Knowledge of Sirius

[Unseelie]

So, in the recent change (or, change back, for those in the know) of bretonian laws, we encountered a discussion of long range scanners, hidden bases, and smugglers.

The question raised is how open and free is information in sirius?

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[Kambei]

"long range scaner" doesnt exist, using list of online players for monitoring players and using this knowledge in game for gaining any profit or for persecuting certain players is OORP and imo disgracefull

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[swift]

Well yeah, not really possible to track everything, but within faction's space, I'd say it's realistic for it to have satellites. But to know the location of anything in Sirius is unrealistic.

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[Tenacity]

right, on my order character I go along the lines that we have sensor satellites in omicron major, omicron minor, omicron 100, and omicron delta. Might go as far as sayign we have one in omicron 92 to monitor the nomad lair, outside of that however, we cant track players elsewhere.

EDIT: A couple other exceptions, we have a battleship stationed in alaska which can track ships within the vicinity of the omicron minor jump hole and partway into alaska (yes, this battleship does exist as a dockable base, no I wont tell you where it is).

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[Drake]

I remember Baltar and I having a long debate awhile back about hidden bases. I said the same thing Unseelie did in the other thread, that it's impossible for a base/planet/system to remain secret for long, what with deserters, spies, Bounty Hunters, freelancers, Junkers, Zoners, mercenaries and all the other people who might know about the base/planet/system and spill the beans, either accidentally or for money.

As far as long-range scanners go, that's tougher. Ideally there would be no long-range scanners, at least not unless your faction or an allied faction had a base or NPCs in that system. But, they OORPly exist, and there's no way to stop people from using it, and no way to punish them for doing so. It's easy and even believable to explain in many situations... Ships or bases or tradelanes or spies forwarding data along, or a rough IP-tracking system in the Sirius-wide neural net (which can track ships to specific systems, but no more accurately than that). Private comms (not group comms) are IC too, or can be, which means the neural net IS Sirius-wide, and if it exists then it only requires the proper skills and equipment to hack it.

Of course, people tracking people on the other side of Sirius isn't really an issue, because it doesn't come up. No one in Bretonia cares about who's in Sigma-19, either IC or OOC. More localized tracking, such as within a couple jumps, is quite reasonable. As I mentioned above, there are a number of possible explanations. Neural net tracking is the easiest, but might be dissatisfying for some people. Spies and/or allies sharing information is just as easy; no one is without spies in their ranks.

[Kambei]

I doubt you have enough spies for spliting them between military operations and checking ALL THOSE THOUSANTS traders in Kusari or other parts of the sirius. Also endless flaw of messages into Bretonia with such stupidities like monitoring of traders/smuglers is ridiculous because it increase risk of exposal of your spies by 100000000000000%.

If you want use something like "long range scaner" than only somewhere where do you have some stations or structures. In case of Bretonia is farest monitorable system Tau 23. Everything behind T31 or T23 is for Bretonia invisible.

of course tsame for rest houses and factions...

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[Patriot]

All i can say here its,guys dont try to create a problem when nobody cant do anything for that,i mean yes im sure a lot people use that tactic for motivate their next action,but can we pove this in any way..???......NO.....so i dont think make a big debate about that will change anything.

[Cellulanus]

I doubt you have enough spies for spliting them between military operations and checking ALL THOSE THOUSANTS traders in Kusari or other parts of the sirius. Also endless flaw of messages into Bretonia with such stupidities like monitoring of traders/smuglers is ridiculous because it increase risk of exposal of your spies by 100000000000000%.

Whos to say a guy is even physicaly there monotoring them? A realitivly simple program hacked into the TL network would easily be able to pick up certain singnals from select ships.

[farmerman]

My thoughts are that within a few systems there certainly would be scanner possibilities of some sort. Beyond that, it would probably only extend to certain major people. For instance, I can see Bretonia tracking the major military vessels of Kusari (it's good to know where those battleships are stationed) and vice versa, but I'm not sure they'd know the location of John Q Trader at all times.

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Faction info links: Samura Heavy Industries : LWB : Watchers

[Guest]

"long range scaner" doesnt exist, using list of online players for monitoring players and using this knowledge in game for gaining any profit or for persecuting certain players is OORP and imo disgracefull

Of course THAT isnt allowed.... Just because you see a Falcata on "long range scanners" doesnt mean you can run up on the guy and engage him for being an outcast as he might be IDed and tagged as a Freelancer. All the same, you cant see a Slave Liner on long range scanners and immediately suspect him of shipping slaves.

However, its main use for people is to know who their enemy is, so that a Light Fighter isnt sent out to combat a Battleship believed to be a Bomber. Or in a reverse instance, A battleship sent out to combat a Light Fighter believed to be another Battleship.

As Tenacity said, it would be well within roleplay to be able to track ships within your ZoI. Weapons Platforms would alert local stations of intrusions so that fighters could be sent out. Stations would alert proper ships outside the station to the presence of a ship that shouldn't be on their scanners. Etc.