I'm working on cleaning up various bits of the wiki as I see things that bug me. Thing is, I'm something of a newbie, so I'm not 100% sure the stuff I'm posting is right.
If someone wants to confirm the following, and clean it up if needed, then I'd appreciate it:
1) aurorawiki. pentarch. org/index. php?title=Active_Sensors/Fire_Control
Active sensors emit an EM signature when they are turned on. The signature is equal to the grav pulse strength(or "GPS") of the sensor.
Grav pulse strength = Active Grav Sensor Strength x Size x Resolution
Larger search radars emit substantial signatures - even at basic tech(strength 10), a 50 HS sensor at resolution 500 will have a signature of 10x50x500 = 25,000, which is almost as large as a starting home planet. As such, it's generally wise to keep active sensors turned off when not in combat, and rely on passive sensors to detect the presence of enemies.
2) Same article.
In order to fire missiles, a fleet must be able to both detect the target and send missiles against it - in other words, you need both an active sensor and a missile fire control. The active sensor may be located anywhere, and a whole fleet can use detection data provided by a single active sensor. Conversely, fire control is ''not'' shared between ships, and every missile-equipped ship (even one as small as a fighter) must have a missile fire control capable of illuminating its target in order to fire at that target. Note that missiles may be fired at a waypoint without need for a missile fire control, but in general this is only useful for missiles with built-in sensors(either to target themselves, or to act as sensor drones).
I'll probably add more to this thread as I make edits. Thanks.