Vykter Orade
Looks Like This Guy Just Killed You
Image Source: Above image is slightly modified from this: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4d/46/f8/4d46f8f760b4a51360b5533ced0aab8a.jpg
Intent: An all in one sensor/countermeasure package for Vykter's ship, the Emerald Horizon (WIP)
Development Thread: Here it is!
Manufacturer: Sienar Fleet Systems
Model: Sienar Fleet Systems Active/Passive Multiplex "Hide and Seek" Universal Sensor Array and Electronic Counter Measure Suite
Affiliation: Open Market
Modularity: No
Production: Minor
Material: Armorplast, electronic components, sensor antenna and receiver
Strengths:
- Stealthy: Makes the user ship difficult to detect at long ranges.
- Deceptive: Makes the user ship seem larger or smaller than it actually is.
- Evasive: Makes the user ship more difficult to hit with computer aid.
- Fragile: The transceiver/transmitter array is a large dish mounted on the dorsal hull of the vessel, making it vulnerable to lucky hits and space debris.
- Imperfect: The Fire Confusion mode can be defeated by manual aiming of weapons (missiles are always effected without on-board ECCM)
- Difficult Choice: Only one of the "active" modes may be engaged at a time, though they will operate in tandem with active and passive sensors.
- Nice and Easy: The higher the ship's power levels, the easier it is to pierce both deception and emissions control modes.
- Livewire: As with any electronic system, the suite can and will be affected by Ion weapons.
- ​Interference: The system is susceptible to failure in close proximity to stars and nebulae.
Description: The "Hide and Seek" system was designed with the sole intention of giving smaller ships a fighting chance against swarms of small fighters or even ships larger than themselves. It's abilities include basic active/passive sensor function, fire confusion mode, deception mode, network defense mode, and emissions control mode.
The fire confusion module is a very basic system that can trick enemy fire control systems into thinking that a ship isn't quite where they think it is. This translates into a much higher probability of those weapons missing their target, however a veteran sensor tech or gun crew can manually control weapons and defeat the system by not relying on their fire control.
The signature confusion module is a system that can take the electronic emissions of a vessel and make them appear to be significantly more or less massive than the ship actually is. This can be handy in a number of situations, such as warding off would be attackers by showing up as a battlecruiser as opposed to a light cruiser on their sensors. This system is only effective if it can be engaged prior to coming into sensor range of the intended fool.
The network defense module is fairly self explanatory, using the ships on board processing power and advanced cyber warfare programming it is capable of fending off most network incursions.
The emissions control module, while not a cloaking device, can make the ship very difficult to detect on passive sensors and difficult to detect with active sensors beyond a certain range (something like 10-15 light seconds) unless you know where to look. Once the mounted ship comes within that range, however, it becomes exponentially more likely that the ship will be discovered. While that range is beyond all but the most massive of capital ship weaponry, it is invaluable if your intent is to get as close as you can before the enemy sees you.
Note: This is NOT a cloaking device. Any ship that comes into visual range of the vessel will most definitely see it, and any vessel within that 10-15 light second range has a pretty good chance of spotting it even if they aren't looking, and this becomes a virtual certainty once you drop below even that range. This is strictly an electronic system that limits the amount of electronic/radiological/life emissions being generated by the mounted vessel. Also, a ship with shields up, weapons active and flying in at maximum power is obviously going to be easier to detect even with the system than a ship that is at standby with low power settings. This is not intended to be a "haha you can't do anything to me" kind of system, there are limitations and there are ways to beat it as I have posted above. It is also worth noting that only one mode may be active at a time, though the active/passive sensor functions can work in tandem with any of them. The system is like any other electronic system and is vulnerable to ion attack and interference from outside sources such as nebulae or radiation when operating too close to a star.
