Mines Cloaking too high????

Aussie Gamer · #1 February 27th, 2001, 04:10 AM

Change to mines or maybe a scanner to see them???

All mines cloak beyond any scanner available in the game to see them. So either make a new scanner able to see them or change medium mines level 4 and large mines to level 3. As they are easier to see and thus destroy. Or maybe that they should be the other way around, as they have more space to put in more dampening fields.

Or another choice is to remove the cloaking ability from them and add small cloaking devices to the unit field, so you have to cloak them as per ships. Other devices could be added as well, such as scanner jammers.

Just thoughts for your consideration.

raynor · #2 February 27th, 2001, 04:15 AM

I like them just the way they are now. I don't think you should ever be able to see another player's mines. I think that saying they are cloaked is just a convenient game mechanism to explain why you can't see them. The real reason you can't see them is because they are so small. I think they add quite a bit to the game when you travel through a wormhole and find you just lost your entire fleet. I'm all for the status quo.

Aussie Gamer · #3 February 27th, 2001, 04:20 AM

Thank you for your reply.

If that's right then why do we have high tech scanners???

The large mines are bigger than a medium fighter. We can see them OK.

Yes I know that they just sit there and do nothing!! That's what makes them invisible....

We have tech now that can sense land mines and smell for parcel bombs. So why can't we see some space mines with higher tech scanners.

U-boats where invisible under water until some bright spark went and designed sonar!!

raynor · #4 February 27th, 2001, 04:59 AM

Scanners are used to detect cloaked ships (U-boats in space).

If not for the radiation that fighters emit--either firing their weapons, or using their engines or maintaining the life of the pilot, I think even large fighters would be essentially invisible in space as are large mines.

I prefer to think of scanners being able to scan for moving objects not stationary ones. For the purposes of this argument, assume that all ships and all fighters are always moving. Scanners, thus, shouldn't be able to detect mines.

IMHO, your point about terrestrial parcel sniffing and mine detection is well-made. I just think it doesn't apply in space. Or... if it did, it would make the game over-complicated. But that's just my opinion, of course.

Aussie Gamer · #5 February 27th, 2001, 06:14 AM

Points taken.

Just I think that something a high tech should be able to see them. This of course would not effect the fact of "What's on the other side of that warp point....BOOM!..oh!".
As most sweepers need to be in the same system to be useful.

For every defence there is an offence and visa versa. This is the way of warfare. Eg. AT rounds made for better armour.

Lupusman · #6 February 27th, 2001, 06:28 AM

At least, the higher level detectors should be able to see the lower level mine designs, maybe two levels down for example. That way, a level 4 scanner could see level 2 mines etc. But in the end, the highest mine tech would win out.

Aussie Gamer · #7 February 27th, 2001, 07:10 AM

I believe that the only way to do this is to have a special device that go onto mines only that can cloak.
As all scanners scan for all cloaking ships as well.
Maybe a small cloaking component that is developed by having small weapons 2 mines 1 you are able to research mine cloaking, which gives you level 1 mine cloak.

It seems to be a bit unfair that level one mines you get effectively level 5 cloaking. The early mines in our history were very crude devices, and as we got better at finding them they got better at hiding them.

Scanners V Cloaking war....

Triumvir Emphy · #8 February 27th, 2001, 03:16 PM

being stationed on mine sweepers in the gulf i can tell you that sonar to find boats is completely uneffective to find mines.

Minesweepers use a special type of sonar, (quit similar to the ones used to cheat while fishing).

the minesweeper component performs that function.

the game works fine with mines the way it is, why fix something that isn't broken.

Nitram Draw · #9 February 28th, 2001, 02:18 AM

How do you think mines work? Do they sit there until you run into them or do they seek you?
If they just sit until you run into them then there should be a way to avoid them. If they act like a seeker maybe they should be given a to hit number so that they don't alway hit.

Aussie Gamer · #10 February 28th, 2001, 02:59 AM

I did say the it is broken I am saying that you should be able with a high tech component to find them in a system that you are in!