weird: armor damage / thermal detect range

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

why I detect them with thermal at 60 m,given their thermal strength and  the value of my Goliath scanner?



Why the dents to my armor are 4-2? I thought that with a strength 6 missile, the format would be 3-2-1 (not that I complain  )

[Nathan_]

First off, your Goliath has a thermal sensitivity of 110, which means it can detect a 1000 signature at 110M km. those ships have a thermal signature of 960 which means they can be detected at 960/1000 * 110 = 105.6M km.

Second, armor damage for missiles penetrates on square values. in order to go 3 deep a strength 9 warhead is required, the extra damage above four thus bled to the sides rather than penetrating deeper.

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

1. Indeed. So why they are detected at 60m ?

2. right, good point.

[Paul M]

You should detect them at roughly 100 m km.  But what I think may be going on is that you are detecting them with your longer range active array for the first time and that updates all contact information.  What is the range and resolution of your long range active sensor?  Does 59.3 m km correspond to where you should pick up those ships with it?

As for the second question the correct format for a strength 6 missile is what you see: 4-2.  You need a strength 9 missile to penetrate 3 layers of armour 5-3-1.

[Hawkeye]

Another possibility re. detection range would be, if you run a relatively long interval, 1 day, for example, aurora often skips a beat and stops running too late with the contact already way into your sensor coverage.

[Nathan_]

oh didn't understand the question, that is probably an increment mess up as others have noted.

[sloanjh]

Another possibility re. detection range would be, if you run a relatively long interval, 1 day, for example, aurora often skips a beat and stops running too late with the contact already way into your sensor coverage.

This is why I try to always do a save just before a spot where I expect a contact, e.g. when exploring a new system.  If this happens, I roll back to the save and re-advance time with a smaller increment.

John

[Paul M]

From the trails on the ships it is isn't a question of the time step.  The last time step was 3 minutes.  Please look in the upper right hand corner of the picture, there you see a light blue arc of a long range active sensor.  I'd judge the resolution is probably crappy given the R80 systems detection range.  The enemy ships just got picked up by that active sensor and that updates the contact information.  I recall seeing that type of contact update when the ship crossed over from thermal sensor only to active scanner dection before. 

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

They have a mass of 9600 tons and the resolution is 80. Quite sufficient...

[Paul M]

They are a factor of 2 too far away to be picked up by your MR41-R80 system based on the Expeditionary fleet.  It has a range of 41.3 m km.  Your Faragut squadron isn't showing any active emissions and you have a ring arc on the upper right edge of the screen that looks to be an active sensor from your expeditionary fleet.  The range must be 59 m km to the enemy from the Faragut squadron so it is outside of their active sensor range for a MR41-R80 system on them even if they had it active which they don't appear to have.

You must have a low resolution long range active sensor to even be picking them up.  Because your MR41-80 sensor system can't be doing it.

The other thing is that the range to the enemy from the expeditionary fleet is much greater than 59.3 m km (close to a factor of 2*) so it is likely you just picked them up with your passive IR system.  That would also generate that message.  I assume the Goliath is on the Expeditionary fleet?

*The range to the expeditionary fleet from the picture is: 59.3 m + 41.3 m + 4 m = ~105 m km.  This agrees with the Goliath's expected detection range.

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

Not sure I understood fully all what you said, sorry 

The Farragut has also a 247-R80 scanner, this is the one you see in the upper right edge. I spotted the aliens since some time with it, even if the Thermal one only picked them at 60 and not 100 or something as I expected...

But this might just be an interval problem indeed...

[alex_brunius]

Another option is that the aliens did not go full speed until after they detected being locked by your 247-R80 scanner.

That would have resulted in your thermals not picking them up.

I am not sure if NPRs can behave like this though, but it would explain what you observed.

[Paul M]

Where is the Golliath?

If it is on the Expeditionary fleet then you just now picked them up on your thermals.  That would explain why the contact is updated (the reverse of how it usually works with me).

The range you see, 59.3 m km, on the target indicator is to the Faragut.  The range to the expeditionary force on the other hand is ~105 m km and that is the correct distance for the Goliath to have picked up their thermal signature.