Posted by: Jorgen_CAB
« on: November 25, 2019, 02:05:16 AM »While flavorwise, I like that the Raptors have both active and passive sensors, mechanically you would be better off separating them. You either get a faster Raptor, or variants with more capable active and passive sensors.
I really like having minimal sized scouts available. More capable sensors ships as well, but for probing ahead of a fleet you want something fast and hard to see. Cheap enough to have with every squadron.
VB6 only allow the engine to be no smaller than size 1, so it is really hard to get smaller scouts and only one 125t scout fit into the hangar.
For the most part the scouts will be running passive sensors and be spread out all over the place so having more with smaller sensors might actually be beneficial most of the time they are used. The active sensors is only used sometimes.
I'm also trying to run this campaign in preparation for Aurora C# where sensor ranges are not linear anymore so spiting them up like that will not actually provide any real benefit, to get a feel for how those ships will operate with sensors. All factions in this game do for that reason.
Otherwise I agree that having dedicated sensors is the way to go for all small crafts. I usually deploy specifically designed EM, TH or active scouts.
If this was Aurora C# (I wish) then each ship probably would have three or four really small scouts instead and a mix of active, passive type scouts. This would be possible as engines can be much smaller and really small sensors still are quite potent. A 35t scout would be quite difficult to detect with even a resolution 1 sensor and could still scan a significant part of the area around them in contrast.