Detecting an Opponent's Fleets

More about Scanning

Playing Stars!

Scanners

Having scanners on as many planets as possible reduces the chance that cloaked fleets will sneak past. For example, if your opponent has 75% cloaking, and your scanners normally detect fleets at a range of 200 light years, your effective scanning range will be reduced to 50 light years. If your scanners are close together, whether they be planet-based, ship-based, or a combination, you'll create a gauntlet that opponents' ships aren't as likely to sneak through undetected.

Also consider placing sentry ships at uninhabited planets along your border. They will help prevent any unseen planet-hopping by your opponents. Even if a ship is cloaked, you will still detect it when it passes by.

The X series of planet-based scanners and certain ship-based scanners can detect both fleets in deep space and fleets in orbit. Both these ranges are affected by cloaking. For example, if you are using a Snooper 250X planet-based scanner against a 75% cloak, the scanner will have effective ranges of 62 light years and 31 light years.  If the ship is in orbit of a planet 32 light years away, you won't see it.

With the Scanner pane's Radar Overlay turned on, ask yourself: Will there be gaps in my coverage if each scanner only saw half as far? What about one-fourth as far? Adjust the percentage to show you give you an idea of what your coverage would be in relation to the cloaking ability of opponents' ships. For example, select 75% to show how close a fleet with 25% cloaking will need to be before you can detect it.

Keep in mind that a cloak only reduces a scanner's effectiveness in detecting the cloaked fleet. It fools the scanner, rather than physically changing it.

Minefields as Scanners
Minefields act as normal scanners for the players with the Space Demolition trait.

Tachyon Detector

This device reduces the effectiveness of other players cloak by 5%. The reduction is only seen by the fleet carrying the detector. The affect of multiple detectors is additive. If a fleet has two detectors, the first lowers the effectiveness of the opponent's cloak to 95%, the second detector takes the 95% and reduces it almost another 5%, down to 90.2%. This makes it significantly harder for enemies to sneak past fleets carrying this device. A great option for ships on regular patrol duty.

This device requires the Inner Strength primary trait.

Displaying Enemy Fleet Paths

Click on an enemy fleet to display its estimated path. The arrow representing the fleet points in the approximate direction of travel. Since a fleet travels in a straight line from waypoint to waypoint, you can use this path to determine the direction of the enemy fleet's last waypoint and potentially, its point of origin.