Sensors

Sensors are the means by which fleets detect each other on the campaign map.

A Luddic Church fleet searches for the player fleet hiding in a nebula

A whimsical psuedo-tutorial on sensors (written for version 0.7.2) can be found on the forum here.

Basic mechanics

Sensor information located in the bottom left of the HUD

Each ship in the game has a sensor profile that determines how far away it can be seen, and a sensor strength that determines how far it can see. The two figures are summed within each fleet, and used to calculate how far away two fleets can see each other. Two identical fleets will spot each other at the same distance in the absence of terrain bonuses.

Each fleet has a detected-at range equal to 300 + the sum of its five ships with the highest sensor profile, and a sensor range equal to 300 + the sum of the five ships with the highest sensor strength. Fleet A can see another fleet B if the distance between them is smaller than A's sensor range + B's detected-at range. Multiplicative effects from abilities and terrain apply to sensor range and detected-at range.

When another fleet is detected by the player but has its transponder off, it will initially only be shown as a "sensor contact": A set of triangles indicating the size of the fleet. As it gets closer, more information will be shown: The hull types in the fleet, current task, and maximum burn speed. Once it is very close, the fleet's faction and name, and the officers of the ships will be displayed. If the other fleet's transponder is on, the full information will be displayed from the beginning.

The player can hover their cursor over a fleet to see the range at which they will be detected (appearing as three curved lines). This indicator changes in real-time, based off of the sensor profile and range of the two fleets.

A ship's base sensor strength and sensor profile is based on the ship size:

• Frigates: 30
• Destroyers: 60
• Cruisers: 90
• Capital ships: 150

Hullmods

Various hullmods alter the sensor strength and sensor profile of the ship they are installed on:

• Civilian-grade Hull reduces strength by 50% and increases profile by 100%
• Degraded Engines increases profile by 50%
• Faulty Power Grid increases profile by 50%
• Glitched Sensor Array reduces strength by 50%
• High Resolution Sensors increases strength by 50/75/100/150
• Insulated Engine Assembly reduces profile by 50%

Phase Ships

Starsector 0.95.1a-RC6 phase hull mod description

Phase ships have the unique hull mod Phase Field which halves their sensor profile and reduces the sensor profile of the entire fleet when the transponder is off.

The fleet reduction is a calculation of your 5 largest sensor profiles versus your 5 best phase ship's sensor strength:

Phase ship sensor strength can be improved using the Phase Coil Tuning skill.

Abilities

Various abilities can modify a fleet's sensor range and detected-at range:

• Transponder: +1000 detected-at range
• Go Dark: -50% detected-at range (-75% with level 2 Sensors skill)
• Active Sensor Burst: +3000 sensor range and +5000 detected-at range
• Emergency Burn: -50% sensor range and +50% detected-at range
• Sustained Burn: +100% detected-at range
• Neutrino Detector: +50% detected-at range
• Remote Survey: +5000 detected-at range

Skills

The Sensors technology skill provides bonuses to both the sensor range and the detected-at range reduction of a fleet, and makes it more mobile while moving slowly enough to :

• +25% sensor range
• -25% detected-at range
• +3 to burn level at which the fleet is considered "moving slowly" (see below)

Terrain

Fleets in different terrain types can have altered detected-at ranges:

• Asteroid Belt, Ring System, Accretion Disk, Debris Field: -75% detected-at range (when stationary or moving slowly)
  • The Go Dark ability or using CTRL + Left Mouse button will cause the fleet to move slowly enough to trigger this bonus. Note that the move slowly key, default S, will cause the fleet to become stationary if held.
• Nebula: -50% detected-at range
• Magnetic Field: -50% detected-at range
• Magnetic Storm: -100% detected-at range
• Deep Hyperspace: -50% detected-at range
  • Hyperspace Storm: +2000 detected-at range

Miscellaneous effects

• Fleets in combat have +1000 detected-at range.
• A sensor array is star system infrastructure that provides a boost to the sensor range of all same-faction fleets in the system:
  • Makeshift Sensor Array: +400 sensor range
  • Domain Sensor Array: +700 sensor range

References

Only up to date for version 0.95. It is likely still broadly correct but not verified for the most up to date data yet. Please double check the Version History.