How good are sensors?

[Aldaron]

Here's one for the community...

Just how good <i>are</i> sensors in Star Trek? We know, for example, they can pick up a commbadge signal from just about anywhere on a planet. We know that Data was going to take some time (how long, we don't know) to try and find Picard on Veridian III by scanning for life-forms.

My game is going to have PCs on Nausicaa trying to escape from some bad guys (just about everyone, really). My question is this: on a planet with around 7.8 billion sentients, many of them crowded into densely inhabited cities, how difficult would it be to find them from orbit (from an <i>Intrepid</i>-class, so at least they have the latest sensors available).

Should I use a straight scan with a high difficulty, or an extended test, representing scanning one area of the planet at a time, looking for non-Nausicaan life-signs?

I'm tending to go for the second option, myself, but I was wondering what people thought.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[Greg Davis]

Well, if I recall correctly, Nausica is a heavily polluted world, in addition to being heavily populated. Given that, along with the various other dramatic elements that you can throw in (sensor malfunctions, need for re-calibration, etc), it could be exceedingly difficult.

Obviously, you as the Narrator have to decide if you want the ship to be able to locate the PC's. If you do, do you want it to be for a dramatic escape, or just whenever the PC's (or NPC's) on the ship would be able to manage it?

For me, Trek sensors have always been a tricky thing, and they're generally something that I use for story advancement and/or drama. If the PC's come up with a good idea for sensor use, I'm never opposed to it, since stumping the Narrator is part of the players' jobs...


Greg

[Aldaron]

Thanks, Greg.
I think, "deep down", that's what I want - a "dramatic escape", ala Kirk/McCoy escaping Rura Penthe "just in time".

The thing I really want to do, though, is figure out (roughly) how long it will take the ship crew to find the crew on the surface, and time <i>their</i> escape to match that, otherwise the "just in time" will look too contrived.

For example: if I know it will take approximately 2 hours to scan the surface and find them, I can ensure there is 2 hours worth of scrabbling thru Nausicaan sewers (yech! ) before the "final confrontation" and beam-out.

Has anyone developed a table of scan times, by any chance, that could be used as a rough guideline?

[Dan Gurden]

Quick Question.

Are there players conducting the sensor scan. Or are all the players on the planets surface, with NPC's on ship duty?

If its the latter, you can simply make the decision that it will take 2 hours, but allowing a dramatic escape if things go terribly wrong giving them the option of pulling out in time.

Of course the players may aid the scan by drawing attention to themselves. Any Comms will give their exact location for as long as the comm channel remains open. Or a significal power discharge would draw the ships attention... But I would leave these to your players to figure out.

Of course the bads guys can home in on that signal too.

[Aldaron]

There'll be (hopefully!) PCs in both groups. The surface group will be the regulars, with a "guest" player playing the acting captain for the episode (think "Chain of Command" and Jellico).

I'll be getting the captain to make all the rolls for the NPCs aboard the ship, so he'll be "doing" the scan, with the science officer's skills, of course.

[StyroFoam Man]

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[Dan Stack]

The TOS Core Rules have some detail on ship's sensors. The most important thing to note is that they cannot identify to the granularity of an individual, just down to a species.