At the moment we can only guess the layout of enemy ship designs by watching them in battle.
My suggestion: A recon scanner. When it hits an enemy ship, some or all of the enemy ship’s weapons and modules are shown in the info box on the bottom right that is used at the moment only for friendly ships (as long as both the scanning and the scanned ship survive you have to hurry to write down the scan results…).
The recon scanner would make no difference for the outcome of the battle, but if the first attempt to defeat a challenge fails you could design special ships for the next try based on your new knowledge.
A further suggestion would be countermeasures against this recon scanner.
maybe a recon probe that attaches itself to a ship, which can be shot down by PD?
Good idea, though id prefer to just be able to look at the enemies layout in the deployment screen. You can more or less do this anyway if they do make this scanner, buts its a more intuitive way of doing it. And you end up witht the same result.
Also, cant think of a more useless thing that a counter to a module that doesnt really effect you, seeing as most players are going to know the important stuff like what weapons you are using and if you are heavily armoured or shielded after the first pass.
[quote=“Crakker”]
Good idea, though id prefer to just be able to look at the enemies layout in the deployment screen. You can more or less do this anyway if they do make this scanner, buts its a more intuitive way of doing it. And you end up witht the same result.
Also, cant think of a more useless thing that a counter to a module that doesnt really effect you, seeing as most players are going to know the important stuff like what weapons you are using and if you are heavily armoured or shielded after the first pass.[/]
you can, but can you tell what shield/armour/repait system/target booster/generator (might be important if bigger deaths added), and even what kind of plasma cannon he is using?
And what’s so useless about point defence (well, the Guidance Scrambler Beam, anyway)? It wouldn’t be a dedicated counter to the probes, they’re kinda useful already 
Looking at the enemy loadout in the deployment screen would be a terrible change. It’d be embarassing to lose an attempt, ever, if that were the case.
It’s good how it is already, as Dielie says, you don’t know what the enemy loadout is even after fighting the battle once - you only know what you were able to figure out - not all modules are visible, some weapons look similar, you have to deduce a lot of it. A module like this would be very interesting - you’re essentially weakening your attempt, to make it easier on the next attempt. I like the idea of making it a missile weapon, as that gives us countermeasures that are already useful and in the game. It should have a significantly lower fire rate / higher cost than the decoy missile module, of course.
Why are scrambler beams so good? They fire so slow!
TRUE
VERY slow reload. I’m thinking a one two punch. One: fast frigates only armed with this recon probe. Two: A custom built fleet engineered against the enemy fleet.
Say what? We’re off topic now, but… Maybe you’re confusing the Guidance Scrambler Beam with another module or something… The GSB is hands down the most effective point defence weapon in the game. Very fast, and it never fails to scramble a missile. Last time I checked, the other PD weapons don’t even come close to it’s performance.
EDIT: Yup, just tested… 5xMIRV + 2xGSB, vs 5xMIRV + 2xHi Speed PD… The GSB ship wins comfortably, every time. It’s not quite as ridiculously better than it used to be… And it is heavier / more power hungry (but less actual cost). Maybe on a rush ship you might consider the normal PD, for the lower weight. The fire interval on the GSB description seems to be a bit misleading…
lol… the GSB!(gratuitous space battles!)
I would think maybe a scanner missile, can be shot down/scrambled just like any other missile, but scans the enemy ship as it passes near. Maybe it does double duty as a decoy missile? That way you don’t need a dedicated “don’t look at me!” countermeasure, it’s just another missile threat.
I would think this should affect the deployment screen whether you use it or not, giving you the ability to click on enemy ships. If you haven’t scanned that ship while running that mission/challenge, you just get an “Unknown” message.
I’m just kind of throwing this out there, off-the-cuff. In all honesty, I don’t like to micromanage quite on this level, so I probably wouldn’t use a scanner module anyway. I’d rather adjust my fleet based on enemy fleet disposition, spatial concerns, and supply limits. But that’s just me.
And I had noticed this. It threw me for a loop the first time I read it … I had to go back in that post and look to see what was being abbreviated, since I knew it wasn’t the game at large …
anyway… back t recon scanners…
Some post necro, as I would rather not create a new one.
I can see some pratical use for that type of object. First there is the scanner for potential cargo (if cargo mission was to be implemented. )
Or give some orders to a ship to attack those with a specific type of equipement. I suppose that the only way to do it is to prepare some premade lists :
- by weapon type (EMP, anti missiles, other scanners…)
- By range (with a slider for example)
In can see from here a quick corvette making a suicice mission into the ennemy fleet to send probes all around and scan it. Once the dreadfull ships with long range nasty missiles are spotted, a swarm of fighter is coming to take it down.
Would it be interreseting ?
I say we NEED a ‘Target EMP/disruptor’ order. I HATE EMP heavy fleets.