Hmm. (Detected-at range for 5x Doom: 780. 5x Onslaught: 1080. 5x Onslaught w/ augmented engines: 1160, but the sensor range drops from 1080 to 950, so the practical difference for installing augmented engines on all of those is something like 20%.)
I think the 800ish range is just a sweet spot for player fleet size. The stats aren't going to fluctuate much if you're not making a concerted effort to build your fleet for stealth (or cargo-hauling, which isn't exactly relevant right now), but that's very much the point. A civ ship here and a phase ship there aren't going to make a big difference. A lone phaseship has a detected-at range of 370, though... but it still might make sense to tweak the formula to spread it out a little more uniformly on the lower end; perhaps it jumps up too quickly.
Simple to state, but complicated to display / communicate the effects. And while I agree that people (myself included) have trouble guaging the impact of the exceptions, I don't think that's the only source of trouble; witness the number of people asking "Why can't I just have a circle showing how far I can see?"
Fair enough - but if you can draw a circle, but that circle is then lying to the player because of all the exceptions, is that any better?
And the 'different set of exceptions' - I explicitly chose the examples I did for clarity of effect. "Up to -25% detection range (current value -7%)" instantly communicates what it does (and how much of an impact the rest of your fleet has on the effect), while "reduces sensor profile by 75%" only communicates "This ship is stealthier by some amount that may or may not make any real difference given the rest of your fleet".
This is true, but the same information about the effect of a given phase ship in your fleet could already be derived given your fleet makeup (which was Gothars' suggestion in the release thread), and the effect is fleet-composition-dependent in either case.
It'd be good to see, though. "This phase ship is contributing 3% to my detected-at range, where this Wolf is contributing 7%" would be useful information.
I appreciate the suggestion, btw. This is definitely something that bears thinking/talking about, and - evidently - could be explained better. I do feel like it's more a question of that, though (and perhaps tweaking the curve), than revamping the system entirely.
If you're going to have stealth, you need detection ranges to be variable, right? Otherwise you're not giving the player an opportunity to build for stealth. And if you have variable detection ranges (which holds both for the current implementation and your idea in the OP), then you can't have a circle. You see 'em when you see 'em. It's more important to be informed when they're about to see you/when you're about to lose them - that's what you care about, right? In terms of gameplay - e.g. sneaking into a port right now - I think the current UI does a good job for that particular task.
In terms of conveying everything that goes into it, though... that's where it gets complicated, and part of the question is just how much to explain. I mean, talking about "logarithmic dropoff" is probably not a good idea.
... it'd be a lot simpler if ships could just contribute a linear amount. Too bad this leads to ranges that just don't work out gameplay-wise - either super-tiny on the low end, or super-huge on the high end. And if you add a minimum (a la "low engine interference"), then you'd still have an enormous "dead zone" where your fleet composition doesn't matter at all, until it starts to exceed the minimum. And really, if the formula is "linear, but..." then it might just as well be a black box.
There are a lot of people on the forums confused about sensors, but you have to remember that most of the time, only the people who are having a problem will complain. I haven't said squat about the sensor system because I got the basic concept almost immediately. Like Dabor said; fleets see each other at the same time, unless special modifiers come into play like transponders, running dark, or phase/civillian/sensor ships. The bonuses from sensor ships could stand to be quite a bit larger, but otherwise it feels pretty much fine.
Maybe there should be a sensor tutorial that goes over the basics of running dark, transponders, phase ships, that sort of thing. I like the system and found it fairly intuitive, but from the amount of forum noise about it, it could stand to be explained better.
Thanks for chiming in! Honestly, I do feel like it's in pretty good shape. Some amount of misunderstanding is unavoidable, but there's always room to improve. And yeah, a campaign tutorial would be good (but later). Hmm. Perhaps some of those help popups.
What's your opinion on dedicated stealth or sensor ships? Rather than something like a Doom or Apogee which gives this as a side perk, these would be high-maintenance ships where 80% of their benefit is reducing signature/increasing sensors on the campaign map.
Talked about it a bit internally; we'll see!