Material detection modifiers?

[Blech]

So I have been away for a while now. The last time i played FtD, materials had different detection stats. Alloy, for example, had a smaller radar signature than metal. I can't really see those stats anymore. Have that aspect been simplified away or do i simply not know where to look for the information?

[Tuesdak]

those stats are just hidden the only way to tell is with the middle mouse detection menu

[BlackTemplar]

Be a sub. Bury it all in rubber. Use passive for everything. Keep a fuel engine below 40% max usage with a but ton of Radiators. Use spinblocks and hydrofoils to move about and your pretty much invisible to detection systems 1k meters + from targets. Set brain to Circle at 2400 meters. Be faster than 20 meters per second. Install a few Torp and Missile Counters for if you get detected and be almost fully damage immune.
No torps. No Vertical launch Missiles. Broadside PAC and an upward PAC. Max focus. Max charge. AS much Overclock as you can get. Limit fire arc to just 5 degree for best possible ACC. Get damage into the 100k range. Solo any vessel the game has. Piercing for salvage. Explosive for just pure brutal damage.
To salvage id suggest a launch craft thats fast and agile. (Micro sub) built for best stealth.
Dont waste time with signal jamming. Keep it AI free to minimize detection while you race to claim your prize.
My best micro sub. full rubber build. battery and electric engine. no electronics at all. no weapons. Power is shared to keep battery charged. Large steam screw to get around 30 meters per second. spin block thrusters via complex control.
Jump right outta the water on top of the target ship. Find brain. Have new ship.

With a moonpool made of rubber and a micro sub made of rubber you can have a simple release ACB to jump into micro sub with no worry about damaging either vessel. Even at full speed with tight turns.

[Rufus Shinra]

From least detectable to most detectable: rubber/alloy/metal/HA. Parts with round-ish elements are more detectable, subobjects contribute to a fraction of their normal detection signature, no matter where they are placed.

Since last year, full stealth (AKA reamining undetected) is virtually impossible outside incredibly small designs, with the low detectability making the enemy sensors have less data points on your craft (basically, anyone who knows the detection system in the game knows that the distance given in the middle-mouse detection meny isn't the maximum detection range but the one for reliable detection, higher distances meaning a lower proportion of the measurements working on you, as any test will do, if you spawn a ship you know that has a 1000 metres signal strength 1500 metres from your sensor).

Of course, all serious stealth builders also know by now that propulsion is being detected by passive sonar since last year's updates, the faster you go, the easier you get detected (therefore, noone goes for fast submarines while hoping to keep them discreet). Then you have to consider the wireless issue for the AI, the detection distance by an enemy snooper depending on the total distance crossed by signals, meaning you either go full wired with an AI (and are thus undetectable by a snooper) or you put your emitter right next to the subobject (like a pericope) to minimize the wireless signal strength.

[BlackTemplar]

Oh wow.. I havent used the before mentioned sub in a long time. Does this game have Cavitation detection??? If so with the Propulsion systems buried in the hull. wouldent the detection be blocked as long as your deeper than the detection system looking for you?

If theres Cav detection having the Spinblock/Thruster 4 meters in pushing force out of a single block surrounded in rubber should still work. Unless the Cav detection is the entire thrust area from object to thrust area end.

In sensor view ive seen Temp and Radar detection reduced by having objects between me and emission points.
But at same time this was months ago when i played around with ideas of stealth subs. My info above is dated if they changed rules of detection.

[Eudaimonia]

Propellers and fuel engines both increase the passive sonar detection range. Even if the sub is coated in rubber, any turrets also need to be due to the hull not blocking the detection from them. But most importantly for stealth is to not use missiles/torpedoes, as the launches have very high detection signatures which will reveal your location.

[Rufus Shinra]

Originally posted by Eudaimonia:

Propellers and fuel engines both increase the passive sonar detection range. Even if the sub is coated in rubber, any turrets also need to be due to the hull not blocking the detection from them. But most importantly for stealth is to not use missiles/torpedoes, as the launches have very high detection signatures which will reveal your location.

Huh, thanks for the last point, I wasn't aware of it. But, yep, rubberizing the subsystems is necessary to further reduce the total signature, and covering engines/propellers won't change their passive signature.

[Blech]

Is the engine / propeller signature based on how much power is taken up by them? For example, will a propellar running at 10% have less detection range than a propeller running at 100% ?

[Eudaimonia]

For the propellers i believe it's based on the amount of thrust they give, so running them at a higher efficiency won't help. But for the engines, i don't know how it works.

But keep in mind, you don't need a propeller or a fuel engine. Steam jets is the high power low efficiency option, while ion thrusters are the other way around, and dediblades depends on how you build them. If it's a tiny thing that barely needs power then an RTG could work, though a better option would be steam engines regardless of detection as their stats are vastly superior to fuel. None of these options are detectable, so you can use them without worrying about ruining your stealth.

[Blech]

Originally posted by Eudaimonia:

For the propellers i believe it's based on the amount of thrust they give, so running them at a higher efficiency won't help. But for the engines, i don't know how it works.

But keep in mind, you don't need a propeller or a fuel engine. Steam jets is the high power low efficiency option, while ion thrusters are the other way around, and dediblades depends on how you build them. If it's a tiny thing that barely needs power then an RTG could work, though a better option would be steam engines regardless of detection as their stats are vastly superior to fuel. None of these options are detectable, so you can use them without worrying about ruining your stealth.

Ok i got it half-right by accident then :D I have been using engines, but I have always used dediblades for propulsion. I just like the blade-stack-of-doom look. And i like how their power to thrust ratio are just plain better than anything else.