Sensor Relays! |

OK, forgive me if someone thought of this before, but I think it's pretty cool...
Ability 7 Type := Sight Range Ability 7 Description := Your sensors in the system can see out to range [%Amount1%]. Ability 7 Scope := System - This Player Ability 7 Range Formula := 0 Ability 7 Amount 1 Formula := 10 Ability 7 Amount 2 Formula := 0
Add this ability to a facility or base component or something... heck, even a nebula if you want ships to be able to track each other by "ion trails" or something!
What it does is it creates a "sensor relay" - it enhances the sensor ranges of all your ships/planets/etc. in the system up to range 10, if they're not already that high! 
You could even make short range relays with the "Sector Range - This Player" ability scope... make all sensors range-2 or so but enhance them with short-range relays installed on satellites (which might be too small to carry an actual sensor uplink), so in order to really see much of anything you need a network of satellites... excellent for "sub chase" or "Romulan neutral zone" type mods!
Or use another ability, such as "Sight Level" or whatever...
Re: Sensor Relays!
can you make a structure that weighs 0KT and have a limit of 1 per planet

Re: Sensor Relays!
I played with this last night with the new patch, works great.
You can define different levels of sensors for different buildings so I:
- Made space yards have equal abilities to sensors but based on space yard tech. This is because my spaceyards tend to become important military bases as well.
- Made research centers have the ability to have sighting only, due to various scientific instruments present.
- Gave spaceports ability as well, due to need to coordinate traffic control on trading ships.
- Gave it to Resupply depots, due to need to vector in ships needing refueling,
- I gave reduced ability to mining installations, farms, and refineries, but because I feel that on an entire planet they would have the room to set up one or two dinky radar dishes to assist with shipping coming in to get the minerals. Range=tech level only.
- And gave it to Monoliths, just because of all that spooky voodoo magic in dem 
I also gave the ability to weapons platform computer cores. This allows me to build 'radar stations' at will on planets i need more coverage from. Here I did something more funky, and made range = the get_tech_level("sensors") function. So they have sight range = my current level of sensor tech.
All that is done before the naked stars is remembered

Re: Sensor Relays!
Hi, do you need to upgrade/replace the unit for the sensors range to increase or will it automatic increase.

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Sorry, it don't work. I guess because it treats the wp's as 'unlaunched units' it doesn't apply the view range out from the planet. I had to add it instead to the cargo facility (which usually indicates a military base, so I changed the name of that facility too to 'barracks')
All that is done before the naked stars is remembered
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That would be crazy, I just pictured a huge ship with blasts punching holes in the hull from the inside. Couldn't be good for the ship I wouldn't think.

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Might not be a good idea for space combat, but for a planetside naval warfare mod/total conversion, it would be nifty. Napoleonic Line-of-Battle Ships with marine cargo firing muskets....
Re: Sensor Relays!
Remember, units have to be pretty tough to do their normal job, as they can fight under a wide variety of atmosphere compositions and pressures, including "none" (vacuum). A Macross-like take where the nominally ground units are either firing out the cargo bay doors, or actually deployed on the hull, to provide extra point defense could work in some interpretations.
Perhaps that'd be one of the advantages of mecha rather than tanks, as seen in some mods; tanks could mount much heavier armor and shields, and more heavy weapons, but mecha would have the Can Fire Into Space From Ship Cargo flag.

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Hold off on going hog-wild with adding sensors to all your facilities, it looks like it crashes the game. I put it on shipyards, spaceports, resupply depots, intel centers, research centers, mineral mines, organic farms and refineries, as I wanted to cover all the typical planet types I make, and my game is now hanging after 50 turns or so repeatedly. I'm thinking that it's losing it's mind trying to figure out all the sensor sweeps for all the empires it needs to process.
All that is done before the naked stars is remembered
Re: Sensor Relays!
I usually just stick to cheap junk satellites. They work great! And you probably won't build enough to implode the game.

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Is there a way to have a facilities abilities reference multiple techs, like the example above, a resupply depot with a built in radar.. have the resupply abilities based on the resupply tech and vision range based on sensor tech?

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I LOVE this idea! ekolis. amazing. I'm thinking something like this would be good for Dark Nova 5, with your permission, of course.
I can see so many other ideas for enhancing techs beyond just sensors range and sight too...
Nick (bearclaw)
"You don't know the Power of the Dark Side. I must obey my Master"





Re: Sensor Relays!
That's good, how do you make it automatic for all planets? I think it should reflect your current sensor level tech, as well.
All that is done before the naked stars is remembered