Scanners to see planets as well

raynor · #1 April 13th, 2001, 02:52 AM

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.

Marty Ward · #2 April 13th, 2001, 02:57 AM

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.

CaptSpoogy · #3 April 13th, 2001, 02:58 AM

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.

Suicide Junkie · #4 April 13th, 2001, 03:01 AM

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.

jc173 · #5 April 13th, 2001, 09:02 AM

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 Of course it might be out of date but it's better than nothing.

CaptSpoogy · #6 April 13th, 2001, 10:43 AM

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.

Baal · #7 April 13th, 2001, 05:01 PM

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.