If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.
You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

if_scan_level

Page history last edited by Ryan McMullan 3 years, 1 month ago

The if_scan_level mission scripting condition tests a named space object's scan level (side-based) against a condition.

Attribute	Valid Values	Optional?	Description
name	text	You only need to use one, either name, player_slot, OR use_gm_selection.	Name of object that has a scan level, so AIShips (neutrals and enemies), monsters, anomalies/pickups, and generic meshs.
player_slot	0-7 (corresponds to the 8 player ships allowed in the game)
use_gm_selection			Use this attribute to use the game master's selected object.
side	integer value (sides are 0-31, 0 = no side, 1 = enemy (normally), 2+ = player side (normally))		The side doing the detecting, NOT the side of the named object.
comparator	=, !=, <, >, <=, >=, EQUALS, NOT, GREATER, LESS, GREATER_EQUAL, LESS_EQUAL		The type of comparison to do.
value	signed floating point value (but scan levels are usually 0,1, or 2)		The value to test the side's scan level against.

Some special rules about Scan Levels:

Normally Scan Levels start at 0 and move to 1, then 2 when scanned by the Science officer.
When a player ship or friendly passes within 5k of a hostile (enemy or neutral of another side), Anomaly, or Monster, they are immediately changed to Scan Level 1. This is not true for Generic Meshes.
Anomalies/pickups only have Scan Levels of 0 or 1 (they cannot be scanned further to Scan Level 2).
Generic Meshes and Monsters only have 1 Scan Level before the Science "Scan" button greys out. However, by pressing Enter, they can be scanned again to reach Scan Level 2 (which doesn't change the description, but can be used in the mission script for effects). Players using a touch screen or mouse only won't be able to do this.
Any enemy or neutral ship on the same side as the player starts at Scan Level 0, but immediately goes to Scan Level 2 (without stopping at Scan Level 1) in the first tick.
Stations can only ever be Scan Level 0 (they cannot be scanned).

Here is a summary of what can be scanned, how much, and what is revealed.

Object Type	Scan 0	Scan 1	Scan 2	Tag
Station	Name, Race, Class, Shields, and Description (not editable)	Cannot Scan	Cannot Scan	Can be tagged as a ship
Enemy/Neutral (same side)	Skipped	Skipped	Starts at Scan2 Both first and second scan text (editable)	Can be tagged as a ship
Enemy/Neutral (another side)	Unknown (name visible)	Race Class, Shields, first scan text (editable) (also at 5k range)	Shield Frequencies, Second scan (default Captain intel, editable)	Can be tagged as a ship
Anomaly	Unknown (ANOM)	Upgrade name and description (not editable) (also at 5k range)	Scan Level 2 not possible (Enter-Scan doesn’t advance)	Cannot be targeted
Mesh	Race, Class, Shields (if any), first scan text (editable)	Second scan text shared at Scan Level 1 (editable)	Enter-Scan to advance to Scan Level 2 (no change in description)	Cannot be targeted
Monster	Unknown (ZZ)	Age and standard description (not editable) (also at 5k range)	Enter-Scan to advance to Scan Level 2 (no change in description)	Can be tagged as a Monster, Shows Health

The best practice if you want to multiple levels of scanning on the same object are to implement a series of objects that are created and destroyed.

Start with an Anomaly of type Junk (must have a name, though this is not visible to the players)
When the anomaly reaches Scan Level 1, destroy it and replace it with a Generic Mesh 1 (which displays Level 1 description at Scan Level 0).
When Generic Mesh 1 reaches Scan Level 1 (only possible through scanning, not by approaching close enough), destroy it and replace it with a Generic Mesh 2 with a longer description.

This can be continued until you run out of description space. While you can use the "secret Scan Level 2" of Generic Meshes, players that use touch screens or mice will have their "Scan" button greyed out, making it impossible to reach it.

As listed in the table above, in mission scripting the Tag torpedo can be another method of providing additional detail for certain objects (such as through a Comms message triggered by detecting the ship is tagged).