Combat issues - locking

[Jetman123 (OP)]

I can't seem to lock on to a target despite it being stupidly close to me - I have it on active and thermal, but I can't fire lasers despite being well within range. I lost my first combat because of this.

What determines whether a sensor can lock on to things? I can't shoot at this thing, no matter how close it gets. It's bombarding me with missiles, meaning it can see and lock onto ME just fine. Does it have something to do with sensor resolution?

(I've been having issues with my internet connection, so please forgive me if this ends up being a duplicate topic.)

[Andrew]

Only active sensors give a lock on for targetting and your ship must mount appropriate beam or missile fire control systems, you also must have your active sensors turned on. For missiles the target must also be in range of the Fire control system .
Otherwise if a contact is within laser range , and your active sensors are active you should be able to shoot.

[welchbloke]

I can't seem to lock on to a target despite it being stupidly close to me - I have it on active and thermal, but I can't fire lasers despite being well within range. I lost my first combat because of this.

What determines whether a sensor can lock on to things? I can't shoot at this thing, no matter how close it gets. It's bombarding me with missiles, meaning it can see and lock onto ME just fine. Does it have something to do with sensor resolution?

(I've been having issues with my internet connection, so please forgive me if this ends up being a duplicate topic.)

As Andrew said you need a a beam fire control system for your lasers. is the target in range of your Beam FC? Also, bear in mind that precursors carry some very effective ECM and you will find that you cannot fire at them at your theoretical maximum range.

[Jetman123 (OP)]

It may have been a precursor - I'm not sure. I was stupidly close to the thing, though, and I was still unable to identify OR shoot at. Active sensors were on and lighting him up, very strong signal. All my ships had BFC - but no ECCM, which may explain it.

What determines whether a ship can identify another ship?

[MoonDragon]

What determines whether a ship can identify another ship?

I would like to hear the answer to this one as well.

[Rathos]

If you want to target them with your fire control, you need to have them to be pinged with your active radar. Passives won't work for targeting.

To pick up someone with active radar the radar needs to be turned on (from the ship list, combat overview, or a taskforce order) and the ship has to be within its scan range. The ship also has to be larger than the radar's minimum  resolution. A 100HS (5000 ton radar) will not be able to pick up missiles or fightercraft or things less than 5000 tons. However such a radar would be able to see 5000 ton ships much much farther away than a 0 resolution radar would be able to see a missile or fighter if both radar's were the same size.

Once a ship is seen by an active radar and it is in your fire control, you can target it. Keep in mind missile fire controls have a resolution as well that determines their range and the size of ship they can target.

My sensor and missile firecontrol setup for my flagship:

Code: [Select]

Size 1 Missile Launcher (100)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10                         <----------Anti Missile Missile Launchers (AMMs)
Size 100 Missile Launcher (10)    Missile Size 100    Rate of Fire 1000                   <-------------Torpedo Launchers
Size 2 Missile Launcher (100)    Missile Size 2    Rate of Fire 20                      <-----------Anti Ship Missile Launchers (ASMs)
Missile Fire Control FC336-R100 (2)     Range 1,008.0m km    Resolution 100           <---------Used to fire long range torpedoes
Missile Fire Control FC357-R14 (2)     Range 149.9m km    Resolution 14              <-----------Normal ASM launcher control
Missile Fire Control FC336-R1 (2)     Range 10.1m km    Resolution 1                <-------------AMM launcher control and final emergency launch (when you use AMMs against ships)

Active Search Sensor S1050-R1 (4)     GPS 1050     Range 10.5m km    Resolution 1            <---------------Anti missile radar and fighter search
Active Search Sensor S1050-R100 (2)     GPS 105000     Range 1,050.0m km    Resolution 100      <-----------------Long range torpedo and large ship radar
Active Search Sensor S1050-R14 (4)     GPS 14700     Range 147.0m km    Resolution 14      <----------------Standard ASM missile radar to detect smaller ships
Thermal Sensor TH50-300 (1)     Sensitivity 300     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  300m km <---------------So if a extremely fast and hot ship flys around I can see it
EM Detection Sensor EM50-300 (1)     Sensitivity 300     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  300m km      <--------------So I can detect enemy active radars and shields

The resolution 1 is for missiles and fighters, 14 is for the enemies 700-1000 ton gunboats. 100 is for their 5000+ ton ships. You'll probably come up with something different, but that setup has done well for me so far, most of my ships have that even if they have to use smaller (those above are all size 50) radar arrays.

