How to Play
Before you start: Pick a ship in the menu.
Classes change:
- Speed/Acceleration (handling)
- Baseline Noise (how loud you idle/coast)
- Passive / Active base ranges (sensor strength)
Rule of thumb: Frigate = faster/stealthier (shorter base ranges). Capital = slower/louder (longer base ranges).
- Rotate: A / D
- Throttle: W / S — Thrust raises your Noise Index (NI); coasting lowers it. Higher NI makes you detectable from farther away by others.
- Passive Arc: Q / E — This controls your directional scan.
- Arc width range: 30°–180°.
- Narrower arc → higher listening gain (detect farther) and smaller bearing error; wider arc → more coverage but shorter reach and noisier bearings.
- No fixed range: detections happen when received signal passes a threshold (based on distance, target loudness/size, and arc gain).
- Accuracy: bearing error shrinks as signal-to-noise improves (closer, louder target, or narrower arc).
- Wedge length: shows the estimated effective passive range (r_eff). It increases modestly as you narrow the arc.
- No self-reveal from Passive. Use Active Ping when ready to commit.
- Active Ping: Space — Emits a pulse revealing exact positions when the return passes the threshold (stronger up close, weaker far away).
- Cooldown: ~5 s (see HUD bar). Contacts remain visible ~1.2 s.
- Risk: creates a large reveal bubble and briefly spikes your NI (you become much easier to detect).
- Best used after Passive triangulation to confirm intercept.
- Dark Run: hold Shift — Reduces your emissions (suppression ~45%), lowering NI so you’re harder to detect. Best when coasting and inside cover.
- Zoom: Mouse wheel over the canvas — Zoom in/out around your ship (for situational awareness).
Objective: Sweep for Passive bearings, narrow your arc to refine, then Ping to confirm and intercept. If the prey reaches the green gate before time ends, you lose.
Visuals
- Rings: reference Ambient/Passive/Active radii (thin). Real detection uses thresholds, so you can sometimes detect past a ring (loud target, narrow arc) or inside it (quiet target, cover).
- Arc wedge: Passive field-of-view; detections occur inside the wedge when the signal crosses threshold.
- Passive bearings: short blue rays from your ship showing direction, not range. Orange traces may indicate decoys.
- Red circles: reveal bubbles — Active ping only.
Scanning & Detectability (Threshold Model)
- Ambient (always on): hint appears when NI×size ÷ distance² clears a threshold. Ignores arc.
- Passive (Arc): inside the wedge, a return appears when (NI×size×arc gain) ÷ distance² clears a threshold. Produces bearing-only intel with error that shrinks as SNR improves.
- Active (Ping): exact positions when two-way strength (∝ 1/distance⁴) clears a threshold; large reveal pulse; cooldown applies.
- Cover and noise: zones reduce NI (harder to detect); thrust/weapons/pings raise NI (easier to detect).
Tips: Sweep wide to find direction, narrow Arc to refine bearing, then Ping. Use zones (shadows/thermal/clutter) to cut NI and break locks.