I frequently get annoyed trying to find bots, people, etc with only the 3k range, i'd like to suggest a short radar pulse, which say takes up your entire reactor reserve, lasts for a few seconds and gives you a 6k range. This would allow you to simply find the right direction you should be going in.

apologies if this has already been proposed, just wanted to get it down.

Later.

Never been suggested, and a good idea in my opinion. Perhaps an add-on for the (hopeefully coming) electronics slot?

It's never been suggested, and it could make for a fun toy.

In the electronics/device/gadget/gizmo slot, there have been several suggestions for more powerful radars that are balanced by their requirement for a continous allocation of energy (making your ship a more effective scout, but less effective fighter), but to my knowledge no one has ever suggested a variably effective radar. There are a couple of interesting ways you could go with that.

could also be good if it were say in concert with changes to the game that let you hide behind roids...then the pulse could show where any people may be lying in wait

such radar should reveal you position to other too (to but being see)

Thumbs up on this one, with henrie's caveat.

I'd like to see this, but only as an add on, rather than a forced thing. I know that's the general idea, but just so its clear...

the plan link on the website says radar mods are probably coming in one of the updates

Also a nice idea would be, if you could hide from radar near an asteroid with i.e. ferric ore... So if you're in range of ~10-20m of such an roid you'll be visible on radar for a lower range, perhaps depending on the ferric ore concentration in the roid. I.e. an roid with 100% Ferric Ore would make you visible on radar only in 1000m range instead of 3000m. A roid with 40% Ferric Ore would make you visible only in a range up to 2200m.

Hope its clear what i mean :)

Making the pulse able to detect people hiding next to(or worse, behind) roids isn't a good idea at all.

It would make ambushes pretty much impossible, since even if a pirate found a 100% Ferric roid, per your suggestion, 1000m is still a hell of a headstart. Combine this with traders working in teams, to pulse more often, and you have a really overpowered little toy.

Now, what might be interesting is a radar add-on that lets you decect *anything*, but reduces your radar range significantly...

However, the original idea of a super-pulse of radar taking all of or a significant portion of your energy is really cool.

Especially if using it made YOU visible to everyone within 6km for a couple seconds, too.

What about having the ability to turn OFF your radar, like in Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, and become invisible (except at close distance, maybe?) on others' radars?
-:sigma.SB

Detailed discussion of stealth and sensors can be found here:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/3273

Stealth is something on the devs long term development plans, so original ideas about stealth and its implementation are definately worthwhile.

Thanks for link, damn thats some reading :)

Thanks for the comments peeps

An idea to add here. What if the radars extended range was based on the amount of power your generator offered?

an power x 10 increase would be the key, I think, with an instant consumption of remaining power.

So, a full Heavy batt would give you 4500m extra range, (and make you visible for that distance as well) and a full f/c would give you only 2500m .

That would offset the FC's flight advantage rather nicely. Hopefully it will be moot soon, though, since I hope engine rebalance is high on the list of Things To Fix(tm).

I think Soltis' idea is good, and Agonisers modifier. Someone once mentioned being able to power off and hide by a suitable asteroid. These are all good ideas which I would enjoy seeing incorporated.

Solra, how would turning off your craft's RADAR make you invisible to others? Your craft is still made out of metal or composite materials that reflect RADAR, whether you have the RADAR on or off.

Also, I don't get why it would need "full ship's power" merely to get RADAR to exceed 3km range. 6km is nothing in RADAR terms, and would require very little extra energy.

I just think the RADAR range needs to be increased for everybody without penalty. 3km is just way too short range for a useful RADAR.

dangit, the radar limit is a gameplay decision, much like the speed limits and the weapons fire only having a duration of ~3 seconds.

As to why turning off your radar would make it harder to find you, there are two types of detection systems;
"active" radar systems are those that send and then wait for a return from a pulse or wave of energy, "passive" sensors are those that monitor the electronic and other emissions of other craft.
The active first type is actually quite easy to block, deflect and/or absorb. you can do it with specialized composite materiels and by designing appropriate shapes to channel the radar energy in specific direcctions, (say at a 60 degree angle away from the reciever) both of those are some of the principles used by the B2 stealth bomber.
Detecting the active emissions of another craft is actually a much better way to find out that something else is around. tho not as precise it has the benefit of being a passive system, and doesn't broadcast where you are while finding the enemy.

So while you wouldn't turn off your radar, perhaps entering a passive mode where your battery wouldnt recharge and your radar wasnt actively searching would remove you from other radar scopes unless you were closer than the 3k range. Perhaps reducing the range that you can detect another ship to the same distance as well. Obviously firing weapons or using thrusters to alter direction would cause you to appear on radar for a moment or two.

I actually think that radar is a real mess in VO at the moment.

There should be practical limits, for performance reasons, but if there were sanely implimented ways to disguise the presence of one's ship, then it would actually be an extremely good idea to increase radar range to about ten times what it is now.

Frankly, having such a tiny radar range ruins the realism of the game for me, since I know enough about radar to understand just how not-right the current schema is. The low top speed for flying is another problem, actually, but I don't understand spaceflight mechanics well enough to really be offended by the way things are.

In truth soltis, the radar does need looked at.

The radar limit is partially set by the way the radar displays the distance of other ships, eg how bright/dim the dot on your radar is. Since there is an effective limit to how closely the human eye can distinguish shades of color, increasing the radar range would probably require some reworking of the radar graphic itself.

Additionally it has been set to 3K to add an element of mystery to the game. Realistic radar ranges would make finding people in large sectors much easier, probably too easy.

IF they were to add some ways to hide your ship, then I could easily see an increase in radar being neccesary. 10 times is probably too much of an increase, but with the new, larger sectors a jump out to 5K or maybe even 10K radar range probably would be more interesting.

The low top speed is actually a neccesary evil to keep the FPS style combat that the developers were looking for, but thats a different thread.