Now I've been playing some Pirate runs recently and figured - hey, why I see where everyone is? And why can everyone see where I am? Wouldn't pirates get completely destroyed in a world where sensors cover the entire system and are unbeatable?
So I've come up with a potential system that will make playing a Pirate a little more interesting - and maybe even help out AI pirates:
Fleets that are static on the system map slowly accrue "stealth" points. Every fleet rolls a sensor check (or if you don't like randomness, a straight comparison check) when a fleet with stealth points comes within a certain distance of it. If they beat the stealth the static fleet is revealed, if they don't it stays hidden.
Now as long as moving doesn't instantly deplete your stealth points (you could have them vanish fairly quickly over the course of a few seconds) the ambushing fleet - if it guesses the intended victims course right and lays up ahead for long enough to become hidden - can quickly pounce on the unsuspecting fleet. This could give you a special pre-combat dialogue with a couple of extra options to take apart from the usual "engage, disengage, etc.". Maybe a special "ambush" battle option - similar to a Pursuit in that you can deploy frigates and fighters from several angles, maybe even with reduced CP for the enemy fleet to represent them having to suddenly scramble ships to respond.
The latter option especially would let smaller fleets defeat bigger fleets by ambushing - as long as they can inflict enough casualties in the opening battle (in which they've got a huge positional and numerical advantage) to make the follow up battle (which is back to the default battle options and thus more even) winnable.
Best of all this approach to stealth opens up some avenues for skills as well: Better sensors (isn't there already a sensor skill this could be added to?), faster stealth gain, slower stealth loss when moving.
And lastly the whole thing is very player skill based - you need to guess fairly well what approach the fleet you want to ambush is going to take. Although the ability to station-keep with orbital objects while remaining "static" would truly help if this system is adapted.
I've deliberately kept the numbers and stuff vague because that's all open for balance concerns - but basically: Less than total vision over the whole system at all times, more "kinds" of battles than just straight field battles and pursuits, deeper gameplay for pirates and blockades.
Thoughts?