If I recall an Imperial Navy ship's scanners can penetrate pretty deep into a planet's crust. How much penetration do the scanners on an Imperial Scout Survey vessel have?
How powerful are scanners?
- Thread starter Blue Ghost
- Start date
I'd like to be able to scan the full depth planetary crust for fault lines and valuable mineral deposits.
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I remember reading in MT that IN scanners could penetrate up to a mile or more of earth and rock. I can't remember what the justification was (if any). It's just that I've finished my first rough of an adventure I've written, and some elements of it take place underground.
The last thing I want is for the players to zoom in with a customized ship, scan the planet and say "Ah-HA! X marks the spot for the magic doo-hickey!" and for the adventure to be over with in five minutes.
That's my only concern.
This was never an issue before, but ever since I read MT's version of HG, it's been a concern of mine.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
They may work only as well as you permit them too 
ISTR that MT did that with densitometers, geared to finding Deep Site Meson Cannons I think. And IIRC the range was inversely proportional to the resolution. You could detect to great depths but only for large features, or you could limit your penetration for finer readings. And of course there might be anomalies that render the scans less than conclusive. Overall you could make the scanners good for scouting potential sites and narrowing down the areas that needs on-site close inspection for actual suitability, so the players still have to get their boots muddy.
ISTR that MT did that with densitometers, geared to finding Deep Site Meson Cannons I think. And IIRC the range was inversely proportional to the resolution. You could detect to great depths but only for large features, or you could limit your penetration for finer readings. And of course there might be anomalies that render the scans less than conclusive. Overall you could make the scanners good for scouting potential sites and narrowing down the areas that needs on-site close inspection for actual suitability, so the players still have to get their boots muddy.
I guess that was my curiosity. I wrote a short story about a band of adventurers finding an ancient underground highway network, and I had them try to use it to escape Imperial detection. But when I looked up the rules I was kind of dumb struck as to how powerful some of the sensor suites were. So I quit writing.
But, I'm hopeful that I merely misread the info, and that someone else with more clarity of thought will clear the fog from understanding.
But, I'm hopeful that I merely misread the info, and that someone else with more clarity of thought will clear the fog from understanding.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
You could leave your options open by starting the adventure with a short circuit in the scanner wiring - not a major problem, but it needs dirtside parts to fix it...
Yeah...meson scanners kinda ruin things that way. You can have a rule maybe that says you can only penetrate x-amount if you use regular power, and if you want more then the emergency agility HG rule comes into play. If the scanning ship has to reduce its ability to power up and chase the players then that might open a window for them to try to bolt through.
Or just add some element to the crust or coming from the star that messes up the scanners by creating a lot of false positives. The place might be hazardous to walk around in without a protective suit, but that just adds another layer to the cake.
Or just add some element to the crust or coming from the star that messes up the scanners by creating a lot of false positives. The place might be hazardous to walk around in without a protective suit, but that just adds another layer to the cake.
Major B
SOC-14 1K
Blue Ghost,
From the MT design tables (RM, 69), densitometers are not quite that powerful until reaching TLs beyond 15.
At TL 15 a low penetration densitometer can penetrate 250 meters below the surface and at MCr .205 not everyone will have one installed.
The high penetration version (at TL 15) can still only reach a depth of 1 km and is far more expensive (MCr 1.5).
From the MT design tables (RM, 69), densitometers are not quite that powerful until reaching TLs beyond 15.
At TL 15 a low penetration densitometer can penetrate 250 meters below the surface and at MCr .205 not everyone will have one installed.
The high penetration version (at TL 15) can still only reach a depth of 1 km and is far more expensive (MCr 1.5).
Any old timers like robject want to chime in?
In MT, TL 15 High penetration Densitometers have a penetration of 1 km.
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