According to the core rulebook, scanner goggles "allow the user to see normally in dark conditions". This can be interpreted to mean that they remove all setback dice imposed by darkness. They cost 150 credits.

Then you have the Multi-optic sight weapon attachment, which removes two setback dice from darkness, smoke, fog and other sight-obscuring conditions. It costs 2,000 credits.

Finally there's the Enhanced optics suite attachment for armours. It does pretty much the same as the multi-optic sight above and cost 1,750 credits.

Is it just me, or does the scanner goggles appear to be the far superior option here? Granted they don't remove setback dice from smoke or fog, only darkness, but still they appear to completely neutralize any darkness modifiers. And at a fraction of the price. Any thought?

According to the core rulebook, scanner goggles "allow the user to see normally in dark conditions". This can be interpreted to mean that they remove all setback dice imposed by darkness. They cost 150 credits.

Then you have the Multi-optic sight weapon attachment, which removes two setback dice from darkness, smoke, fog and other sight-obscuring conditions. It costs 2,000 credits.

Finally there's the Enhanced optics suite attachment for armours. It does pretty much the same as the multi-optic sight above and cost 1,750 credits.

Is it just me, or does the scanner goggles appear to be the far superior option here? Granted they don't remove setback dice from smoke or fog, only darkness, but still they appear to completely neutralize any darkness modifiers. And at a fraction of the price. Any thought?

So does a flash light. How much do they cost?

Edit - This is a serious reply, not sarcasm. I am afb at the moment.

Glow rod also takes up one of your hands, and I would limit to short and possibly medium range. If you've ever used a flashlight in complete darkness, its not that great you lose the majority of your peripheral vision, compared to seeing in nightvision or infared with goggles.

I came to this same conclusion as OP and was thinking how to fix this to make more sense.

Maybe as far as combat checks you can only benefit from them at engaged & short range. Anything that you'd normally iron sights or scope in for CANNOT benefit.

You could easily duct tape a flash light to a weapon, helmet or have one built in. The range limitation makes sense, but not the peripheral vision. You have next to no peripheral vision while wearing a pair of goggles or most helmets.

You could reduce there benefit to removing only one setback die in conditions of darkness.

According to the core rulebook, scanner goggles "allow the user to see normally in dark conditions". This can be interpreted to mean that they remove all setback dice imposed by darkness. They cost 150 credits.

Then you have the Multi-optic sight weapon attachment, which removes two setback dice from darkness, smoke, fog and other sight-obscuring conditions. It costs 2,000 credits.

Finally there's the Enhanced optics suite attachment for armours. It does pretty much the same as the multi-optic sight above and cost 1,750 credits.

Is it just me, or does the scanner goggles appear to be the far superior option here? Granted they don't remove setback dice from smoke or fog, only darkness, but still they appear to completely neutralize any darkness modifiers. And at a fraction of the price. Any thought?

If I'm breaking into a corporate HQ, the goggles are more cost effective, if I'm assaulting an imperial HQ the other options will probably be of greater value.

One is a single purpose gadget, the others are flexible combat tools.

Think of it as a reimbursement for all the times ze goggles, zhey do norhing!

You could reduce there benefit to removing only one setback die in conditions of darkness.

Yes, this is sort of what I've been thinking about.

If I'm breaking into a corporate HQ, the goggles are more cost effective, if I'm assaulting an imperial HQ the other options will probably be of greater value.

One is a single purpose gadget, the others are flexible combat tools.

Flexible combat tools rendered completely superfluous by the single purpose gadget...

Flexible combat tools rendered completely superfluous by the single purpose gadget...

Only if you choose to not play up smoke/fog/other adverse visual conditions besides darkness.

Flexible combat tools rendered completely superfluous by the single purpose gadget...

Only in darkness, if the enemy pops a Luma flare and smoke your gadget is now worthless. If they turn on the lights, your gadget is worthless. If the attack is moved from midnight to dawn your gadget is worthless. If it is daylight to begin with your gadget is worthless. If its foggy, your gadget is worthless.

