On The Subject Of Sensors

Hi all,

I thought I'd be daring and actually (re)introduce a thread which keeps
popping up every now and then but gets ignored. I am interested in playing FT
in the 'Aliens' universe. One important aspect of this universe is
sensor technology.  I've had a go at making some add-on to the sensor
rules in More thrust to try to model the Aliens universe, however, I don't get
to play FT much so I thought I'd send them out to see what other players
think. I've tried to make it simple to keep in the spirit of FT and not slow
the game down too much.

'Aliens' Universe Sensors In FT
http://steelhead.aecom.yu.edu/stuart/AliensUniverse/ALIENSFT.html

In general sensors operate just as in More Thrust. Below are some
ad-ons
and slight modification:

There are two types of sensors, PASSIVE and ACTIVE. PASSIVE sensors are enough
to locate an enemy ship, however, they are NOT enough to achieve a
firing resolution/lock on with directed weapons (beams, railguns etc).
PASSIVE sensors ARE enough to achieve a firing resolution for launching
missiles as the missile's on-board AI is sufficient to achieve firing
lock-on.  Firing missiles does NOT reveal the ship to the opposing
player, the bogey marker remains in play.

To fire directed weapons or to scan another ship a ship MUST engage ACTIVE
sensors. Note, to defend itself against incoming missiles the ship must also
go to active sensor status thus illuminating itself. However, these
are local active sensors rather than the main fire con-linked active
sensors. The only diffence betwen these active statuses will become apparent.

Beam weapons may be used in more than one type of mode, either offensively, or
defensively. All beam weapons have the capability to be fired at a much lower
power setting at up to three times their range. When firing defensively in
this mode the beams are slaved to the ships sensor apparatus, thus they can
only fire in one arc and they may only be fired at as many targets as the
firing ship has fire cons. NOTE firing in this mode requires a fire con, it
cannot be used for any other firing (including missile launch) in the same
turn. When firing at reduced power the beams cannot also be used offensively.
When a target is fired upon in this manner the target suffers no damage,
however, if hit the target's sensor array is 'blinded' and thus the target
CANNOT use active sensors, including ADAF, however, the target can still fire
local PD. In addition, a 'blinded' target cannot achieve enough sensor
resolution to either launch missiles, OR scan another ship.

Beam weapons are tied into the sensor array to fire defensively, thus the
quality of the ships sensors will dictate the range of effective fire as much
as the class of beam weapon. Basic sensors have a range of 54", Enhanced 81"
and Superior 108" (note that the maximum range for MT type scanning is still
54"). Thus a ship with basic sensors and B batt (f) can only blind out to 54"
rather than 72" (three times range of a B batt), however, a ship with Enh
sensors and a B batt (f) can 'blind' out to
72",
the extra range is lost as the beam cannot fire that far.

So an example of all of this may be:

Ship X mounts twin A batts both in Fore mounts, it has a magazine of six
missiles and Enh sensors. Ship Y has a turret mount C3 railgun and a single B
batt (f) and basic sensors.

On PASSIVE sensors both ships locate each other on the table, they are
currently 67" apart roughly facing each other. At this stage they are both
bogeys. Ship X gets the initiative, it fires its A's in defensive mode at Y
and hits, Y is 'blinded'. X also launches a three missile salvo. Next turn X
again gets the initiative, it again fires A's at Y in defensive mode, hit
again Y is still 'blind', missiles close in. Next turn y gets the advantage,
both ships have closed to 46" range, the missiles which were fired at Y are
too close for comfort so Y goes active, the ship is placed on the table, Y
fires defensively on X, hits and 'blinds', Y also fires PDS on the missiles,
hits two but takes a kicking from the third. Next turn ships have closed
considerably to 35" range, Y gets the advantage....and so on

So as you can see it in single ship engagements it is important to get the
initiative, however, this is less important in multi-ship engagements.
These sensor rules are an attempt to simulatew tactical decision making
over long-distance engagements, possibly using missiles.  The closer the
ships get the less the defensive firing is really useful since the captain
will want to balance defensive priorities with all out offence to dmage the
target as much as possible at optimum range.

Comments are positively solicited so I can get a better fudge going to play FT
in this universe.