Radar Classic 2300 and Traveller 2300

rgrove0172

Mongoose
On page 64 of the Director's Guide (classic 2300) it gives Navigational Radar a range of 1 AU.

On page 144 of the Traveller Core Rules it gives Active Radar a range of 50,000km.

Thats a big difference.

Page 204 of the MT2300 Rules says to use the sensors in the Traveller rulebook.

Do I gather then that the 1AU radar is no longer 2300 tech? Or, do we extend the table on page 144 out to 1AU with anything detected being only a very fient and basic return (a blip in otherwords) and let the table work for the closer ranges?

And just to complicate things, Page 204 of MT2300 also says that all civilian sensors as listed on page 144 (CT) on the table have a range of 0 in starship combat. Range 0 can extend out to 300,000km.

So just where should commercial radar fall?


Then - can anyone explain just what the Military Sensors are in 2300, especially now if we reduce radar to a 50,000km max. They operate out to 7 or more light seconds (2,100,000km) out to half that when Passive.

And last, just to really screw with my head... Page 269 of MT2300 claims that informational scans should use the details on the sensor table page 144 of CT but increase ALL RANGES TO THE 2300 RANGE BANDS!

Is that right? All sensory equipment in 2300 is considered hundreds of times more powerful than regular traveller? Radar now can reach out to not 1 AU as in classic 2300 but 3AU as per the traveller chart when you make the changes.

This seems a big mess, can anyone help me out?
 
Quick Answer:

Use the longer ranges from 2300 for 2300. YES, they are that much more powerful than standard traveller - that is how the game was written.

Don't get caught up in the specific distances of the TMB, look at the RANGE NAME and use that from the 2300 tables.

So Short Range in the TMB is MUCH shorter than Short Range in 2300, but the same sensor (name at least) is used along with the same cost and size and sensitivity - AT THAT RANGE BAND.

I think that is what Colin meant - don't use the actual number of KM for the range, use the Short/Medium/Long/Very Long etc. and the sensitivity that you get at those range bands.

Hope that helps.
 
You bumped ANOTHER post. :shock:
Talk about living dangerously :wink:

Here again we are dealing with the difference between navigation which is spotting planets and combat which is getting a lock on a ship or missile.

These are separate items and not specifically a radar thing. Navigation is going to be more a visual thing.

GDW 2300 referees guide had two navigational scanners, what was originally called deep system scan which was visual based and Grav sensors. Both of these have system wide ranges given that they are detecting planets and the like. Radar is not a navigational scanner.

The 2300 director’s guide also mentions navigational radar but this is the only place it is mentioned in any of my books that I could see. Now the directors guide seems to be 1988 where as my refs guide was 1986 so it bay have been added in later on.

The change with the new version calling a densitometer Deep scan radar should not be confused with the deep system scan which is optical.

In terms of navigational radar I would suggest just dropping it. It isn’t part of the MongT 2300 rules and Grav sensors and Visual scanners both have system wide ranges in the rules. Trying to understand where radar fits in is just going to give you headaches.

Civilian radar has a range of 1 light second, 300,000km. That’s it. Beyond that range the civilian signal processors are just getting hash and cannot identify anything.
Military radar is more powerful transmitters combined with much better signal receivers and software that can make sense of more complicated or weaker returns allowing it to pick up targets out to 5 or 7 light seconds.

Likewise ignore the table on page 144 unless you want to proportionally increase each based on the longer 2300 range. I just take it that you have limited to half maximum range and minimal to maximum range.

Only the renamed Deep scan radar can give you those detailed surface scans and those are as per the traveller rules.

Does this help ?
 
It does, both of you guys...

Changing the range bands to the 2300 equivalents and using the various sensors in their increased powerful state was the big "what the?" I was dealing with. Dropping navigational radar from the chart (using the radar entry for improved military radar onlyl) is a big step towards workability as well.
 
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