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preserving the mystery?

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Wed, 2010-02-03 15:56
#1
SirGronk SirGronk's picture
preserving the mystery?
I'm currently playing in a game where my character is intended to be the recon/scout type. I purchased some small sensors (specifically the trio mentioned on p.303 - lidar, thermal and radar). On top of this, he has enhanced vision, enhanced hearing, echolocation, and a decent perception skill. And a Tactical Network to share it all with his teammates. I didn't really min/max the guy, or spend a huge amount of money on truckloads of surveillance gear. Given what those sensors can do, how should I approach playing this character accurately without ruining all the suspense and mystery for the team? As it is, I feel he should be constantly scanning and using his senses. And that I should request that the GM let me know the exact 3D model of anything within 50km, including all movement and heat sources. I want to play the character as he ought to be played, but not ruin the game or piss off the GM. Any suggestions?
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-SirGronk-
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Wed, 2010-02-03 19:12
Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Re: preserving the mystery?
While these enhancements make him a great scout, there is probably a lot of things he cannot see through. A metal wall/bulkhead blocks lidar, thermal and radar pretty well. Echolocation is useless in vacuum. Many environments jam eyesight and thermal. The big issue is how willing he is to give away his position by using active sensors like lidar, radar and even ecolocation. Half of scouting is to not allow the enemy to notice that someone is scouting. Sending off radar pulses will do that. Passive sensors like thermo and keen eyesight are really preferable. Especially if the enemy has radiation-homing weaponry...
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Extropian
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Thu, 2010-02-04 16:12
SirGronk SirGronk's picture
Re: preserving the mystery?
Those are some good points, thank you. I'll keep them in mind, and also let the GM know.
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-SirGronk-
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Thu, 2010-02-04 16:29
levi levi's picture
Re: preserving the mystery?
That makes me wonder about the other "noise" a morph would emit. Mesh implants, internal power sources, etc. Unless you are actively shutting down this equipment, a morph would be easy to detect and track. Maybe not in a populated area, but in an abandoned habitat or somewhere remote. Am I wrong?
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Thu, 2010-02-04 16:47
Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Re: preserving the mystery?
I think a morph who doesn't take steps can be detected almost automatically with the right kind of hardware - it has high bandwidth mesh traffic, it is covered with a constellation of RFID tags, smart objects nearby react to it and send brief queries... The Intrusion skill likely starts with learning how to turn off all these signals. But most people never do that.
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Extropian
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Thu, 2010-02-04 19:30
SirGronk SirGronk's picture
Re: preserving the mystery?
Shadowrun deals with a similar issue, albeit on a smaller scale. You could put your PAN in Active, Passive, or Hidden modes. Hidden mode is great for avoiding hackers and generally sneaking around, but would actually draw unwanted attention, for example if you are in public and get scanned by a security officer. Hidden mode = up to no good. Some people even use decoy commlinks with a false SIN and ID, and run their real commlink in Hidden. Eclipse Phase handles it a bit differently (p.251-253). There is Privacy mode, and Stealthed signals, which provide penalties for others trying to scan that person's mesh usage. It doesn't specifically say anything about shutting off all noise completely that I could find, so that's probably a GM's call.
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