A Question Of Awareness

[Thlaylie]

My Sophonts use Echolocation to augment their vision like many Bats do on Earth. It is not hearing per say even though it uses sound. More like an organic radar.

So I'm thinking of using the Awareness stat to cover it as that is described as augmenting vision.

Echolocation will also let my Sophonts "see" through most clothing to see if someone is packing.

I'm thinking the "color" would be "Ech" instead of "Mag" or "Lek."

What do you think?

 

[Thlaylie]

No one has an opinion?

 

[cuTTer]

I would but...

No one has an opinion?

I read your post this morning then stared at the awareness rules for a bit, stared at the vision rules for a bit, and decided I had no useful opinion. I'm kinda wrapped up in trying to understand GunMaker, going off the reservation with whacky aliens is definitely above my pay grade, at this point in time.

 

[Spartan159]

Same here, don't really have much to offer at the moment. I did wonder if this was an active sensor type vs a passive sensor, do they send out a signal that they read back or just read ambient noise like Dare Devil. Also wondered at the social ramifications of looking through other beings clothing...

 

[Doyle Hunt]

Echolocation will also let my Sophonts "see" through most clothing to see if someone is packing.

That's going to be a matter of resolution. I don't think echolocation would provide a density map like it was some sort of high-resolution densitometer or a real-world ultrasonic scanner like hospitals use, so no looking through one object to see another object. Given one emitter (mouth), and two receivers (ears), even if they produce ultra-high frequency sound like a bat or dolphin, they'll probably only be able to tell about a target its: Direction;
Distance; Size; and General Composition (for example, with training/experience they might tell the difference between metal, plastic, and stone based on the return from each material).

So your echolocating sophonts might be able to tell the difference between a human wearing a swimsuit, a human wearing a vacc suit, and a human wearing battle dress, but not what any of them have in their pockets.

 

[Spartan159]

Phew, my One ring is safe then

 

[Thlaylie]

I was lead to believe that Fisherman Bats can "see" though water with their Echolocation to catch the fish that are their staple and the Disk Winged Bat had the kind of ultrasonic scanner ability mentioned earlier. Of course this comes from the TMNT RPG and I now can't seem to correlate this with anything else on the web?

Oh well they only need it for collision avoidance anyway and this will make it simpler to construct.

Now how do I construct this sense? It would still be like Awareness generating a terrain map using a sense other than sight.

My Sophont's Echolocation is an active sonar, they emit noise pulses which they read the returns from. Exactly like a Bat.

 

[Spaceresearcher]

What's the name of your alien?

 

[fridge]

Now how do I construct this sense? It would still be like Awareness generating a terrain map using a sense other than sight.

My Sophont's Echolocation is an active sonar, they emit noise pulses which they read the returns from. Exactly like a Bat.

If they emit noise which they then read, they are listening, so Hearing would be the sense to use. Maybe they have different Hearing organs (ears), one for normal range sounds, one for their echolocation. Then give them two Hearing Senses. I would model dolphins this way as they have earholes (though sounds tend to be picked up via the lower jaw and passed to the middle ear) and can hear like us, and also have echolocation. I would give dolphins a lower hearing constant for their ears, than their echolocation.

Echolocation Frequencies depend on environment and use but is generally around 85KHz for bats, 40KHz - 150KHz for dolphins (though they can hear down to 20Hz if the sound is loud enough).

Therefore I would use something like H-20-G1G1 or H-20-H1H1 for a constant frequency echolocation or H-20-G3G3 or H-20-H3H3 for a Frequency Modulation echolocation. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_echolocation#Acoustic_features.

Note the range of the echolocation depends on the click length (pulse) and the speed of sound in their environment. Bats have long screeches then long pauses for long range echolocation, then short pulses and pauses for fine short range echolocation at the expense of the long range echolocation (for hunting). Pulse is not covered by the existing rules for Hearing, but since it tends to be variable depending on the animal's activity, it is probably more a matter for the character/npc anyway, not a constant. The being's speed may/should play a factor - if it is moving at high speed it needs to "see" further ahead, which means longer pulses and pauses, but at the loss of up to date data and fine detail, if it is moving slowly it can afford the fine detail from short pulses. When moving the pulses have to be spaced to give the being "sight" further than they can reach at that speed.

You could even set a Hearing Sense for long range and another for short range, with different Constants, giving different rolls depending which form they were using and the ranges involved.

The ultimate echolocator would have two (or more) different frequencies with different pulse rates, one for the long range, another for the short, with a brain big enough to process both and overlay the resultant data.

 

[Thlaylie]

Thank You for the help.

My Sophonts use sonar to cover their short range collision avoidance needs when flying at speed through visually obstructed areas and I'm sure it would help in hunting prey that duck into such areas. (Carnivorous Flying Pouncer)

They don't have a developed nose leaf structure, but from the descriptions in the link you provided, they would seem to use both FM and CF. They have a Bunny like slit nose structure which they vary the apertures of to "tune" their snorted sonar. Their Olfactory sense has suffered as a result.

They do have a normal hearing sense as well as the Echolocation. They are descended from standard Theropod stock, so I'm not sure of the vocal or normal hearing ranges for them? I was thinking a Hawk like cry lowered in pitch due to the size difference to something like a Lion's roar. They are accomplished mimics and sound effects form a great deal of their language.

Humans call them "Rabbits" due to the long ears and general facial construction.

 

[Spartan159]

Humans call them "Rabbits" due to the long ears and general facial construction.

Suddenly I have an image of a Rabbit faced Flying Nun but with Ears instead of a wimple. With great gnashing (gestures in front of mouth with 2 hooked fingers).

And yes, these prescribed pharmaceuticals are nice, thanks. :rofl:

 

[Limburger59]

Now I'm imaging a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

 

[Thlaylie]

I find that scene very appropriate and it was inspiring when I first saw it.

These are my own Sci Fi creations that I have had for some time. When I ran them in more Fantasy type games, they were referred to by the group as "Vorpal Rabbits."

The Ears act more like rudders similar to a Pterodactyl's crest, as well as being sonar receptors.

They do have large tusk like incisors however.