I got an idea for better use of Advanced Cargo Scanner ( ACS in future text ) , that will be both in RP logical and in practice more useful . It can be done in 3 different versions :
1. Scanners will be reworked that only ACS will be able to Scan Cargo of any ship , rest ones can scan everything except Cargo . Smugglers and Traders will have more freedom and they can Lie to Pirates they don't have cargo ( so that can get off with cheap bribe ) , or Law forces they don't have Contraband if they see they don't have ACS . Players will be forced to use something else than Battleship Scanner , or to team up with player with ACS .
2. Scanners will be reworked that only ACS will be able to Scan any CONTRABAND in Cargo of any ship , rest ones can scan every cargo and equipment , but CANT detect Contraband . This idea came to my mind when i watch Star Wars last night , when Han Solo and gang hides in Smuggler stash on Millennium Falcon . In RP , Police would normally not be able to detect Contraband in secret stash anyway , except if they run extensive search , or use special Cargo Scanner . As for under 1. players will have to use ACS in group ( or to be creative and lead suspect to nearest NPC police ship , which WILL detect Contraband and start firing on suspect if he don't drop it ) .
3. POBs can produce special equipment that allow Smugglers ( and traders in version 1. ) to hide content of their cargo ( or contraband only in version 2. ) from all ships except ones equipped with Advanced Cargo Scanner . Equipment will be called something like "Smuggler cargo pod" , it will be mounted in Equipments slots or docking module slot , it will be relativity easy to build , so that POB owners cant justify selling price more than 50-100 M , and it will take up to 200 cargo space , so that it will not reduce cargo space significantly .
For all 3 version , Advanced Cargo Scanner will have reduced range to 8k/6k , so that is only worth equipping if you specifically want to scan for cargo , but you will have very low search range .
Additionally , if people like current Advanced Cargo Scanner with 11k/9k , we can make entirely new scanner for this idea , named "Contraband Detector Scanner" or something .
Opinions ?
I don't think this is a really required change since the current system is more than good enough. However, I would be willing to reconsider my position on this matter if there is sufficient reason to make these changes.
I'm 99.9% sure it's technically impossible to have a scanner capable of scanning equipment but not cargo, or legal cargo but not contraband, or a module that prevents cargo from being scanned.
Even if it were, I don't think it's necessary to mess with scanners or force people to use certain types for certain purposes.
Really, the balance we have now, with increasing detection range meaning lower scan range, is perfectly fine.
The only problem with scanners really is the ability to mount BS scanners on everything.
(04-21-2016, 12:31 PM)Karst Wrote: I'm 99.9% sure it's technically impossible to have a scanner capable of scanning equipment but not cargo, or legal cargo but not contraband, or a module that prevents cargo from being scanned.
Even if it were, I don't think it's necessary to mess with scanners or force people to use certain types for certain purposes.
Really, the balance we have now, with increasing detection range meaning lower scan range, is perfectly fine.
The only problem with scanners really is the ability to mount BS scanners on everything.
But the cost outweighs the range I guess. BS scanner is more of a moneysink now.
The Spyglass scanner is intended to be the moneysink mountable on any ship. It has the same price, but vastly inferior stats (15/3.5) so as long as the BS scanner is mountable on everything, it has no purpose.
The BS scanner was supposed to be mountable only on battlecruisers and battleships, but they haven't been able to implement that yet.
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250 million moneysink on the Battleship Scanners is a good enough drawback for the increased range. I wouldn't touch the BS scanner but rather buff the Spyglass one.
On topic - I don't think that separating cargo from the eqipment while scanning would be possible.
The only thing that really bugs me is how a scanner will know about the people in the cargo bay. Okay, recued pilots still have IDs and such, but how can a scanner differ between Crew, Tourists and Slaves? Or better: What makes a scanner identify a slave as a slave?
That is something you, as the player, should be asking yourself when interacting with someone who carries persons of any kind. Because of game mechanics, goods have to be labeled. You could RP around the premise that you're unsure what the persons' status is and want to investigate, which could lead to some interesting RP.
The same dilemma is true for Hybrid vs. Adapted Nomad Weaponry, though. Unless your character is an expert in Nomad technology, there is literally no reason why you should be able to tell these technologies apart inRP. Now, what you do with that is up to your roleplay (do you trust that seedy person?), but I constantly see characters that probably can't know much about Nomad tech going after Wild for having Hybrid weaponry and I'd bet that they'd ignoring people Adapted ones if people would use them, i.e. if they were a bit better.
Bottom line is: there are cases in which solely relying on infocards and the information you gain from them can reasonably be called metagaming, in my opinion.
Regarding the topic: Isn't the fact that different scanners have different scanning and visual ranges already an attempt to make the player consider which option they want to run? Granted, most take the same one or a Battleship Scanner if they want to spend the money, but the attempt is clealy visible. Shouldn't we, like, try and fix the issue of snubs using Battleship Scanners first?
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Battleship Scanners should (have) be(en) disabled through the shipclass module. If it's not been done it's likely because of potential whining by players who were foolish enough to mount a BS scanner on a small ship and then can't undock afterwards.
It'd probably be best to announce that this change'll happen in two weeks or so so that players can move their BS scanners away from ships that shouldn't use them and don't end up stuck on stations/PoBs.
(04-21-2016, 01:15 PM)Sombra Hookier Wrote: The only thing that really bugs me is how a scanner will know about the people in the cargo bay. Okay, recued pilots still have IDs and such, but how can a scanner differ between Crew, Tourists and Slaves? Or better: What makes a scanner identify a slave as a slave?
^ Well , i don't know anything about coding , so if i is possible , knowable people will have answer .
I only have RP answer , Special Scanner can breach trough protected areas and detect hidden cargo like Nuclear devices (Scann for radiation ) Black Market amno ( scan for explosive and chemical specifically to that type ) , while normal Scanner cant .
As for Slaves and Passengers difference in RP , special scanner can fast scan ID of all passengers , slaves have no real identity and officially government ID , therefore if scanner finds 4200 people on board with no ID , they are probably slaves . Additionally , normal scanners can be fooled to show some ID illusion , special upgraded scanner build for purpose of countering slavers defensive measure will not be fooled .
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