The Vehicles - Sensors skill allows you to see beyond the physical realm and into the invisible landscape of electromagnetic waves and radiation. With this skill, you are a master of the unseen, interpreting the data and patterns emitted by ships, planets, and the universe itself. You can read the signals of distant communications, interpret the movements of other vessels, and even detect the presence of life in the void.
You can use this skill to track other ships and planets, identify anomalies in sensor data, and even predict the movements of objects in space. Your training has honed your senses to the point where you can detect the faintest signals and interpret the most complex patterns with ease. You can also use this skill to hide from those that would seek you out blending your vehicles emissions into the background radiation of the universe.
With this skill, you are the eyes and ears of your crew, guiding them through the darkest and most treacherous parts of the universe.
Each sensor operation will have a difficulty rating based on range, interference, target signature strength, and sensor quality. The more distant or stealthed the target and the worse the conditions, the higher the difficulty.
When you attempt to scan targets, detect threats, analyze signals, track objects, penetrate jamming, or interpret sensor data, you will make a Vehicles - Sensors skill check against the task's difficulty rating. The GM may apply Boons or Banes based on factors such as sensor array quality, electromagnetic interference, target stealth technology, or environmental conditions.
Rather than spending skill points to move up skill levels, you may instead spend skill points to purchase any of the following tricks.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can perform exceptionally detailed scans. Once per operation, when scanning a target (ship, planet, object), you gain a +1d6 Boon and receive comprehensive data - exact specifications, hidden compartments, life signs, power signatures, weak points in armor/shields, or cargo manifest. Your scan reveals information others would miss.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can detect cloaked and stealthed targets. Once per operation, you gain a +1d6 Boon to penetrate stealth technology, see through cloaking devices, or detect ships trying to hide in sensor shadows. Your sensor expertise reveals what's supposed to be invisible. You can spot ambushes before they spring.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can push your sensors beyond normal range. Once per operation, you can detect and identify targets at twice your sensor's normal maximum range. This extended range provides early warning of incoming threats, allows long-distance reconnaissance, or gives you tactical advantage by seeing enemies before they see you.
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You can jam enemy sensors effectively. Once per rest, you can deploy electronic countermeasures that blind enemy sensors. You gain a +1d8 Boon to prevent enemies from detecting or targeting your ship. Their sensors show static, false contacts, or nothing at all. You can approach undetected or break target locks.
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You can provide comprehensive tactical sensor analysis. Once per rest, when scanning enemy forces (fleet, formation, or individual ship), you gain a +1d8 Boon and can determine: exact ship capabilities, weapon loadouts, shield strength, engine performance, crew complement, and tactical weaknesses. This intelligence gives your side significant combat advantage.
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You can scan through interference, jamming, and obstacles. Once per rest, you gain a +1d8 Boon to penetrate any sensor interference - electromagnetic storms, enemy jamming, dense asteroid fields, planetary atmospheres, or radiation zones. You get clean sensor reads when everyone else is blind. Nothing blocks your scans.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: You achieve perfect sensor clarity. Once per mission, one sensor scan reveals everything - all ships in the system, exact locations and courses, complete technical specifications, hidden bases or installations, cloaked vessels, incoming threats, and tactical opportunities. For this one scan, you see everything. Total situational awareness.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: You can make your ship completely invisible to sensors. For one operation, your vessel produces zero sensor signature - no electromagnetic emissions, no heat signature, no mass readings. Enemy sensors cannot detect you at all. You're a ghost ship, moving unseen through enemy territory. Only visual detection can spot you, and in space, that's nearly impossible.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: Your sensor mastery reaches superhuman levels. For one mission, you automatically detect all threats before they become dangerous, identify all targets instantly and perfectly, penetrate all stealth and jamming, and provide your crew with complete tactical awareness. Your sensors cannot be fooled or blocked. You see everything, everywhere, always. Your ship has perfect information.
Each sensor profile grants a stacking Boon to Vehicles - Sensors rolls when identifying matching signatures:
Boons apply when:
Sensor profiles provide practical advantages:
GM Note: Profiles become outdated if targets undergo major refits or upgrades.
Sensor profiles require occasional updates:
Commander "Eagle-Eye" Santos builds sensor profile database: