Galactic Radar/Scanner [Suggestion] [Poll]

How does Fog Of War/Radar work on a galactic scale?

I was wondering if Space/Galactic Radar/Scanner will or should be implemented to gather information/detect foes on nearby planets?

Radar: Foreign Activity
Scanner: Resource Stats (Wind,Energy,Mass), Orbit Stats, Weaponization Requirements, Stability (how hard to annihilate).

If it is, I would suggest it is affected by space phenomena or planet types such as a star/ asteroid field/magma planet between target and origin as a form of space LOS.
And installations on the "dark side" of planets (relative to the radar origin) are obscured.

Additionnally if orbits are implemented it will become interesting for those planets with disparallel orbits or orbit speeds, giving only a window of opportunity to see what is going on the other planet when in range.

Ranges might have to be dependent on galaxy/solar system size I imagine.

Another related question, would the space FOW show major events such as asteroid impacts on other planets? Or would a shockwave be felt throughout the entire galaxy notifying of such an event?

Re: Space Radar/Scanner?

I voted scanner, because you should always be able to see the terrain, however you should need on sight radar to see whats going on.

Re: Space Radar/Scanner?

Hmm scanner wouldn't necessarily reveal terrain/topology of a planet. I think that would be known by default. Or at least it is assumed so for this poll.
Scanner is specifically targeted at determining a given planet/object stats/resources. So if it has has more or less mass/metal, info on orbit, how many boosters it would take to turn into an asteroid weapon :twisted: for example?

Re: Space Radar/Scanner?

Surely that information would be available by knowing the terrain/topology of the planet?

Re: Space Radar/Scanner?

Not necessarily. It depends on the Level Of Detail when you are browsing planets/zoomed out. I doubt the level of detail would be retained as you zoom out and there might be clouds/atmosphere drawn over.
So I am assuming that things like mass deposits are not visible on unexplored planets even though you may see if it is giant magma ball, gas giant, asteroid or earth-like planet.

For intelligence gathering I have multiple ideas and thought I’d post them here which seemed the best place.

A Galactic Radar could be cool but I thought of something else. An observatory! Building one of these allows you to see the ground of nearby celestial bodies. This would be valuable information when planning an expansion or an invasion. The further away a celestial body the less detail you are able to see. By default I think any visible body should be seeable by the player. Moons, other nearby planets, etc. A small asteroid that’s way out there or far distant planet should require an observatory to spot. The observatory would also only work LOS.

Basically the same function as a galactic radar but without the logic conundrum of radar working through space.

Another option for gathering information about other celestial bodies could be launching satellites that orbit the targeted body. These could be shot down by tactical missile defenses or high end AA.

Now Fog of War. On planets/moons/asteroids with an atmospheres radars should be useable allowing the player to observer enemy movement beyond their field-of-view. Celestial bodies without an atmosphere won’t work with radar. Adding a level of stratagem to them. Building an observatory should allow the player to see through the FOW of neighboring planets/moons/asteroids giving them a tactical advantage. Same goes with satellites. Beyond that FOW should work like any other RTS.

Normally I don't comment on posts like this, but I do have to ask.

Why would radio waves not work in space? Of course they work in space- it's how we communicate with the Mars Rovers, space probes, etc.

Radio waves are not sound. They are light. Just of a very low frequency of light compared to the spectra of visible light.

How about we do it the way we do it today.... Satelites...

Hubble.. Kepler..

They orbit the planet you send them from and just like an actual telescope it has a certain range it can see...

Engineering tendency kicking in so I apologize...
Radar uses electromagnetic waves. Sonar requires a medium of travel, speed of travel proportional to the density of the medium...

This is a game however and call it what you will it matters not.

Radar does work in space in real world application but only in short distances.. Astronomically short... The waves disperse and cone out.. The premise behind radar is that it will hit your target then come back to te source rendering information such as position velocity and acceleration.... That's why in the real world we look for planets using observatories and satellites as opposed to radar dishes.. One of the largest radar installations in the world is in South America and it is primarily used for near earth object detection.. It's damn good at it, however it is used primarily for targets of unknown position.

This last paragraph was just me being a nerd and complete supplemental..

In summation
maybe radar for Immediate threat detection in a solar radius and maybe deployable satellites for longer range viewing of planets/bodies.

Engineer... Not geographer

Puerto Rico is Central American not South America!

Geographical annihilation...

Hey thanks siefer for setting that radar thing straight. It's been a while since I did any research in that area. While brushing up on it I thought about the possibility of using LIDAR which works on the same principle as radar just using light. Using a lidar could make viewing of distance objects possible. Just another idea.

I really do think that all planets maps must be always seen by all from the beginning. I dislike the fact of exploring for discovering some resources or so... It's add to much random on the game or give too much advantages on who is already knowing the map.

In other hand, a fog must be present to not see other players activity but with the possibility of having radars (in limited range), radar jammer, etc. as in TA.

The possibility of having some satellite radar is interesting with an of course limited range.

I think deep-space scanners should reveal only the following:
-the location (radar blips) of orbital units around other planets
-objects in transit between planets, giving a visual reading if they're close enough and a radar blip if they're further away.
-the location of enemy bases, but no information about the number or type of units/structures at that base.

Getting more detailed intel should require sending a probe. Terrain and metal deposits should be revealed already (unless there's some sort of Venus-like planet, which you wouldn't be able to scan from a distance anyway), so no need for that.

Interesting ideas.
Although I would opt to put the observatory or LIDAR in orbit, as that would add logic to it being a mid-game upgrade (assuming orbital units are higher tech).

Your second option is basically a space-probe then? Nice one. Although then theoretically you could launch one to any planet/entity in the galaxy then. And should be relatively costly so you don't just spam probes everywhere. Again the info sent back from the probe could depend on LOS.
I think the probe should just be limited to planet stats/resource info. If it gets shot down you know the planet is occupied. If it doesn't well either the enemy ignored it or it is actually unoccupied

For FOW I always disliked the fact that the blackness just pops away when a nuke drops anywhere. It would be nicer in my opinion to have a kind of screen-wave/shake and a voice stating "Large Kinetic Impact Detected" or "Electromagnetic Discharge Detected" and then if you have a comms centre you could check where it came from.

Of course they work. However, it takes light minutes or hours to travel between real planets. While an observatory might be able to find an enemy presence on another world, the information it has would be horribly out of date and thus useless.

That's why I say "yes" to space probes. The best way to get reliable, up to date information is to be there. An interplanetary scout unit would be excellent.
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Commanders are completely new to a sector, right? After all, they jump across vast gulfs of space onto a planet, with no real idea of the surrounding space. An observatory could be useful to look around the system, find and analyze the planet properties, and basically open up the strategic space layer.

Scanning planets isn't something that happens too early in the game. Map data can be streamed out to players during this time.

Something that may be interesting and useful would be a listening device, along the line of a large radio telescope. It would allow you to get an idea of the level of activity in a system. The information you would receive would be at least two turns old or older depending on the distance to the star.

The idea is that you are hearing the encrypted radio chatter between bots that you cannot understand, or even radar noise from the area. From this you would be giving a VAGUE idea on the level of activity and or enemy presence.