[foolfromhell]

The Iceni isn't alive now either......

Dude. Its 2007. Of course its not alive now.

[jr2]

The Iceni asteroid thingy was stealth, even though it had engines & turrets.  So it was stealth.  Couldn't lock on until you were how close to it?

[AlphaOne]

Iceni isn't a stealth ship now...

The Iceni isn't alive now either......

<.<
>.>
 

Details details that will most definetly be worked out in the future.  

[Hades]

Argo not argu.And 3 ursa is almost the size of a transport.(I know these fighters are not scale, they can't be).

[Ghostavo]

The Iceni asteroid thingy was stealth, even though it had engines & turrets.  So it was stealth.  Couldn't lock on until you were how close to it?

So your plan for a stealth fleet is to bury all ships under 100 feet of asteroid rock?

I can imagine now, FreeSpace 2++ starring Alpha 1 as a fighter crammed inside a hollow rock.

[jr2]

...Try the Pegasus.  OWNED...

[Ghostavo]

...Try the Pegasus.  OWNED...

Because we all know the pegasus is known for it's weaponry and large size. Or are you trying to say it's small frame and unusual design have nothing to do with it's stealth technology?

Do you plan to have 20 meter or so destroyers?

[jr2]

...Alpha 1 as a fighter??

Anyways, large ships can't be 'stealth', but they can be stealthy... unless you have a cloaking device.  Basically, you just have to reduce your EM signature, and deflect scanners off of you so that the return looks like random noise.  Or just jam all craft in the vicinity... you'll know someone's out there jamming you, but you won't know where.

[Ghostavo]

...Alpha 1 as a fighter??

Anyways, large ships can't be 'stealth', but they can be stealthy... unless you have a cloaking device.  Basically, you just have to reduce your EM signature, and deflect scanners off of you so that the return looks like random noise.  Or just jam all craft in the vicinity... you'll know someone's out there jamming you, but you won't know where.

Then that's a whole other story. What you are talking about is ECM, which is a diferent approach. That's like calling all shivan fighters, stealth fighters because at first you couldn't get a lock on them.

[Bob-san]

Hell, get a AWACS ship out there and blind them! Make a nice set of AWACS ships.... have one prevent lock on your warship(s) and then make a line until they're all well out of weapons range, each protecting the closer.

[jr2]

That gets expensive.

[Ghostavo]

And AWACS doesn't prevent the enemy from getting a lock on a target, it just helps detect ships.

[jr2]

FS2 AWACS.  Real AWACS can to a ton of neat stuff.

[Ghostavo]

FS2 AWACS.  Real AWACS can to a ton of neat stuff.

Real AWACS provides a cover by giving ships the option to disable active radars while mantaining an active radar coverage.

In FreeSpace the only time you use it is in the nebula, which the AWACS needs to be real close to detect anything. Outside the nebula I have no idea. Either way, it doesn't disable the enemy's sensors.

[jr2]

Where's DySkO?

[Woolie Wool]

FS2 sensors are complete **** compared to modern-day sensors. A ship with modern detection arrays could detect a manned starship of any size ANYWHERE in the solar system because it would be lit up like the Fourth of July on thermal imaging. The proper temperature scale for use in space is Kelvin, where 0 is absoute zero. Space is around 2-3 Kelvins. A manned starship would be 290 kelvins in the manned sections and 400+ in the powerplant.

[jr2]

Thermal imaging's data relies on infrared light, which travels at the speed of light.  So, it would only be good tactically at closer ranges, longer ranges (like from Earth to Neptune) would be a bit behind.

[Woolie Wool]

Thermal imaging's data relies on infrared light, which travels at the speed of light.  So, it would only be good tactically at closer ranges, longer ranges (like from Earth to Neptune) would be a bit behind.

Unless you make lots of subspace jumps, your ship will be slow enough that it doesn't really matter. It would take days to travel any appreciable difference at sublight. The Boadicea would've had a built-in brilliant flaming homing beacon in the form of its own crew haitats and reactors. You could never, ever hide a manned ship or installation in space. It's impossible. You could MAYBE hide a drone ship if you deactivated all power and left it derelict, but turn anything on and people will see you. The heat difference between the background on Earth and people is very small, 20-30 kelvins at most. In space, it's enough to broadcast your position all the way across the solar system and beyond. To escape detection, you'd need a real cloaking device, and, from the physics we know currently, such devices would not only hide the user from the outside universe, it would hide the universe from the user--you would be blind.

[Ghostavo]

You could somehow try to prevent the heat from escaping, although cooling the reactor would probably be tricky. I-War2 aproaches a bit on this issue.

[jr2]

Rip a page from Star Trek's Impulse engines - dump the thermal exhaust into sub/hyperspace.  Might not completely shield you, but would reduce your signature.