I've been looking, but I can't find any references to what kind of range sensors on starships have. As a GM, I'm tempted to say that it equals the ships detection score in VU's, but does anyone know exactly how this is handled?

Also, what's to stop players using active augury all the time?

Thaddux said:

Similar discussions of this nature have surfaced and can be found via the search function. Though it seems the certain feature has it flaws, now that I'm messing with it.

Anyhoot, in summary of those posts that I did view, " Active Augury" is akin to a submarine's sonar bing or a bat's screech, in a sense. The bing/screech lets the user know what is out there, but other "things" hidden/out of view in the area will now know the user is nearby (like you hearing the bat around the corner, but the bat can't see you via it's sonar sense). So, in essence, if a raider ship on " Silent Running" is lurking in empty space say, 45 VU's away, and the PC's ship utilizes Active Augury , that raider ship will now know that the PC's are there even if the PC's are also on Silent Running. Same goes for space stations, colony's on a planet that have Augur Arrays, Void Krakens, etc etc. Is this RAW, no, but it could be RAI. What is in the rules though, is that when a ships unknowingly enters a minefield, and attempts to use Active Auger, the mines near the ship will go off.

Basically, if you are using this all the time, and wish to sneak up on someone/thing/place, it's not going to happen. However you wish to use the Detection Rating in your game is up to you, just be aware that some ships might have that +0 or less Detection Rating. As a GM, I left Detection Rating alone. Hope this is helpful.