Universal scanning

[Kurock]

Scanning and mining devblog was added recently. And this got me thinking:

 

Could scanning for constructs be done similarly? But instead of the type of resource dictating what type of scan is required, the elements on/material of the construct itself dictates how susceptible the construct is to the various scans. Similarly to prospecting one could use the radial scan to detect the absence/presence of a construct and then use a directional scan to get a better idea of its location. This is especially useful for finding an active construct. Inactive constructs will be much more difficult if not impossible to find.

 

Another thought perhaps dedicated long range directional scanners pointed out to space could give an indication of the presence of another system. Through triangulation, this could give an indication of how far away that system is. Detecting the presence of another system is the first step to going to it.

[Archonious]

Don't really want to see easy thieves tools. If there would be voting, I would vote "No!". Static objects will be in disadvantage versus player or dynamic one. Don't want to make this even worse.

 

Thanks,

Archonious

[Kurock]

I see this as more of an anti-thief tool, but thanks for your constructive feedback.

[ATMLVE]

In space, constructs will be able to see and most likely detect each other from very, very far away. As for constructs on the ground, they will be physically visible, and so most likely simply scanning for abnormal resources on the surface will be sufficient. I imagine scanning for things on the surface will work differently than scanning for things underground. Most likely there will be respective measures to counter being detected, such as making your structure out of resources found on the planets surface, or scanning shielding technology.

 

However, I see no reason why scanning for underground player created constructions should work any differently than scanning for resources. They're all voxels, after all.

[Limyaael]

I see no reason why an unprotected ship can't be scanned all the same as the ground. If pirates are monitoring a busy shipping lane, and you come by with expensive materials with no kind of stealth shielding, you're asking to be raided.

 

It should still be difficult to use though. If you can get a ship in your scanning range, the scanner should tell you everything. Trying to scan (presumably with electromagnetic waves) through a ship with lots of electromagnetic interference (because there's electricity running through wires, other electromag signals being sent out etc.) should return a messy signal - maybe you notice something nice through all of it, maybe not. If a ship has turned off everything but emergency power to try and sneak by somewhere unseen, it should be easier to work out what's inside it but harder to even work out if there's something there (Is it an asteroid? Could you even get close enough to a ship that you can't see?).

 

Can't other systems be detected by well, looking for the stars? And as they're lightyears away, the angles needed to actually measure this stuff is tiny - dozens of arcseconds at best. This is actual astrophysics and I feel is a little much for a space MMO, especially set so far into the future. It's easier to measure approximate distance using a star's brightness and type anyway.

[mrjacobean]

Can't other systems be detected by well, looking for the stars? And as they're lightyears away, the angles needed to actually measure this stuff is tiny - dozens of arcseconds at best. This is actual astrophysics and I feel is a little much for a space MMO, especially set so far into the future. It's easier to measure approximate distant using a star's brightness and type anyway.

Could have it so they display the predominant biome of each of the planets, with accuracy depending on size ratio of the planet and the star, therefore you could see planets which should have certain resources in abundance, but it shouldn't be completely accurate. Also the scan should take quite a while to do, like a few days or weeks.