Hi Folks!

My players have not used scannners / sensors much so far in our campaign (they struggle to think sci-fi vs. D&D), but I expect that will soon change when we start an exploration / discovery adventure.

Question: Should using scanners/sensors and interpreting results rely more on PERCEPTION or COMPUTERS?

A few conflicting pieces from the rules:

1. Edge Core Rulebook, p.227 (after errata): Using the ship's sensors is a Computers Check.

2. Edge Core Rulebook, p.237: Using the ships sensors to "Scan the Enemy" is a Perception Check.

3. Computers is NOT a career skill for Explorers (who you would think would use sensors / scanners ALOT in their trade).

4. Perception IS a career skill for Explorers.

Neither the Perception nor the Computers skills write-up are very definitive either.

Personally I think it SHOULD be Perception. I don't feel its narratively intended that the slicer would be the guy / gal who's looking at readouts and interpreting what they mean. Whereas someone like an Explorer (who almost surely has Knowledge skills) would be able to use Perception to interpret raw results of a scan and then use Knowledge skills.

Thoughts? Beyond: "well, it's your game..." I KNOW that :-) Thanks in advance...

- GM Khyrith

The answer is: Yes.

It's both, or either. This is one of those things that allows the gm to give different skill options for the same thing so a party won't be hobbled if they don't have the right composition, or if the gm wants to employ different narrative effects.

So, you can either run the scanner data through the the interpretive algorithms, or you can look at the raw data and make a guess on your own. Both are right.

By extension the gm can play with it. Perhaps the opposition is using a sensor mask that throws out signals that trick the computers. So a computers check would be 4 purple, but a perception check only 2 purple with 2 black, since there's a chance your eyeballs will see the area being masked is just a repeat of the next acre over.

It's Computers when it's difficult using the sensors to to do something in and of itself, as in jam an enemies weapons. Use Perception when the sensors easily acquire the information and it's about interpreting the information, not obtaining it.

There really is no single correct answer to your question. Many times the skill used can be informed by the current narrative, the setting. I try to keep things simple:

If the character might simply notice something, a ship entering sensor range, I call for a Perception check, and I'll let the player add a Boost because the sensors can "see" better than the character and (assumedly) are always paying attention. Same goes for things like the General Purpose Scanner. If the character wants to identify the type/size of ship, or something specific about it, like its name or weapons load out, I call for a Perception check, but without the Boost because the computer is needed to search for this specific information. If the PCs want to know where its headed/come from, or how soon it will arrive, then I call for a Computers check...or a slightly more difficult Piloting (Space) if a computer isn't readily to hand.

I don't often bother considering whether the skill used is career or not, for any check) as doing so makes my role as GM more...fiddly...however I will let the player(s) suggest using a different skill if they can narratively justify it.

I wouldn't necessarily consider Perception as a skill used to interpret raw data, rather I'd be more inclined to say its better application would be noticing something anomalous or interesting within the raw data, then perhaps Knowledge skills to determine the specificas of the interesting bit.

In AoR it's a Perception check, so that seems to be the direction they decided to go for the rest of the game line, I would stick with that. If all the person is doing it watching a screen and interpreting the results, that would have nothing to do with Computers.

That said, I often allow the players to swap skills if they can make a case for it. I'd up the difficulty though, or at least add setback for doing things differently. Eg: noticing a ship suddenly pop into sensor range might be Vigilance instead of Perception.

Alternatively a GM could say interpreting a given piece of sensor data looking for something specific to a given skill set ok. For example Xenology looking for specific life form or Astrogation in regards to some kind of stellar phenomena. Perception could be reserved to looking for the hidden clue or mysterious unknown pattern in the information. This could allow multiple PCs to 'look' at the same data and come away with different information.

6 hours ago, whafrog said:

In AoR it's a Perception check, so that seems to be the direction they decided to go for the rest of the game line, I would stick with that. If all the person is doing it watching a screen and interpreting the results, that would have nothing to do with Computers.

If you are talking about the Scan check*, it has always been a hard Perception check. However, under the Sensors description in all three core books, Computers is used for all "active scans" which are to one facing and +1 range. How I've lately interpreted this is passive uses Perception (looking at a screen and interpreting what you see) while active uses Computer (using the radar to send out pings). I've also thrown in Vigilance in place of Perception for passive sensors only when something pops up out there but no one has said they are actively using sensors in active or passive. Idea is the passive sensors screen would always be receiving signals, but only a stalwart crew would always be looking at it.

*This isn't for detecting if the enemy is there (you already know it), but trying to find out more details. Just detecting the enemy would be something easier in my opinion. I've actually gone with the idea of extra successes give more details. This way, it isn't one check to find the object, then making your player roll again the hard check to get the details. I would rather handle that in one roll - Perception if using the weaker passive sensors, Computer if using the stronger active sensors which have a penalty of letting the enemy know where you are.

In situations like this, in the past I have asked the players to propose a skill that they want to use and then narrate the explanation of how they’re using that skill to help them. Give me a good enough narrative/explanation, and I’ll allow just about anything.

The first choices would be Computers skill to acquire the data, or Perception skill to look through the data you’re given, but I have had more than a few situations where players have made good cases for other skills.

I'd allow either in most situations.

One option, if you were feeling like really mixing things up, would be to have a Computers check but using Cunning instead of Intellect. Not sure that's really better in this situation, but it's definitely a viable option.

I tend to rule computers for starship/vehicle scanners and perception for personal scanners.