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[Osmosis Jones]

Hmmm firing off a targeting buoy would be good. How big is the signal cross-section from a buoy with a decent sensor? I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to actually try and sneak one past the target, so that if they do go haring off after the active sensor signal, they're running away from your sniper...

[Girlinhat]

Don't shoot it "directly" past the target, as they may intercept the drone, so fire it on a soft tangent.  But, I'm not sure.  Buoy/drone/missiles are 1/20th the size of a ship.  A size 20 MSP is 1 HS.  This should make them extremely small.  But, active sensors light up like a christmas tree, so all bets are off on that regard.

I'd test it myself, but I don't know how to properly manipulate SM Mode to do that.

[SirAaronIII]

So.. what's the point of having regular size resolution sensors when you could just use the ones that are really low-res like 1? Does it lower the range or something?

[Sirus]

So.. what's the point of having regular size resolution sensors when you could just use the ones that are really low-res like 1? Does it lower the range or something?

Very much so.

[Crustypeanut]

How useful would it be to have a very tiny ASS on a fighter?  Like .1 size or so, just so they can paint their own targets.  Or would it be better to have their carrier / pdc paint it for them?

[Girlinhat]

The resolution is the target HS that it's made to detect.  Anything outside that optimal size gets a range penalty.  Your 1 resolution may track targets at 50,000 km, while your 100 resolution may track targets at 5,000,000 km.  But your res1 is going to track 100HS at even less than 50k, and your res100 is going to track 1HS very poorly (not at all, honestly) and detect 500HS at shorter range.

Understanding your enemy is key.  If they're sending fighters at you, then your battleship sensors are worthless.  If you're fighting a 60,000 ton swarm queen, then your fighter sensors are pathetic, and your battleship sensors are probably worthless.  But a 1,200 resolution sensor may see that queen at 5trillion km, because larger targets are easier to spot.

Crusty: Most people develop a lead fighter.  3 Hangar Decks packing 5 beam fighters and 1 where it's mounted a sensor instead of a beam, same as you'd expect in large ships.  In this case, it's the same as large ships, yeah.  You can fit them all with a sensor and have redundancy, or shave space and fit it on just one.  I personally design my fighters for close-in support, striking at some 50m km and harassing the enemy before the battleships arrive, but if your fighters are heading out beyond your sensor range for deep space ops or long-reach, then you'll want sensors on at least a few fighters.

EDIT: I usually like to make a 20HS FAC with the sensor, try and match the speed with the FAC engine (usually not possible) and mount some heavier armor and maybe a CIWS on the FAC.  Give yourself a tiny sensor corvette, they usually work well in main battleship combat as well, simply to have an extra pair of eyes available.

[Crustypeanut]

Most of my fighters will definitely be somewhat long range, as right now they have a .8 billion range with their fuel tank.  This is with enough space left for a single tiny ASS, if needed, or I can extend that range to 1.2 billion.

I think for simplicity's sake in design and manufacturing, I'll just make all of my fighters have a .1 size ASS with probably a 5-10 HS Resolution, so there won't be any loss of target painting if the sensor fighter gets knocked out.


Also, on the subject of ASS range and resolution, anything above the size of the resolution is seen at the same max range as the resolution - I.E., a resolution 1 sensor with a max range of 50,000 km will detect anything at 1 HS and above AT that range.  Its sizes smaller than the resolution that are harder to spot.  The resolution 100 with a MR of 5,000,000 km probably won't be able to see a 1 HS sized thing until it hits the ship. 

[SirAaronIII]

Alright, thanks for the lesson on sensors. Didn't know that.

Also I'm a bad person for laughing every time you say ASS. I mean I know it means Active search sensor but still.

[Girlinhat]

Ah, is that how it works then?  In that case, probably better to err on the side of smaller resolution, imo.  Still, you should strive to make active sensor contact outside of your max weapon range at the least.  If you can start your laser phalanx at max range, you're getting in more damage no matter which way you slice it.  With missiles, this often requires dedicated sensor ships to run ahead and spot for your long range warheads.

NINJA: I took it to mean "anti-ship sensor".

[Tarran]

NINJA: I took it to mean "anti-ship sensor".

That... would imply that the sensor is a weapon.

I really don't think a sensor can be a weapon.

[Crustypeanut]

Actually guys, I just noticed something that might make my previous statement slightly wrong.

