I've completed an expansion to the sensor and comms rules given in RAW due to discussion at this forum. It won't be something everyone will enjoy, but it adds (I think) much needed clarifications.

RAW comms and sensors rules were sparse and were not consistent throughout supplements especially once you throw new gear in the mix. The advanced comms systems found upon even gargantuan vehicles (e.g. Star Destroyers) were shorter ranged then our modern equivalents. Man-portable comms in RAW had ranges spanning subsectors while a Star Destroyer couldn't contact the next planet over.

Don't let the size of it scare you. The basic rules are only a part of the document which also includes a review of gear, explanations, and many examples. If you are worried about making what was once a simple comms check into a complex new rule, don't. Default sensors and comms checks start at Simple difficulty and thus no roll is required unless other factors are influencing the roll or the player wants to roll for some added potential benefit. Much of the details are suggestions on how to interpret and spend dice results. House rules are few and primarily concerned with simplifying the differences in all of the varied gear and attachments found throughout supplements.

BradKnowles scoured over it for me and his assistance made it much better. Even so, I'm still open for suggestions.

It's in my signature and here: Signals Intel

I just always took the lack of any Talents that modified sensors or comms to mean the devs wanted it handled narratively. I kind of agree with that for comms, but I do think sensors and what might/could be done with them was shortchanged in not having some Talents to modify checks you could do with them. Seems like an EW officer spec would have been a good idea.

Seems like an EW officer spec would have been a good idea.

In this game, that's just a role for a Slicer to play while taking part in starship combat.

Looks solid. I very much like it and will petition for its inclusion in my current campaigns.

However, I'd like to see a sidebar on how players can interact with the Holonet -- hacking, piggypacking, searching, intercepting, etc. One would think that a central, hardened relay network like that might have some oddities of its own that would be unique.

I saw the 25ly transciever relay, but I'd also like to see a satellite relay, if possible. Something that can handle sector communications.

Additionally, the galaxy itself (Shield of Lies, p39) is 120,000 ly across, so that might be something worthwhile to add somewhere in the overview section of the document. That'll allow for a good scale to be built using the maps we currently have.

Seems like an EW officer spec would have been a good idea.

In this game, that's just a role for a Slicer to play while taking part in starship combat.

Yes a slicer can do it, but they don't have any Talents that buff sensors, which is what I'm really more interested in. They also don't really have much in regards to using computers offensively other than Skilled Slicer. An Outlaw Tech can be the ship's engineer, but a Mechanic does it better.

An EW officer could have Talents that extend the range of sensors, buff the information received, as well as, add information the typical user can't glean from a scan. There could be one that gives some sort of initiative bonus in space combat because of their superior skills using sensors in combat. The spec could have all manner of bonuses and ways to buff the various EW options on p. 237 EoE.

Looks solid. I very much like it and will petition for its inclusion in my current campaigns.

Thank you.

However, I'd like to see a sidebar on how players can interact with the Holonet -- hacking, piggypacking, searching, intercepting, etc. One would think that a central, hardened relay network like that might have some oddities of its own that would be unique.

It's not in one place, but look at the Comms section. First, there is Interception. The Holonet would have at least a hard difficulty to intercept common to all hypertransceivers. A special Imperial relay could conceivably have a higher difficulty or a scrambler attached adding a couple setback. Then, since it's the Holonet, and not just a common, public transceiver relay, my document suggests there is security watching it so interception attempts are upgraded with any Despair indicating the attempt and its location was noticed. So just to intercept the Holonet message it's going to be at least DDC with a 1 in 12 chance (edit: more so, 3 threats also cause this) of the Empire noticing and knowing where you are at. That's just the intercept attempt.

If you grabbed the message successfully, if it's of any importance at all it would need to be decoded. This can range anywhere from Easy (D) to Formidable (DDDDD). If it was sent by some sort of encryption device, the check is upgraded. So, if it's the Death Star plans you just intercepted expect DDDDC to open it up.

Most of above is grabbed from RAW gear or attachments with a little bit of tweaking.

Sending a message to a friend by "piggybacking" as you suggested I don't have covered. I will try to add something when I get a chance. A check perhaps by the sender to piggyback, upgraded of course due to Holonet monitoring. Despair reveals the source and destination of the message. Failure means it was rejected by the network's server. Receiver should probably use the default Simple (no roll) for receiving a message intended for them, or should it also require a second attempt to intercept it?

