Do Transponders work, and how much?

[Adseria (OP)]

According to the wiki, "Transponders do not currently play any role in Aurora."

However, other sources (mostly here in the forum, or over on Reddit) say that they do work, but there is conflicting info on exactly how much they do, and how you can affect them.

I found the various options for turning them on/off in the ship and TG windows, and the option to tell Civilians to turn them on in certain systems via the sidebar. Also, when I enter the system owned by my ally (yes, if you're wondering, it's the CoA ), I see their transponder contacts.

However, I also read that it's possible to set the transponder codes to those of any known class, including those of other empires. I feel like this would be fun, especially from a commerce raiding perspective, but I can't seem to find the place where you set the codes. I read that it was a dropdown in the misc tab of the ship window, "above where you turn them on/off," but the only thing I can see there is the options for manual fuel/maintenance transfers. I thought it might be the section marked "Transfer ship to alien empire," but this seems more like an option to give them control of a ship that I don't need.

Are transponders and transponder codes implemented in the latest version, or is everything I've read out of date or something?

Side note: While I was writing this post, I had an idea. Would it be possible to add the ability to buy ships from other empires? Like, you pay the build cost for the ship, plus extra to allow for the cost of minerals and the use of a slipway/shipyard, and in return, they build a ship of a given class for you? Presumably it would be one of the classes of the empire doing the building, rather than those of the buyer (since this is how it's worked historically).

[Father Tim]

1.  The Wiki is wrong;  transponders do work.  They cause a ship with an active transponder to show up on the system map, regardless of current sensor settings.  Much like wrecks or planets, if you're in the same system you know they're there.

2.  The idea of transponder codes was a suggestions, or maybe a feature request, that has not yet been added to the game.  Transponders are strictly "Here I am; this is what I am."

3.  It is possible to buy ships from other empires. . . as long as both empires are player-controlled.  The player(s) has/have to manually 'give' the other empire the ships and/or wealth and/or minerals in question.

You can 'sell' ships to NPRs -- I do it all the time by transferring my ships to the NPR, and using SM mode to give my empire the minerals and/or wealth that I decided was the price.

[Adseria (OP)]

2.  The idea of transponder codes was a suggestions, or maybe a feature request, that has not yet been added to the game.  Transponders are strictly "Here I am; this is what I am."

The link below is to a forum post where Steve says he's added transponders to the game, and that "Each ship can change it's transponder to any class of that race or to any alien class for which you have learned the transponder codes. You can activate/deactivate the transponder and set its class on the Ship window and there are also new Activate and Deactivate Transponder fleet orders."

"Each ship CAN change it's transponder"
"You CAN [...] set it's class on the ship window"

Seems pretty definitive to me.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=988.0

[Steve Walmsley]

2.  The idea of transponder codes was a suggestions, or maybe a feature request, that has not yet been added to the game.  Transponders are strictly "Here I am; this is what I am."

The link below is to a forum post where Steve says he's added transponders to the game, and that "Each ship can change it's transponder to any class of that race or to any alien class for which you have learned the transponder codes. You can activate/deactivate the transponder and set its class on the Ship window and there are also new Activate and Deactivate Transponder fleet orders."

"Each ship CAN change it's transponder"
"You CAN [...] set it's class on the ship window"

Seems pretty definitive to me.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=988.0

I think was removed later. That post was in 2008 and the option it described doesn't exist on the Ship window.

[Adseria (OP)]

I see. Thanks.

I don't suppose someone could update the wiki?

[TMaekler]

Although would be nice to have it back in C#. Why was it deactivated in the first place?

[Steve Walmsley]

Although would be nice to have it back in C#. Why was it deactivated in the first place?

I think it was because it meant you needed patrol ships to check every transponder contact to make sure it was not an enemy faking their ID. Just too much micromanagement.

[Adseria (OP)]

Although would be nice to have it back in C#. Why was it deactivated in the first place?

I think it was because it meant you needed patrol ships to check every transponder contact to make sure it was not an enemy faking their ID. Just too much micromanagement.

...Which, of course, means that it would be even worse in C#, with the reduction in sensor range.

It's a shame, though; it would be good fun. Maybe let the player do it, but not the AI?

Actually, I don't think that you would need patrol ships, would you? Just put an active sensor buoy at each jump point. Either it detects them on active sensors (in which case you see that they don't match the code), or they destroy the buoy (which would obviously be immediately suspicious). That way, you only have to check every ship if the buoy network fails for some reason. You could get around it with the short term solution of sending a ship to destroy the buoy first, but the gap is easily plugged by a small ship until a new buoy can be placed. Or just lay multiple buoys in the first place.

This would also make some systems more vulnerable to incursions than others; if you haven't been able to set up buoys yet, it will be easier for ships to enter the system undetected, so patrol ships would be more important in border systems and contested areas (as they should be).

[King-Salomon]

I think it was because it meant you needed patrol ships to check every transponder contact to make sure it was not an enemy faking their ID. Just too much micromanagement.

hmm... well... not necessary.. if there would be a new standing order to "patrole new contacts in system" or something like this the micromanagement wouldn't be necessary/too bad...

the player /NPR would have to design and build some patrole vessels which would do the job (likely only in important systems) if they want to be sure that the transponder signals are valid...  would be realistic.. like it

on the other side, more time lost for C# so maybe not a good idea after all...