The goggles are great in darkness and dead weight the rest of the time. Multioptics aren't always as good in darkness (though probably are most of the time) but they keep working in every situation except a nice clear sunny day... which won't stay such for long if you are in any kind of real combat scenario.

They are basically night-vision goggles. I'm actually not sure, but I'm fairly certain that Night Vision goggles will cost you less in RL then the Thermo-goggles that would allow you to effectively fight in smoke.

I think the best way to do it is allow it to remove all setback dice for fighting in darkness. Remember, night vision requires SOME light (however low) in order to be effective, so if they are trapped in a black box with no light streaming it, the goggles shouldn't work. Additionally, I'd probably rule that if someone suddenly cast light (ie, flashbang, flare, turning on the lights) the characters suffer a setback die for their next turn immediately as the flash burns their eyes and they rip those off their head (or switch vision modes).

Also, I agree completely with Ghostofman's assessment. They can be rendered useless pretty easily.

The way we work Scanner Goggles is they have an on/off switch. I was so happy when I was finally able to afford a pair.

Then our GM had the audacity to make most of our missions during the day with the baddies using smoke. Oh well, they keep the dirt out of my eyes.

Scanner goggles are really good for the one circumstance they work in, darkness.

There's plenty of other forms of concealment that screw with sight where those scanner goggles would be useless, such as heavy fog, thick smoke, or intensely bright light, such as a flare or flash bulb suddenly going off. There was an episode in the 4th season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where the Initiative guys had their fancy night-vision goggles used against them by a simple road flare, giving Buffy the element of surprise that (combined with her Slayer powers) allowed her to thrash the Initiative troops so badly they thought they'd been attacked by a group of linebackers. I'd say that sort of thing would be worth at least a couple of setback dice as the wearer's eyes are overloaded. I've heard stories (don't know if they're true or not) about people wearing night-vision goggles suffering varying degrees of eye damage due to being exposed to sudden bursts of bright light; if nothing else, they were so badly disorientated as to be of no use in a combat situation for at least a few minutes due to not being able to see clearly, if at all.

The other thing to bear in mind with the multi-optic scope and the enhanced optics package is that both of those can be upgraded via modification, with the sight providing two free ranks of Perception and the optics package providing a free rank of Vigilance. And seeing as how a modification only costs a hundred credits each, getting those bonus skill ranks won't be that difficult, so long as you have a character with a decent Mechanics dice pool (at least two Proficiency and on Ability die in the pool).

Oh, I LOVE a good Buffy reference! That is all, carry on.

I'm actually amazed that there is no basic weapon light attachment listed in EotE. A powerful light can illuminate a target 80 to 100 yards away without a scope and do it for far less than the 2,000 credits required for the multi-optic attachment. There would be some tradeoffs, of course, any benefit given to the party would at the very least be applied to enemies targeting the person using the weapon light.

I can imagine a scenario playing out like this:

A heavy gunner activates the light on his rifle to illuminate a target at the end of a tunnel (medium to long range). The rest of the PCs get to remove a setback die while attacking that illuminated target. This is offset by any organic enemies getting to remove their own setback die to hit the gunner with the light.

Of course, you could use the Brace talent to remove the setback die for just the gunner, but an attachment would give more than one character the benefit of light.

I realize this is a post from 2 and a half years ago, but I would like to say, even the night optic devices I used in 2007, would nearly instantaneously adapt to the given lighting conditions. Your eyes wouldn't burn out or anything like that, but that flare would be the only thing you are now able to see. Everything else becomes a dark green and you can't make out anything. You would have to remove them or, the one I prefer, use a monocle NOD so one eye can still see clearly and you get the added bonus of better peripheral vision.

I will also do my part to necro this thread! There is an attachment in Keeping the Peace that is basically a flashlight for your weapon.

According to the core rulebook, scanner goggles "allow the user to see normally in dark conditions". This can be interpreted to mean that they remove all setback dice imposed by darkness. They cost 150 credits.

