Does sensor hacker needs a little power'up?

[Pumpkin]

There is some hacking devices I never used. This game I'm currently in put me out of my tracks in some ways and I found myself in need for some knowledge covert extractions and sabotages, but there is still one I've never used: sensor hacker.

Only working with what's written, I find it useless. I thought I would use it if firing wouldn't decloak ships benefiting from it (in a way similar that planetary-cloaked AI ships can fire "from the void").

Consider that HaP has a value similar to AIP (I'm not saying it's true... just consider) : +1AIP grant you 1 HaP, fine ; HaP can be spent to prevent AIP (sabotage avoid AIP on death, faborcator/constructors download spare you a planetary takeover, ...), fine too. Now consider this: one can send an EMP warhead for being able to attack without being attacked at the cost of some AIP increase, or use a sensor hacker for a similar result (supposing suggested revamp has been done) at the cost of some HaP decrease.

What do you think?
Do you agree with my little pseudo-maths with AIP/HaP?
Do you know a use of the sensor hacker as it is currently that I don't? Please share!

[Mal]

While it may not be frequently used, I believe the HaP point cost is small enough to justify it in cases where an EMP would not be suitable..

For example, a lot of starships are immune to AIP , I believe most guardians are as well.

a HaP sensor hack in the middle of combat to cover a retreat, to cloak a bunch of your incoming warheads, or just to give you time to maneuver a bunch of ships next to a vital point instead of them being picked off when coming into system are some uses.

Or, if you use an emp warhead, warp into system to do damage and then sensor hack ,so you don't lose your fleet to special forces for example...this could result in some serious guerilla warfare.

If the HaP was made smaller, I think it might be used a little too often towards the end-game to succesfully pick off the last remaining targets you need.

But...with all that said, I am always in favor of the Hacker being used more often that it already is. It is a neat tool that allows some very cool strategies.

[Red.Queen]

Pumpkin -- I haven't tried a sensor hack yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it could use a small tweak.  The most obvious situations where I would want to use it would require me to send my fleet in to break a few tachyon posts so the Hacker can slip into the planet safely, which will already stir up the guards and potentially expose my fleet to whatever it was that I'm trying to hide them from (OMD, Arachnid posts, etc).  And if there are any Ion cannons, you can't try to skip breaking the tach posts first since they'll just splat the Hacker as soon as it comes in, before it can re-cloak.

The 30 sec delay before it kicks in kind of hurts it if you are bringing it in to disable a command station that does planetary tachyon coverage, as the enemy fleet will definitely already have engaged your fleet in that time, and it'll be tricky to time getting every ship of yours to stop firing the instant the hack finishes to keep them from immediately breaking their cloak.  If that delay were reduced, I could see myself giving this a try when I needed to split my fleet and strike several targets on a planet at once, as it would be faster and more flexible than wrangling a flock of Cloaker starships.

Mal -- Interesting idea on using it to cover escape from impending Special Forces murder, that sounds like it could work well to save slower-moving ships at the end of a huge fight when the transports have long been vaporized.

Idea directed at no one in particular -- Wouldn't it be cool to have a DE-cloaking hack?  That would be handy in attacks on Stealth Master AI planets, or saving your life in the face of a massive stealth attack on one of your worlds.  The latter would save you from having to EMP your own units.  This should probably be more expensive than the Sensor hack though so it doesn't render the Tach sensor/drone or the couple of ships that have short-range decloaking pointless.

[Mal]

I would love a de-cloaking hack, especially when it comes to an eye-bot abusing mofo ai.

[Red.Queen]

Yup.  Though I realized I'd forgotten about Tachyon warheads (how did I forget about a type of warhead??), and a decloaker hack might step on its toes a bit.  On the other hand, don't Tach warheads decloak your own stuff too, much like how EMPs will friendly-fire your ships?  A decloak hack might still fit as a pricier but more "surgical" alternative, if you'd rather burn HAP than AIP.

Plus the thought of combo'ing up a decloak hack plus a sensor hack on a stealth-heavy high mark world makes me smile in a slightly unhealthy way.  Of course, you'd have to survive the backlash... <rub hands together>

[Kahuna]

I've never used sensory hack and in it's current form I never will.

[Pumpkin]

I've never used sensory hack and in it's current form I never will.

That's why I'm trying to figure out how it could be interesting, or more balanced. No big idea, for now.

[Mal]

Something that AI war could use a little more of would be a macro-hacking effect. By macro I mean something effecting multiple solar systems. The use of it with sensor hacker could be to enrage the AI forces in the area, aka, draw the special forces and roaming threat to the area.

This uses could be to:

• Delay a CPA from hitting a weakened area
• Distract special forces from a special planet
• Bottleneck CPA's for a direct assault or warhead(s) target so you can get the game moving faster

This is completely different than normal sensor hacking but does fit the contextual term of sensor hacking. Just an experimental bit

[Pumpkin]

Something that AI war could use a little more of would be a macro-hacking effect. By macro I mean something effecting multiple solar systems. The use of it with sensor hacker could be to enrage the AI forces in the area, aka, draw the special forces and roaming threat to the area.

This uses could be to:

• Delay a CPA from hitting a weakened area
• Distract special forces from a special planet
• Bottleneck CPA's for a direct assault or warhead(s) target so you can get the game moving faster

This is completely different than normal sensor hacking but does fit the contextual term of sensor hacking. Just an experimental bit

No big idea, for now.

Forget it. This is a big idea.

[Red.Queen]

• Distract special forces from a special planet

I haven't looked under the hood yet, but I would bet that a good chunk of the existing code for the special forces alarm posts could even be cannibalized and recycled for that.  Intriguing.