Thanks for the suggestion.

I saw the 25ly transciever relay, but I'd also like to see a satellite relay, if possible. Something that can handle sector communications.

I don't have my book, but the portable transceiver relay is not mine. It's from Far Horizons. I added a comlink version. I describe larger relays elsewhere for both transceivers and comlinks that have longer ranges then the portable one. I didn't list them as gear since they would typically be something a government would put in place. If you had a player wanting to purchase a larger transceiver relay (big tower on the ground or orbital satellite) I would make it a Restricted item, give it Long range, and note that the Medium range version is already 75,000 credits.

Additionally, the galaxy itself (Shield of Lies, p39) is 120,000 ly across, so that might be something worthwhile to add somewhere in the overview section of the document. That'll allow for a good scale to be built using the maps we currently have.

I'm not sure I follow. Do you mean mentioning this distance to get an idea of how many holonet relays may be out there to offer coverage to the Galaxy? Or for comparison of the ranges of the transceivers? When describing system scale, Extreme range does mention "1000's" of LY's for a sector.

Looks really good, well done.

Thank you so much for this; I love all the smaller passion projects people create and share on these boards, and this is one of the best. One PC of mine in particular is gonna dive deep into this.

Updated with some suggestions of Braendig. Primary change was addition of methods for "Piggybacking" of signals to cloak their transmission (in Comms sections). This also changed the Holonet Pirate Array to make it have bonus for Piggybacking which is probably more as intended with RAW.

So, one thing to consider with regards to piggybacking is that you add the possibility that the owner/sender/recipient of the original message might detect that there is now something wrong with their signal that was piggybacked, and that could lead to all sorts of problems.

In our modern world, many discoveries of huge proportions start out by somebody noticing a tiny little thing that seems a little weird, and then they start pulling on that thread.

So, one thing to consider with regards to piggybacking is that you add the possibility that the owner/sender/recipient of the original message might detect that there is now something wrong with their signal that was piggybacked, and that could lead to all sorts of problems.

In our modern world, many discoveries of huge proportions start out by somebody noticing a tiny little thing that seems a little weird, and then they start pulling on that thread.

That would be a good use for Threat/Despair if you do piggyback.

So, one thing to consider with regards to piggybacking is that you add the possibility that the owner/sender/recipient of the original message might detect that there is now something wrong with their signal that was piggybacked, and that could lead to all sorts of problems.

In our modern world, many discoveries of huge proportions start out by somebody noticing a tiny little thing that seems a little weird, and then they start pulling on that thread.

That would be a good use for Threat/Despair if you do piggyback.

Without looking, I believe I had the Threat/Despair possibly reveal the message to some sort of counter signals-intel that may be monitoring the relay network (Holonet). So, possibly add the original recipient/sender OR counter signals-intel is alerted? Might be more interesting to find out that a Hutt cartel was alerted to the hijacking of a very important message instead of the Empire.

Thank you so much for this; I love all the smaller passion projects people create and share on these boards, and this is one of the best. One PC of mine in particular is gonna dive deep into this.

Just a quick follow-up from my GMing session this morning:

- So really, it was ME who spent all his time playing with the new rules. (Party was split and one half of the crew was hunting for the other half over a jungle.)

- It was pretty helpful to have things all in one place, but I ended up hoping for more clear delineations on appropriate difficulties for things.

- Sensor range really, really matters.

- The "How to Spend Advantage/Threat' chart was super helpful; used it more than once.

Overall: HUGE thank you for this creation.

Without looking, I believe I had the Threat/Despair possibly reveal the message to some sort of counter signals-intel that may be monitoring the relay network (Holonet). So, possibly add the original recipient/sender OR counter signals-intel is alerted?

Sounds good. I think I’d be inclined to improve the chances of counter signals-intel detecting the piggybacking, if any piggy-backing is done. I can see that as being a boost to the counter signals-intell roll, or maybe upgrading it. But an improvement of some sort.

Might be more interesting to find out that a Hutt cartel was alerted to the hijacking of a very important message instead of the Empire.

