Sensors

Sensors grant a vehicle's crew a constantly updated, 360-degree view of their immediate surroundings. Sensors operate at different range bands depending on their ship and relative strength, and although powerful, can be fooled or jammed altogether by numerous technologies. Sensors operate in two modes: passive and active. Sensors operating in passive mode operate at low power, and see everything around the ship up to their maximum range band. Using sensors in passive mode requires no skill check, as they are largely automatic and are relaying the minimum amount of data their programming provides. Sensors operating in active mode are more powerful and focused, however. When operating in active mode, sensors can see one range band farther than their listed maximum range, but can only see in one of the ship's fire arcs (forward, aft, port, or starboard). Using sensors in active mode requires an Surveillance check modified by any ambient radiation, atmospheric disturbances, terrain such as forests or mountains (or asteroids or nebula in space), or active jamming on the part of whatever is being scanned.