Scanners to see planets as well
 

I would like to be able to see what on a planet before I attack, say using a higher tech scanner to see the planet.
It would be fun to use a cloaked ship to move near a planet and see what's on there.
I know that you can use intel project but this would be fun as well.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

I agree. Have some type of scanner that allows you to see how many wep platforms etc.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

I'm not so sure it's a question of fun (which it is!) as much as reasonableness and fairness. Should the Long Range Scanners work on planets as they do on ships? I have run into this situation in my games. Interesting how, regardless of scanners, you can always see how many people are on someone else's planet. Perhaps Long Range Scanners should allow you to view the planet totally. Or perhaps only at a certain tech level of scanners.

If not, perhaps you could see what he has in cargo. Just being able to see that would be a great boon.

An issue I have with scanners is that, having viewed enemy ships with LR Scanners, why don't those classes become a permanent part of your Enemy Ship and Unit designs? I have to check them every turn to see them on my lists. That doesn't entirely make sense, unless it's a devil of a coding issue.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

I have a problem with long range scanners in general. Why should you be able to see what is inside a ship? Outside yes, inside no way. Kind of takes the suprise away from your new designs. I mean what kind of technology are we talking about, x-ray glasses.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

I seem to recall a game where the scanners just told you if the ship was damaged or not, and the x-ray device actually let you see inside the ship. Was that Ascendancy that had that?

To save Aaron some programming, why don't we just assume that all the ships in SEIV are so poorly constructed that you can see what's on a ship just by looking at the outside of it. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

I generally don't use them against the AI, I assume it knows what is on my ship anyway and I like surprises. I try to get them to be removed when I play hot seat.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

Perhaps the scanners can detect different kinds of power/radiation/systems and can determine what kind of device is onboard the ship. For example, maybe shields emit a certain energy signal that the scanners can detect and display shields for that area.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

The long range sensors would be able to see the hull signatures of shield generators, weapon ports, engines, armor, compare the size of the ship to its known components to find the % devoted to inert cargo/supplies, know the crew complement from the size restrictions, etc.
You could see almost anything w. LR scanners unless it was stealthed.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

I agree that scanners should be able to show at least the facilities on a planet. Also I think data planet about a planet should be persistent, ie you can go back an view it. Of course it might be out of date but it's better than nothing.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

That would be a good idea.

The information about the planet could be kept with a small note (warning) that shows the date that the information was recorded. It could even be used to show the Last known locations of enemy ships.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

One of the things I'd like to see is when you scan/have a battle with a ship/planet it stores in all the component info you know about that class of ship/planet on the ship or planet when you click on it. That way you don't have to go flipping through the design menu to find what type of ship it is. And if you lost a fleet to a planet it would make sense that you knew what cargo was on the planet

It wouldn't be bad if you were able to store information on planets you did recon on either. It would make some of those intelligence operations more useful if you could access the most recent data on planets/economy.

It would make sense that if you got some sort of info on a planet/ship class/economy that you be able to see it any time. And if it's out of date info, use it at your own risk.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

Recording information about systems, planets and ship locations makes sense. I hate it when I peek into a system, see another races colony and leave then 10 turns later cannot remember which planets were colonized. A referance map wopuld be great.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

There is a way to keep that info albeit cumbersome. You can right click on the galaxy map then click on a system and record notes on what was there. But I would also like the game to show us that Last information we have in a system with a field showing how old the data was. (I know other games have this capability). Also I don't think that this should make for a much larger file since each player will have access to some information on the systems they are in or have seen and later in the game some of those races will be in a majority of the systems.

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Marty Ward:
I hate it when I peek into a system, see another races colony and leave then 10 turns later cannot remember which planets were colonized. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
You can find out if a planet is colonized by taking a colony ship (preferably one without any movement left) and ordering it to colonize the planet. If it will not accept the order, the planet has a colony on it. Hmmm, maybe this should be in the "cheat" or "bug" thread. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Scanners to see planets as well
 

Well it looks like most would like to see a scanner for planets, even if it only shows for the turn you are near it at least.
I am going to send the request off to MM for his consideration.