Yup. Could be. Maybe a Hutt cartel has their own counter signals-intel team looking for anomalous activity on the holonet, in addition to the Empire. And maybe Black Sun, too. I mean, criminal organizations like to keep an eye on their competitors, as much or more than the “authorities” do, right?

Then the question becomes, who is running counter-counter signals intel? If your counter signals-intel team detects something strange, what do you do with that information? How can you be sure that it’s not a ruse that is designed to see just how good your counter signals-intel is? How can you be sure they’re not watching the communications of your counter signals-intel operation, to see what else that might lead them to?

Once you start down this rabbit hole, the term “slippery slope” is not sufficient to begin to describe how deep the paranoia can go.

I would suggest on the most recent version, on p. 10-11, to fix the Holonet pirate array alignment. The header for the item is on p. 10, while the block is on p. 11. Also on p. 11, the example box cuts off abruptly. P. 19, under the Sensor Jammer, line 3 has an editing error: "The A Sensor Jammer..."

I also noticed that (some or all of) the new or adapted vehicle attachments (such as survey array and stygium cloak) do not have rarities.

I would suggest on the most recent version, on p. 10-11, to fix the Holonet pirate array alignment. The header for the item is on p. 10, while the block is on p. 11. Also on p. 11, the example box cuts off abruptly. P. 19, under the Sensor Jammer, line 3 has an editing error: "The A Sensor Jammer..."

I also noticed that (some or all of) the new or adapted vehicle attachments (such as survey array and stygium cloak) do not have rarities.

Changing graphics moved stuff around. Didn't notice. Thanks. Fixed.

For the attachment rarities, I was copying the format in RAW. But, the Rarities aren't in the text descriptions in RAW, just a nearby table for some reason. Fixed.

Thank you!

Small updates. Found an error in the description of comm jammer difficulties. I also switched to a different method of making the dice symbols. They are aligned and thus look better, but may not print as well? I can switch back to the other version if desired by more.

Then the question becomes, who is running counter-counter signals intel? If your counter signals-intel team detects something strange, what do you do with that information? How can you be sure that it’s not a ruse that is designed to see just how good your counter signals-intel is? How can you be sure they’re not watching the communications of your counter signals-intel operation, to see what else that might lead them to?

Once you start down this rabbit hole, the term “slippery slope” is not sufficient to begin to describe how deep the paranoia can go.

One would think there would be integrated droid brains devoted to protecting secure communications. How can you be sure the droid isn't altering a bit here and there, undetected, to convey a different message on the gozoutta than what came in on the gozinta?

One would think there would be integrated droid brains devoted to protecting secure communications.

Yup. Lots of ‘em.

How can you be sure the droid isn't altering a bit here and there, undetected, to convey a different message on the gozoutta than what came in on the gozinta?

So, you gotta have a droid brain watching the watcher. And then another droid brain watching that one. And another.

And it’s droid brains all the way down.

One would think there would be integrated droid brains devoted to protecting secure communications.

Yup. Lots of ‘em.

How can you be sure the droid isn't altering a bit here and there, undetected, to convey a different message on the gozoutta than what came in on the gozinta?

So, you gotta have a droid brain watching the watcher. And then another droid brain watching that one. And another.

And it’s droid brains all the way down.

That makes my droid brain hurt

The Com jammer (p. 9) reads:

Quote

Adds difficulty to any comms interception within range based on the comm's range: [P] for a Close range comm through [PPPPP] for an Extreme range com. This difficulty is added at Close range. Reduce by 1 for each range beyond Close.

So I can't actually make heads or tails of this. Does this mean that intercepting the transmission is formidable at close range, decreasing once for every range band further away from the jammer, or the other way around?

Yes that really needs an example, but I was trying to save on page count. Is this less confusing:

Must be attached to a comm device. The com jammer adds difficulty to any comms interception within range from d for a Close range comm with com jammer attached through ddddd for an Extreme range comm with com jammer attached. This base difficulty is added to the interception at Close range. Reduce by 1 for each range beyond Close up to the comm's range. Only jams like signals (comlink or transceiver).

Here's the example which is missing:

A Com Jammer is attached to a Medium ranged comm and turned on. Based on the comm's range, it gives a base ddd difficulty to any comms interception within Close range, dd within Short range, and d for Medium range. It can't affect any comms interceptions beyond the com jammer's range.