[sloanjh]

It may have been a precursor - I'm not sure. I was stupidly close to the thing, though, and I was still unable to identify OR shoot at. Active sensors were on and lighting him up, very strong signal. All my ships had BFC - but no ECCM, which may explain it.

What determines whether a ship can identify another ship?

OK, what do you mean by "identify" and what do you mean by "very strong signal"?

In particular, did you get an event message telling you about a new active contact?  If so, Aurora will assign a new empire and class name for the contact (assuming that they're both new).  You can see this information by pushing on the little alien icon (Diplomacy) on the top row of the system map (F3) screen.  If you don't see any races, then you haven't yet gotten an active contact on anyone.  Go to the tactical intelligence tab, and you'll see all the classes you've seen.  The icon for the enemy ship should also change on the F3 screen to show the cross-section (IIRC) of the contact.

ECCM (IIRC) only helps with hit probabilities of fire control - not for active detection.  (Could be wrong about this, though.)

So the answer to your question is "You need to acquire it as an active contact".

John

[Andrew]

To pick up someone with active radar .
the radar needs to be turned on (from the ship list, combat overview, or a taskforce order) and the ship has to be within its scan range. The ship also has to be larger than the radar's minimum  resolution. A 100HS (5000 ton radar) will not be able to pick up missiles or fightercraft or things less than 5000 tons. However such a radar would be able to see 5000 ton ships much much farther away than a 0 resolution radar would be able to see a missile or fighter if both radar's were the same size.
.

This is not completely accurate , an active sensor with a high resolution will be able to detetc small contacts at close range, however it is less efficient that a senor with an approriate resolution. So if you have an S63-R1 Sensor it will detect Size 1 missiles at its maximum range, while an S63-R100 Sensor will pick up size 100 Contacts at its maximum range and S1 contacts at a MUCH shorter range, shorter in fact than the range of the S63-R1 sensor.
In general most people use at least 2 sensors an antimissile R1 sensor and a longer range sensor with a high resolution for detecting ships, often they link the range of their missiles to the range of those sensors.

[Father Tim]

I can't seem to lock on to a target despite it being stupidly close to me - I have it on active and thermal, but I can't fire lasers despite being well within range. I lost my first combat because of this.

What determines whether a sensor can lock on to things? I can't shoot at this thing, no matter how close it gets. It's bombarding me with missiles, meaning it can see and lock onto ME just fine. Does it have something to do with sensor resolution?

(I've been having issues with my internet connection, so please forgive me if this ends up being a duplicate topic.)

The behavior you're describing shouldn't happen, so either you've discovered a bug or we're not properly understanding your description of what's happening.  What would be helpful is if you could post a copy of your ship design (The F5 Unit Design Window has a button to output to a text file) and a snippet of the Ctrl-F3 'Events' window for your race's side of the fight.  (There's a button on the window to export to a text file.)

[Jetman123 (OP)]

I unfortunately was mucking about with the initial game setup and accidentally deleted the file that this took place in.

It did seem to be a precursor, there was only one. My active sensors were on, and I got within 5km of the thing, without getting an ID on it, a lock, anything. It told me that my ships had it pegged on thermal, EM, AND active sensors.

The actives at the time were resolution 0.

I should have been able to target it. I could target it's incoming missiles just fine with my PD turrets, but it wouldn't show up in the "Assign target" list.

It probably was a bug of some sort. If it reoccurs I'll be sure to get a piccy of it.