Component:sig-scrambler
In Game Description
The signature scrambler is a complex upgrade to all installed signal generators and antennas in both radars and communications equipment. By using an array of components and randomly aligning them for the different stages of waveform generation, and electronic and mechanical shortening/lengthening of waveguides and antennas, it complicates the identification of a warship by its electronic signatures alone.
Gameplay usage
This module simply doubles the amount of Intelligence Effort required to achieve levels of identification of a ship. As such it's rarely useful for it's cost, as Intelligence Centers will still identify a ship with one in half a minuite or less (40 Seconds for a Moorline), and without an Intelligence Center or Citadel CIC it would take minutes to identify a ship anyway. Furthermore the longer it takes to ID a ship the more likely the ship is to be manually ID'd by the player simply by its behavior; whether its launching missiles, craft taking off, a beam firing, the speed it is moving, what guns it is firing and what positions they appear to have relative to eachother; each can give a track away.
Stats
| Signature Scrambler | |
|---|---|
| Cost | 35 pts |
| Dimensions | 2x2x2 |
| Hitpoints | 50 |
| Hitpoints to Function | 10 |
| Damage Threshold | 10 |
| Mass | 4 Tonnes |
| DC Priority | Low |
| Power | -450 (kW) |
| Modifier: Identification Difficulty | +100% |
| Modifier: Sensitivity | +10% |
Notes
Lore
Technical name: SN\AL-900, 'Cloak'. Protectorate has their own if I remember right, the 'Smoke'. It's just the same model, different name.
Not an actual cloaking device, mind you, but crewmen like to think of it as one. Believe it or not, it's quite easy to make one of these outside of a military application these days. During the Guild Riots, some Hrymr vessels created makeshift scramblers to keep them from being ID'd when they were too close together. It won't hide a ship but it'll delay opponents from painting you as a priority target if you're something like an Axford moving into Artillery position.
- I. Parker, CMC