While making my Fighter's ASS at .1 HS with a 15 HS (750 ton) resolution, I noticed that the sensor range for 15 HS is 370,000 km.  However, it says it detects size 20 HS (1000 ton) at 650,000 km.  So, it seems that it detects ships larger than the resolution at further ranges.

I changed it to 20 HS resolution, and it detects them(1000 ton) at 420,000 km.     The hell?

2 HS resolution sensors detect 1000 ton ships at over 13,000,000.   

[MarcAFK]

Just noticed a minor bug, 2 actually, my shipyards aren't listing the estimated completion time for the selected ship time (the other window however is still showing when my ships will be finished) which is annoying because i like to see how much build time i have shaved off by using prefab components.
Also on missile design i can't assign points from old missile designs using new technology. Really just a minor problem i can still usually remember what ratios of engine and warhead i had used.
This may be related to my recent reinstall of service pack 3 for XP.
Also regarding ship classes, i've been disappointed to find out that real warships generally don't go anywhere above 10,000 tons anymore, except for carriers which range from 10-20000 tons for light carriers (usually fielding harriers) to 40-60000 tons for recently obsoleted classes of supercarrier, up to 100,000 tons for the modern supercarriers.
But frieghters are reaching 500,000 to 700,000 tons which is nice.

[Osmosis Jones]

NINJA: I took it to mean "anti-ship sensor".

That... would imply that the sensor is a weapon.

I really don't think a sensor can be a weapon.

Only indirectly, as a lure or distraction.

[Crustypeanut]

Ok what the hell, why did a large portion of my naval officers be forced to retire due to being deemed a surplus? I don't have auto-assignments on, although I do have realistic promotions.  I have the latter on in all my games, and I havent' seen this before, except when I try auto-assignments.  Now I don't have anyone higher than rank 2 in my naval core :|

It said they haven't been given assignments for the past 6.2 years.  My ass, my Rear Admiral was part of a geology team busy on Mercury.

[Metalax]

Just noticed a minor bug, 2 actually, my shipyards aren't listing the estimated completion time for the selected ship time (the other window however is still showing when my ships will be finished) which is annoying because i like to see how much build time i have shaved off by using prefab components.
Also on missile design i can't assign points from old missile designs using new technology. Really just a minor problem i can still usually remember what ratios of engine and warhead i had used.
This may be related to my recent reinstall of service pack 3 for XP.
Also regarding ship classes, i've been disappointed to find out that real warships generally don't go anywhere above 10,000 tons anymore, except for carriers which range from 10-20000 tons for light carriers (usually fielding harriers) to 40-60000 tons for recently obsoleted classes of supercarrier, up to 100,000 tons for the modern supercarriers.
But frieghters are reaching 500,000 to 700,000 tons which is nice.

Yes I've been having the ship completion date on the shipyard managment screen show up randomly in the current version. Missile points assignments seems to work here, although I practically never use it myself and recalculate when I want to design a new missile.

For the ships tonnage particularly the carriers you need to scale that by the size of the fighters. Current fighters mass around 7tons while light aurora fighters are 250 tons, so your light carrier would be around 350,000 - 700,000 tons.

Ok what the hell, why did a large portion of my naval officers be forced to retire due to being deemed a surplus? I don't have auto-assignments on, although I do have realistic promotions.  I have the latter on in all my games, and I havent' seen this before, except when I try auto-assignments.  Now I don't have anyone higher than rank 2 in my naval core :|

It said they haven't been given assignments for the past 6.2 years.  My ass, my Rear Admiral was part of a geology team busy on Mercury.

I don't think the sacking code is supposed to be part of anything other than automatic assignments, so if it is triggering that is a bug. Sacking an officer who is in post is definetley a bug and should be reported.

Actually guys, I just noticed something that might make my previous statement slightly wrong.

While making my Fighter's ASS at .1 HS with a 15 HS (750 ton) resolution, I noticed that the sensor range for 15 HS is 370,000 km.  However, it says it detects size 20 HS (1000 ton) at 650,000 km.  So, it seems that it detects ships larger than the resolution at further ranges.

I changed it to 20 HS resolution, and it detects them(1000 ton) at 420,000 km.     The hell?

2 HS resolution sensors detect 1000 ton ships at over 13,000,000.   

nope, thats a known bug. If the resolution of the sensor is less than the size of the "smaller" targets, ie less than 20 for the 1000 tons and less than 5 for the 250 tons, it mucks up the calculation as it doesn't realise that anything larger than the resolution is detected at the same max range. This doesn't effect the sensor when it is in use, it is purely a display issue on the design screen.