produces EM radiation, and the engine produces GM 'radiation'. So, without further ado.
Passive EM - Unavoidable heat produces EM radiation. Any active modules produce heat. Heat sinks could later be added which would temporarily store EM radiation, and could be dumped at opportune times. The equation for Passive EM range is double the square of the sum of the PG being used plus the charge rate of the PC being used. 2*(Active PG+PC Charge)^2
Active EM - Certain aspects of a ship make it ring like a bell when hit with the right frequencies of EM radiation. Stored energy in the PC, a ship's length, and active modules are all factors. The equation for Active EM range is double the square of the product of the sum of the PG being used plus the ship length multiplied by the sum of the percentage of energy in the PC's capacitor plus one. 2*((Energy/Max Energy+1)*(Active PG+Length))^2
Passive GM - Artificial gravity cause disturbances which can be tracked. While active at all, an engine's maneuvering thrust and turning thrust both add to this disturbance. The equation for Passive GM range is the half the product of the sum of the ship's turbo max speed plus the ship's maneuvering max speed plus the ship's spin torque multiplied by the quotient of the ship's weight divided by the sum of the ship's thrust plus spin torque. ((Turbo+Speed+Spin)*Weight/(Thrust+Spin))/2
Active GM - To actively scan a ship's gravitons requires that is is moving. If it's at rest, it will have no signal. The equation for active GM range half the product of the ship's speed multiplied by it's thrust. Speed*Thrust/2
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Tactics
The passive EM and passive GM signals ensure that a ship with all it's equipment powered up will show in ranges generally around 5000m. A ship will have to turn offline most of it's equipment to remain in sniping range (under 1000ms) undetected. Active EM scans can be used to root these out, as the ship's stored energy, active modules and length are all essential for it to snipe. Even a stealth missile ship will have some signal. Active GM scans are ineffective against stationary ships, but are tremendously sensitive to ships which are moving at all. Combined with visual scanning, this can be an effective method of rooting out stealth ships.
Rail gun sniping. It is possible to remain in sniping ranges, undetected by passive EM and GM scans, in a quad-rail hornet. By simply shutting off your Power Cell, you're rendered invisible for 512ms. Shutting off your turbo and maneuvering thrusters brings you down to less than that, even while overloaded. With a heavy cell, you'll have enough energy to fire a single salvo. With a partner, and good aiming you can effectively stop any ship from passing a particular point you might have in mind. However, since you'll need energy in your capacitor, you'll be obvious even from a great distance away from active EM scans.
Missile sniping. It's possible to remain even more undetectable with the use of missiles. With two tubes, and no energy in your capacitor, you can become invisible from 128ms away. However an active scan will reveal your location from 1250ms away at minimum. Wiser would be to sit in a warthog with a single tube, as this would drop even your active signal down to 196m.
Ambushing. The key to ambushing is to keep your passive GM signal down, so that the time the target has to react is minimal, and the key to doing this is engine efficiency. The Valk can attain the highest engine efficiency of any ship. With N3's, or Gemenis, it can approach 1217 on maneuvering thrusters and turning online undetected. At this point, you can power everything up, and boost towards your target, getting within firing range in less than five seconds. If you're sniping a stationary target, you can drift into sniping range by shutting down maneuvering after accelerating towards a position close enough to get a good shot.
Here's some ideas for two umbrella kinds of radar. The first would be Electromagnetic radiation (henceforth, EM) and the second would be "Gravimetric". (GM) Both types would operate passively or actively. Passively would be automatic; if a ship registers in your scan range, then it shows up on the HUD. Active scanning would require the use of a module, and if a tareget is picked up it'd remain locked for a time. The equations are set up so that a ship can remain mostly undetected if it shuts down certain portions. Shutting down your turbo, would for example, bring your turbo max speed to 0. Mostly, the power cell produces EM radiation, and the engine produces GM 'radiation'. So, without further ado.
Passive EM - Unavoidable heat produces EM radiation. Any active modules produce heat. Heat sinks could later be added which would temporarily store EM radiation, and could be dumped at opportune times. The equation for Passive EM range is double the square of the sum of the PG being used plus the charge rate of the PC being used. 2*(Active PG+PC Charge)^2
Active EM - Certain aspects of a ship make it ring like a bell when hit with the right frequencies of EM radiation. Stored energy in the PC, a ship's length, and active modules are all factors. The equation for Active EM range is double the square of the product of the sum of the PG being used plus the ship length multiplied by the sum of the percentage of energy in the PC's capacitor plus one. 2*((Energy/Max Energy+1)*(Active PG+Length))^2
Passive GM - Artificial gravity cause disturbances which can be tracked. While active at all, an engine's maneuvering thrust and turning thrust both add to this disturbance. The equation for Passive GM range is the half the product of the sum of the ship's turbo max speed plus the ship's maneuvering max speed plus the ship's spin torque multiplied by the quotient of the ship's weight divided by the sum of the ship's thrust plus spin torque. ((Turbo+Speed+Spin)*Weight/(Thrust+Spin))/2
Active GM - To actively scan a ship's gravitons requires that is is moving. If it's at rest, it will have no signal. The equation for active GM range half the product of the ship's speed multiplied by it's thrust. Speed*Thrust/2
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Tactics
The passive EM and passive GM signals ensure that a ship with all it's equipment powered up will show in ranges generally around 5000m. A ship will have to turn offline most of it's equipment to remain in sniping range (under 1000ms) undetected. Active EM scans can be used to root these out, as the ship's stored energy, active modules and length are all essential for it to snipe. Even a stealth missile ship will have some signal. Active GM scans are ineffective against stationary ships, but are tremendously sensitive to ships which are moving at all. Combined with visual scanning, this can be an effective method of rooting out stealth ships.
