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Originally Posted by whswhs
* I don't consider Hyperspectral Vision to be a proper equivalent to Discriminatory Hearing or Smell or Sensitive Touch. The equivalent of all of those is normal human vision, vision without Bad Sight (and conversely, vision with Bad Sight (Low Resolution) is the equivalent of normal hearing). Hyperspectral Vision as defined in GURPS is an extension of the frequency range, as if hearing were extended both to subsonics and to ultrasonics (or even extreme ultrasonics). One is a matter of the ability to differentiate between objects by noticing fine details; the other is an expansion of the physical range of identifiable stimuli, which has some similar benefits as a side effect.
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I understand your point, and I admit the parallelism in the game between the various available kinds of sense enhancements is far from perfect. But on the other hand, the way sight works it stands to reason that to expand the range of identifiable stimuli may improve the ability to differentiate between objects by a similar degree. Theoretically speaking, the ability to notice fine details might perhaps also be improved by different kinds of enhancements, but more color channels is probably easier to provide to the human eye and may be copied from animals.
On the other hand, it would be a serious hole in the system if sight could not be improved the same way and to the same amount as the other senses. Normal human vision is quite good, but just like human sense of balance, we should really avoid the pitfall of assuming it is the best evolution or genetic engineering can realistically do.
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* It bothers me conceptually to say that Hyperspectral Vision extending from millimeter waves to vacuum UV gives +3, but biologically realistic Hyperspectral Vision extending only from NIR to near UV gives +4. On the other hand, if we limit the latter to +3, you're going to have a hard sell on getting people to take it if it's costlier than unrealistic Hyperspectral Vision!
* Underlying all of this, I think, is that part of the goal for any supplement of this type is to "save the appearances" as far as possible. That is, I can say, "Here's a biologically realistic version of Infravision, here's what it does, and here's what it costs," but I try to avoid either saying that the Basic Set RAW version is wrong or giving the realistic version radically different abilities (as would happen if I designed it de novo). I'm willing to change small details, as for example in GURPS Social Engineering I added one skill to the list of those impaired by Disturbing Voice, on the basis that it was helped by Voice; but I get increasingly hesitant to tell established GURPS players, "Hey, the Infravision you have on your character sheet was never valid and you should take this other version." Making established characters obsolete will make some players unhappy. Of course in your own campaign you're free to do exactly that and negotiate any complaints with your players!
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I understand the author constraints you have worked under, but this is not going to help the RAW be any less wrong and outdated when it does. As much as I can tell, the system is burdened with too much backward-compatibility with outdated or mistaken legacy rules (Regrowth, anyone ?), not too little.
In the light of the improved scientific understanding this book provides to IR rules, RAW Hyperspectral Vision should be rewritten in an hypothetical 5th edition or reinterpreted up to then as a three-tiered advantage: realistic HV, with the combo of NIR sight and near UV sight; not-realistic HV with the addition of thermal IR and vacuum UV; even less realistic HV spanning from radio waves to gamma rays. Although it would be a different kind of biological eye enhancement, it may include night vision 5 as well to allow the cheapest version to eliminate darkness penalties like the old version did. I would not expect too much complaints about this b/c the benefits of the RAW basic version and the cheapest revised version would balance out (that is, if you add night vision and the full benefits from Near IR vision).