Then you have the Multi-optic sight weapon attachment, which removes two setback dice from darkness, smoke, fog and other sight-obscuring conditions. It costs 2,000 credits.

Finally there's the Enhanced optics suite attachment for armours. It does pretty much the same as the multi-optic sight above and cost 1,750 credits.

Is it just me, or does the scanner goggles appear to be the far superior option here? Granted they don't remove setback dice from smoke or fog, only darkness, but still they appear to completely neutralize any darkness modifiers. And at a fraction of the price. Any thought?

Scanner goggles do not remove any setback dice based on particles in the air, just darkness. Sounds a lot more limited if you ask me. And I doubt that you get more than 2 setback dice based on darkness usually anyway. Furthermore that multi-optic sight weapon attachment lets you look around corners and other fancy stuff and can be modded to add 2 ranks of perception iirc ;-)

Lastly, getting out and getting on your scanner goggles would be 2 maneuvers, while drawing your weapon is one incidental with quick draw. But yeah, those optics are still quite overpriced imho. They should at least give you the optical scope as well for that price and maybe the sonic scope on top of that ^-^

You could reduce there benefit to removing only one setback die in conditions of darkness.

That's exactly what I did; based on the Chiss special ability.

Actually, this problem solved itself once Age of Rebellion came out. I noticed that a few items in the equipment section had their descriptions elaborated on compared with the EotE core book. The write-up for scanner goggles now indicate that they do much the same thing as electrobinoculars, so I went with the "remove one setback die for darkness" and left out the "boost die to identify details at long distances" (I'm paraphrasing slightly here, I'm too lazy to go to the other room and dig out my book) since that would make them as good as electrobinoculars at a lower cost and encumbrance.

Actually, this problem solved itself once Age of Rebellion came out. I noticed that a few items in the equipment section had their descriptions elaborated on compared with the EotE core book. The write-up for scanner goggles now indicate that they do much the same thing as electrobinoculars, so I went with the "remove one setback die for darkness" and left out the "boost die to identify details at long distances" (I'm paraphrasing slightly here, I'm too lazy to go to the other room and dig out my book) since that would make them as good as electrobinoculars at a lower cost and encumbrance.

****, you most likely right. It really just one setback dice removed for low light. I would not call this seeing normally as even a dark night already gives you 3 setback dice.

And actually the scanner goggles wording is different from the electrobinoculars, as one is talking about low light, while the other is talking about dark conditions. But as the macrobinocuar is using the same describtion to bring you just the enhancement … yeah most likely just handing out half the bonus was the idea.

Eh, somethings cost more. Some things cost less. Its almost as if someone was pulling numbers out of the air over the span of three years, with no thought to economy or something.

If it offends you, add a zero to the price and call it a day. Problem solved.

Normally "Night Darkness" is 3 setback dice. I just made Scanner Goggles remove 3 setback at short range, 2 at medium range, and 1 at long range... anything else is just too far.

I had a buddy in the army tell me that the blinding light thing is why they (might have just been special forces with the new fancy toys but was about a decade ago anyway) switched to night vision monocles, so nightvision in one eye, regular vision in another so they could just close the one eye with nightvision if they got a sudden flash of light. By the way night vision typically works off an infrared flashlight (along with infrared laser targeters) so pitch black is not a problem.

I had a buddy in the army tell me that the blinding light thing is why they (might have just been special forces with the new fancy toys but was about a decade ago anyway) switched to night vision monocles, so nightvision in one eye, regular vision in another so they could just close the one eye with nightvision if they got a sudden flash of light. By the way night vision typically works off an infrared flashlight (along with infrared laser targeters) so pitch black is not a problem.

In case you didn't know, that is the reason why pirates wore eye patches.

Below deck it is very dark in contrast to the bright carribean sun. So you keep one eye accustomed to the dark with the eye patch and the other one gets used to the light. Now when you go below deck to grab some booty you switch the eye patch over to the other eye and voila, instant night vision.