Rail gun sniping. It is possible to remain in sniping ranges, undetected by passive EM and GM scans, in a quad-rail hornet. By simply shutting off your Power Cell, you're rendered invisible for 512ms. Shutting off your turbo and maneuvering thrusters brings you down to less than that, even while overloaded. With a heavy cell, you'll have enough energy to fire a single salvo. With a partner, and good aiming you can effectively stop any ship from passing a particular point you might have in mind. However, since you'll need energy in your capacitor, you'll be obvious even from a great distance away from active EM scans.
Missile sniping. It's possible to remain even more undetectable with the use of missiles. With two tubes, and no energy in your capacitor, you can become invisible from 128ms away. However an active scan will reveal your location from 1250ms away at minimum. Wiser would be to sit in a warthog with a single tube, as this would drop even your active signal down to 196m.
Ambushing. The key to ambushing is to keep your passive GM signal down, so that the time the target has to react is minimal, and the key to doing this is engine efficiency. The Valk can attain the highest engine efficiency of any ship. With N3's, or Gemenis, it can approach 1217 on maneuvering thrusters and turning online undetected. At this point, you can power everything up, and boost towards your target, getting within firing range in less than five seconds. If you're sniping a stationary target, you can drift into sniping range by shutting down maneuvering after accelerating towards a position close enough to get a good shot.
On the topic of sensor changes (forgive me if Im repeating ideas, I didn't read the whole thread).
When a hostile radar system activates inside weapons range (say: 500 for energy weapons, 1500 for missiles/rockets), a soft alarm activates, indicating the presence of hostile weapons radar.
When another ship actually targets you, inside weapons range, a warning might flash, something simplistic and with text "Lock-On" and a louder alarm would sound.
In the event the enemy fighter unleashes a guided missile, an additional warning might appear below the "Lock On" message, to indicate a Missile is en route. This warning would be simplistic as well, something as easy as "MISSILE".
Unguided projectiles and energy weapons would not have this warning because their lack of a guidance system would make them unreadable.
A lot of this is the same as USAF fighters carry.
It also opens up room for another USAF toy that traders and combat pilots might like the Tactical Electronic Warfare System or TEWS.
The TEWS would simply be a radar jamming device, that would either white out, or blank out all hostile radars inside it's operational radius. It would also prevent missiles from tracking accurately perhaps.
This would have applications as a military weapon since whole task forces could be effectively hidden by new model Electronic Warfare (EW) birds, and traders could utilize EW to blind pirates.
Of course, to make this fair in the endgame, we'd have to allow some craft a sort of EW "Storm Radar" that could partly penetrate this haze, or perhaps only allow Capital-class craft to have EW suites on-board that spanned 1000 or more meters, and fighters could have a limited, defensive EW design inside say, 450m.
When a hostile radar system activates inside weapons range (say: 500 for energy weapons, 1500 for missiles/rockets), a soft alarm activates, indicating the presence of hostile weapons radar.
When another ship actually targets you, inside weapons range, a warning might flash, something simplistic and with text "Lock-On" and a louder alarm would sound.
In the event the enemy fighter unleashes a guided missile, an additional warning might appear below the "Lock On" message, to indicate a Missile is en route. This warning would be simplistic as well, something as easy as "MISSILE".
Unguided projectiles and energy weapons would not have this warning because their lack of a guidance system would make them unreadable.
A lot of this is the same as USAF fighters carry.
It also opens up room for another USAF toy that traders and combat pilots might like the Tactical Electronic Warfare System or TEWS.
The TEWS would simply be a radar jamming device, that would either white out, or blank out all hostile radars inside it's operational radius. It would also prevent missiles from tracking accurately perhaps.
This would have applications as a military weapon since whole task forces could be effectively hidden by new model Electronic Warfare (EW) birds, and traders could utilize EW to blind pirates.
Of course, to make this fair in the endgame, we'd have to allow some craft a sort of EW "Storm Radar" that could partly penetrate this haze, or perhaps only allow Capital-class craft to have EW suites on-board that spanned 1000 or more meters, and fighters could have a limited, defensive EW design inside say, 450m.