Scan Range and Signature
This will describe some of the more subtle (translation: as yet undocumented) aspects of dogfighting. One caveat, though: all of the numbers are based on the beta0 test data and will almost certainly change over the course of the beta.
Scan range and signature: they don't shoot well when they don't see you. Every ship has a "signature" or a measure of how visible it is. Every ship, station and probe has a scan range. Basically, if the distance between you and something that can see you is less than its scan range times your signature, then you are seen by everyone on the spotter's team.
A naked fighter has a signature of 100% and a scan range of 800 meters which means the two fighters can normally see each other at 800 meters (100% * 800). If you have a mounted shield, your signature goes up to 150%. Mount a missile and your signature is now 175% ... meaning that another fighter can now spot you from 1400 away (175% * 800). This signature is not constant. Doing some things (like firing weapons or using your afterburners) makes you significantly more visible. Use your afterburners and your signature goes up to 375% and that fighter can now spot you from 3000 away.
Hint 1: when you are entering a sector for the first time, do not use your afterburners. If you do, you will probably give away the location of an aleph leading to your home territory. This is not good.
The current signatures and scan ranges for the various ships can be found in the following table (equipped ships have missiles and shields ... note that, in addition to being intrinsically stealthy, interceptors can't carry such "noisy" toys):
ship base equipped scan
type signature signature range
Scout 75% 150% 2400
Fighter 100% 175% 800
Interceptor 50% 50% 400
Stealth 50% (25%) 100% (50%) 1600 (cloaked)
Bomber 200% 250% 1600
This leads to another table: the spotting range table which indicates at what range a ship of one type can spot a ship of another type (note however, that a ship's scan range to the rear is halved so be sure to check six every so often):
Spottee
Spotter Scout Fighter Interceptor Stealth
(cloaked) Bomber
Scout 3600 4200 1200 2400
(1200) 6000
Fighter 1200 1400 400 800
(400) 2000
Interceptor 600 700 200 400
(200) 1000
Stealth 2400 2800 800 1600
(400) 4000
Bomber 2400 2800 800 1600
(400) 4000
Hint 2: Scouts are your friends in neutral and enemy sectors. Scan information is shared among everyone on the team so you will see anything the scout sees. As a result, you will be able to do a better job of picking your battles, preventing enemies from escaping, and knowing when enemy reinforcements are coming. Space stations have a significant scan range in their own right, meaning that they can serve as surrogate scouts in the sectors you control.
Scouts are also an excellent resource against bombers. One scout in a sector can pretty much guarantees that any enemy bomber in the sector will be spotted. In addition, scouts can also drop probes which can spot a bomber from 1250 away. This make it possible to find and fight the bombers in the neutral sectors ... before they start lobbing missiles in your direction.
Sniper rifles are unique among the other weapons in that they only raise your signature a little bit when fired. A stealth fighter shooting two sniper rifles (while cloaked) can be seen from 400 away by an interceptor. Since the sniper rifle's range is 900, this has some interesting possibilities. Of course a scout would be able to spot such a dastardly fellow from 2400 away (see hint 2).
Missiles are another weapon that can be fired while either cloaked or just too far away to be seen. Carrying a missile increases your signature slightly (by 25%), but shooting it does not raise your signature at all. A missile's flight path is fairly obvious, however, so you can probably expect a plinked enemy to fly down the reciprocal bearing.
