Scanning for unlife signs?

[CardboardMecha]

We know the standard drill for exploring strange new worlds upon entering orbit: scan scan scan! Check the planet's composition and atmosphere, scan for life signs, that sort of thing. Would a typical starship's sensors also be able to detect signs of unlife, intelligent or otherwise? Or could a savvy Engineer or Science Officer recalibrate the sensors to detect this?

[HammerJack]

There's no rule to support that, so whether it's possible, or how well it works is more of a GM ruling thing than a rules questions.

[Claxon]

Yeah I was looking last night and the only "rules" I could find for scanning were about scanning an enemy ship during star ship combat. Which doesn't include information about personnel.

So when you "scan" a planet it seems like HammerJack is correct, that what you detect is completely up to your GM.

My personal take is no, you would not detect individual undead but energy sources from an Undead Civilization would be very apparent.

I mainly envision scanners as using energy detection of different kinds.

As an example, observing light output from something and looking for dips.

Looking for movement due to gravity of something you cannot observe.

Look for radio waves, x-rays, gamma rays, etc.

[Dracomicron]

Y'all need a necroscope. Like a parascope for undead.

[Claxon]

Dracomicron wrote:

Y'all need a necroscope. Like a parascope for undead.

So it allows you to see undead around a corner or from underwater?

[HammerJack]

What information scanners can provide is also definitely a balancing act.

Giving no useful information feels bad, and hurts the sci-first fantasy a bit. If the players are using bargain basement sensor equipment, it's not incongruous, though. Giving no useful information when they players have actually invested in a better sense suite invalidates some of their real decisions and preparations and is a bigger issue.

On the other side of that scale, though, letting long distance scans find everything they need to know is a problem in the same was as making it easy to always set down exactly where they need to be, or easily eliminate large threats with starship weapons, allowing the ship to easily ecax them out of danger on autopilot, etc... these things can fit a sci fi power fantasy well, but kill the adventure and danger.

[Dracomicron]

Claxon wrote:

Dracomicron wrote:

Y'all need a necroscope. Like a parascope for undead.

So it allows you to see undead around a corner or from underwater?

According to Brian Lumley, necroscopes can read dead people's minds. So that would be pretty useful in starship combat against the Corpse Fleet. Probably give an initiative bonus.

[Pantshandshake]

"I'm picking up a lot of complaints about... Harry Truman?"

"Ye gods, an undead assault! TO ARMS!"

[Telok]

But aren't spaceship sensors limited to atmospheric and planetary composition in space, and 250'(passive, so 625 active) in atmosphere?

At that point you may be better off pointing a good IR camera with a telephoto lens out the airlock.

[Alangriffith]

Claxon wrote:

Yeah I was looking last night and the only "rules" I could find for scanning were about scanning an enemy ship during star ship combat. Which doesn't include information about personnel.

Well entry 1 on the scan combat action list (CRB pg 325) does say it reveals "living crew complement". It's unclear to me whether this is the listed complement of the ship (e.g. 4 for shuttle, 6 for light freighter, regardless of how many crew are currently aboard) or whether it picks up the actual number of crew aboard (the use of the term 'living' might suggest the scan is for heat signatures or something, but as it doesn't include passengers in guest quarters on the list anywhere, the ship may just be scanning for whether life support is on, and cross-referencing with the normal complement for its classification, as classification is also something listed on scan entry 1).

In either case, as it specifically says 'living crew complement', I guess corpse fleet and non-adapted eoxian ships always come out as 0?

Claxon wrote:

So when you "scan" a planet it seems like HammerJack is correct, that what you detect is completely up to your GM.

There is a rule for scanning planets on page 301 of the CRB, which says "Outside of Starship combat, a crew member can use the sensors to scan a planet the starship is orbiting... to learn basic information about the planet's composition and atmosphere." Nothing there about any lifesigns at all. Further on it also says "a crew member can also use the ship's active sensors to examine the surrounding area as if she were standing outside the starship, using her own senses..." So that would at least let you see if the planet was green with plantlife, had lights on the nightside and any man-made structures visible from space. Atmospheric composition would also tell you if the atmosphere was breathable, though a non-breathable atmosphere with visible structures/lights could indicate androids, exotic-breather aliens or an abandoned civilisation as easily as an undead one.

Of course there are current realworld satellites and probes that can see a planetary surface better than a person with up to +4 perception bonus (huge zoom/detail, thermal imaging etc.) but hey, Starfinder seems to be a star wars/space opera setting where spaceflight is easy but tech level is otherwise pretty low.

[Garretmander]

Alangriffith wrote:

a crew member can also use the ship's active sensors to examine the surrounding area as if she were standing outside the starship, using her own senses..

I dunno about starfinder being low tech, it sounds like smell o'scopes are standard issue.

[Master Han Del of the Web]

Pantshandshake wrote:

"I'm picking up a lot of complaints about... Harry Truman?"

"Ye gods, an undead assault! TO ARMS!"

"Sensors are picking up lots of positive thoughts about Reagan! Load holy rounds and prepare to repel boarders!"

[Dracomicron]

Nietzsche: "God is dead."
Science Officer: "Holy Pharasma! We've got an undead philosopher at two-o'clock. Prepare for existential combat, captain!"

[Pantshandshake]

Dracomicron wrote:

Nietzsche: "God is dead."

Science Officer: "Holy Pharasma! We've got an undead philosopher at two-o'clock. Prepare for existential combat, captain!"

You might just be in for a fistfight with Kevin Sorbo.

[Master Han Del of the Web]

Pantshandshake wrote:

You might just be in for a fistfight with Kevin Sorbo.

Less concerning these days than you might think

[Pantshandshake]

Master Han Del of the Web wrote:

Pantshandshake wrote:

You might just be in for a fistfight with Kevin Sorbo.

Less concerning these days than you might think

I'm of the opinion that a fistfight with anyone about the relative 'aliveness' of a deity is concerning. You know, real world-wise.

Then again, I work with a woman who named her son Cayden, and I giggle like a child every time she says his name. So I'm probably not the best compass.

[LBHills]

I'm not aware of any published tech that 'scans' for undead - not even for necrografts, which you'd think would be a concern on the same level as any other potentially-weaponized cyborg.

However, it would be possible to infer an undead civilization pretty easily using normal sensors. No heat sources outside the industrial zones, no food being cultivated or shipped to the population centers, and the only beauty ads being broadcast are for "Vlad's Fang Extensions"? I'd be suspicious.

[BigNorseWolf]

" Sir, there's a massive concentration of moving beings that appear to have no life centered around indanapolis...

"Is it an undead hoard?"

"Worse sir... geeks!"