I'm not sure if this is a bug or a feature. Can anyone clarify? ExChairman posted something similar to this earlier today in
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5587.0.html.
I'm messing around with all tech in SM mode, and a race of aliens has persistently been sending in one or two small ships at a time through one of Sol's jump points, despite being annihilated every time without even returning fire (max cloak plus max thermal sig reduction plus max ecm makes me wonder if they can even see me at 1 mil km distance). Anyway, I just had a hostile translation notice, but no ship appeared, so I sent my cruiser squadron through the JP to see if they were on the other side, and they weren't. Then I received a new contact notification in Sol, so I send my cruiser squadron back through the JP, and there's my contact, 433 mil km from the jp. Now, my fleet would have had to pass really close to them. The fleet doesn't have actives, but has ridiculous passives, and Earth's PDC has ridiculous (really, really ridiculous) actives on. I don't see how the contact could have not been seen. Earth is about 2 bil km from the jump point.
Here's the ship that passed near their ship (Actives are OFF, but passives should pick it up):
Star Knight class Scout Cruiser 30,000 tons 671 Crew 56687 BP TCS 3 TH 90 EM 90000
15000 km/s Armour 9-86 Shields 3000-300 Sensors 3750/3750/0/0 Damage Control Rating 91 PPV 0
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 1181 AFR 7200% IFR 100% 1YR 244365 5YR 3665479 Max Repair 11250 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 48 months Spare Berths 0
Tractor Beam
4500 EP Photonic Drive (2) Power 4500 Fuel Use 3.84% Signature 45 Exp 9%
Fuel Capacity 1,500,000 Litres Range 234.4 billion km (180 days at full power)
Omega R300/15 Shields (200) Total Fuel Cost 3,000 Litres per day
CIWS-1000 (5x16) Range 1000 km TS: 100000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Active Search Sensor (Starship) (1) GPS 18000 Range 1,350.0m km Resolution 100
Active Search Sensor (Missile) (1) GPS 360 Range 270.0m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor (Fighter) (1) GPS 1800 Range 426.9m km Resolution 10
Thermal Sensor TH50-3750 (10%) (1) Sensitivity 3750 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 3750m km
EM Detection Sensor EM50-3750 (10%) (1) Sensitivity 3750 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 3750m km
Cloaking Device: Class cross-section reduced to 0.5% of normal
ECM 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
And here's the sensor PDC on Earth (Actives are ON on two of these):
Sensor Array class Sensor Outpost 12,400 tons 395 Crew 83570 BP TCS 248 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 34-47 Sensors 1/9000 Damage Control Rating 150 PPV 0
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 0
CIWS-1000 (5x16) Range 1000 km TS: 100000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
PDC Active Search Sensor (Missile) (1) GPS 9000 Range 6,750.0m km Resolution 1
PDC Active Search Sensor (Starship) (1) GPS 900000 Range 67,500.0m km Resolution 100
PDC Active Search Sensor (Fighter) (1) GPS 90000 Range 21,345.4m km Resolution 10
This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 5 sections
Just to be clear, the contact, which is 2400 tons, is well within the range of the PDC's resolution 1 sensor (which actually covers every planet in Sol). And if you're curious about the designs, the idea is that since Earth has a huge thermal and EM signature anyway, no point in trying to hide it. But since it can paint anything in the solar system, nothing else needs to use actives, so can possibly attack without being seen if the cloak is working like I think it is.