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[xenoargh]

Simply put, that mechanic is not working well, imo.  The only method to actively ping the environment and determine if we should be running away from nearby fleets... makes us unable to run away from nearby fleets 

I really would rather take, say, a 5% CR hit every time it was used, to represent the military-emergency-power sensor sweep, personally; anything but the speed bump.  Honestly, I think that on Easy, it should just have a cooldown timer, to encourage active use.

[Alex]

Ah, but it's not meant to be a method to determine if you should be running away. It could be used like that in some circumstances, but it's inherently dangerous, both because of the speed loss and because of the way it increases the range you're detected at more than your detection range.

The main use case for this ability is to find something that's gotten away from you, with the tradeoffs being 1) having to virtually stop and 2) exposing yourself to danger. If it worked like you're suggesting, avoiding patrols and others using it to track you down after they've lost you would be nearly impossible, for example. As it stands, it works rather nicely for that - they get a fix on your location, but you get a bit of time to open up the distance.

There may be a need for an ability like you're suggesting, but this one emphatically isn't it.

[xenoargh]

If its range was 2X what it is now, I could see that

Right now, it's about the only way to get sensor ranges up enough to see what's going on around you, as a brand-new Frigate driver.  The reaction times required right now are a bit too tight for my tastes; I feel like I have to dodge every gray fleet because by the time I can get a view of them, it's too late to dodge.

I think that others using that ability should be shown explicitly doing so, as well, so that players know when they're being pinged.  The way it works now feels rather vague.

Rebel Galaxy had a very similar mechanic where the "ping" could be used on the move and it was fun, because you had to use it actively; right now I feel overly punished for just wanting to look around.

[miro]

Not a solution to your problem, but I fly with my hand on the spacebar now. I'm getting pretty good at mashing it.

One potentially intended consequence of this addition is that I now behave much more timidly in areas I know are likely to contain unsavory characters. Space feels rougher, and more dangerous.

[Cycerin]

Sensor Burst is only really useful as a way to "pull" enemy fleets right now - for which it actually is useful, granted, if you're still at the stage where pirates will underestimate you. It's also good just to get information about the overall situation if you know you'll be safe anyway, say, if you're exiting hyperspace, there's a hegemony patrol right next to you, and then you ping and see a bunch of pirates lurking around the outskirts of the system's hyperspace.

[TaLaR]

Sensor burst costing only CR would make player's life miserable - it would essentially eliminate your ability to use stealth.
I prefer it stays as is - yes, it's only useful to lure enemies, but at least it's good at that.(Though enabled transponder is usually sufficient even without SB)