How good are starship sensors? What can they scan for? I know in the movie they scan the escape pod and say no lifeforms, but there really doesn't seem to be a lot of info on how detailed sensors can get.

I always felt like star wars sensors were not as detailed as star trek sensors. The reason I ask is a common thing my group does anytime is scan stations, ships, etc which is starting to be annoying and has negatively effected adventures.

Thoughts or references?

I'm interested in this too. I recently had the same question, and used these 2 Wookieepedia articles to guide my choices:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sensor

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Starship_sensor_array

Those articles sort of reinforced for me that rolling Computers and simply interpreting the dice was the best way to decide how much info PC's were able to obtain.

What kind of trouble are you guys having? The more we know, the better we can help.

But up front, yes grim is absolutely right that they need to roll for it.

Also, don't forget sensor ranges. Its OK to fudge basic detection a little, but if you really want to know what you are looking at, you gotta get in range.

This isn't the federation, and youre not dealing with a bunch or ferengi on open mic night. This is the edge of the empire, a place full of smugglers, mercs, pirates, imperial special ops, paramilitary rebel groups, terrorists, spice runners, and plenty of other beings smarter, nastier, and with more to lose. If you don't know how to avoid a simple sensor sweep you don't last long on the edge. You don't need a cloaking device to stay hidden, you just gotta know what you are doing. More on this once I know what your situation is...

I just want to know how detailed the sensor are. For example they scan a freighter for life signs can they know how many, races, specific location of each life sign.

This is a setting in which the fighter pilots assaulting the death star used their eyes to find TIE fighters.

This is a setting in which the fighter pilots assaulting the death star used their eyes to find TIE fighters.

That doesnt mean anything, all dogfighters use visual cue's. They have sensors, doesnt help that they're flying in a GIANT METAL DITCH not to mention the fact I'm sure Empire had some form of counter measures/jammer/scramblers/ecm.

I've always treated Starwars sensors as useful but not _exact_.

Use descriptions like:

Several small lifeforms

Large powersource

metallic objects

deadly radiation levels

thin but breathable atmosphere

I still to turn to older rpg books for some of this stuff. Like the WEG rules, for example. Only because my players are used to having concrete answers to things that Edge just isn't giving just yet.

I must admit that I miss the WEG sensors... I know having four different types is ... cumbersome 3 or 4, but the current system just seems odd, even if it makes sense...

Actually Jeg, WEG is still the place to go for this one as it actually explained this (man I feel freakin old). Though I can see where the confusion is coming from. Star Trek shows it's sensors doing some pretty crazy stuff, but people tend to forget that we're (usually) talking about the Enterprise; a capital ship crewed by some of starfleet's best and purpose built to find life and civilizations.

To summarize:

• Sensors have a range
• Sensors are a "best guess" system when looking beyond the simple, easy to collect, hard data (Hard data: What are the physical exterior dimensions of that ship? Best guess: Who's on board and where are they sitting?).
• Computers is the typically associated skill, though others can apply if the GM agrees
• Difficulty is affected dramatically by environment, the situation, the specificity of the thing being scanned for, and any steps that have been taken to thwart or avoid scanning.

Narratively:

Ok, so when you use your ships sensors to "scan another vessel for life" you aren't turning on the Jawa-o-meter, the Bith-o-meter, the Human-o-meter ect and seeing what comes back. What you're doing is analyzing everything you can about the ship and (usually with the help of a computer system) making some educated guesses. So for example you'd scan that ship, and your sensors would detect two warm spots around 37C, each with a mass around 77 kilos, see the ship's atmo is set to have a slightly higher then average humidity and has a little more sulfur dioxide in it then normal and the gravity system set for .97Gs. On your screen you'd see all this and in big friendly letters it would say "Two Sullustans*" with the * meaning: I think. Now... if there's a third Sulllustan who's wearing a heavy protective suit and elbow deep in the main reactor your sensors might mistake him for a droid, or part of the ship, or an anomaly... Or if you've got a ship that's got readings that say 20 warm spots around 34C, high humidity. it'll say "20 Herglics*" but it won't be until you get over there that you'll see it's actually a cargo of 20 live Nerfs on a ship with a leaky septic system...

Mechanically:

First off remember Ranges. Sensor range is listed, with scan range being one band farther (in only one arc). Next you gotta roll, typically Computers, but perception, mechanics, education, xenology, and maybe another skill or two could be used depending on what exactly is going on. Third: countermeasures. Cloaking devices aren't common in Star Wars, but the thing is, they don't have to be common because there's literally millions of other ways to defeat a scanner. Insulated secret compartments, decoys, sensor jammers, sensor masks, even just placing whatever you're trying to hide right next to the primary power feed can throw off sensor reading just enough to make them fail, mechanically translating to increasing or upgrading the sensor difficulty to get accurate scanner results. Finally environment: Yoda hid on Dagobah, and lived at the tech level of a medieval peasant because, on a planet covered in swamps, finding one shriveled green muppet living in a hovel would be like trying to find one specific blade of grass on a football field. Again, this can impact the difficulty dramatically, taking what would seem like an average roll and turning it into Formidable+ in no time.

EDIT: Amended and formatted summary. Skill corrected to match errata.

Didn't the newest FAQ/Errata clarify that sensor readings are covered by Computers rather than Perception?

Dang it. Knew I'd forget something.

I just want to know how detailed the sensor are. For example they scan a freighter for life signs can they know how many, races, specific location of each life sign.

Quote from WEG d6 Star Wars:

Sensors: Starships have a wide array of sensors to detect other ships, planets and any potential hazards; the sensor operator uses his sensors skill. Sensors difficulty numbers are based on the range to the target, and modified by any objects or situations which affect the sensors' readings. For example, it's much easier to detect a ship in open space than to find a ship hiding in an asteroid belt.

Starship sensors have four possible modes: passive, scan, search and focus. Sensors in passive mode are merely receiving information about the immediate vicinity of the ship. Sensors in scan mode are sending out pulses in all directions at once to gather information about the environment.

Sensors in search mode are searching for information in one specific fire arc (front, left, right or back). Search mode ranges are greater than scan mode ranges and die code bonuses are higher, but the sensors get no information about the three fire arcs not being scanned.

Sensors in focus mode are focusing upon a very small portion of a specific area. The number is the

radius (in units) of the focus area. The maximum focus range is the search mode's maximum range. (Sensors in focus mode gather lots of information about a very small area, but they get no information about the areas not being scanned.)

Countermeasures: Any ship can use its sensors to jam, flooding an area with "static." While the static will almost certainly be detected by any nearby vessels — they'll know that a ship is causing the jamming — they'll have a tough time determining if the jamming is being caused by a freighter ... or a Star Destroyer ... or a whole fleet of Star Destroyers.

I really like Ghostofmans interpretation with body temp, atmospherics, etc. I'm not sure of the scanner being able to indicate which sentient lifeforem is aboard, but the Xeniology skill roll may make that possible. Just sayin'

It's from one of the old WEG supplements... since Archon quote the old rule book it's been driving me nuts trying to remember exactly which book I read that from, but I am sure it's from one of them (the WEG library is huge)