Quote:
Originally Posted by Pectus Solentis
In GURPS Spaceships 1 and 4, 0.5ton Enhanced Sensor Array (for SM+4 spacecrafts) costs $20K and it has 64x magnifications (Sensor Level 6) at TL11.
But in GURPS Ultra-Tech, Large Multi-mode Radar (p.UT65) costs $100K and weighs 100 lbs. And Hyperspectral Imaging Sensors Array (p.UT61) costs $160K, weighs 50 lbs and x128 magnifications at TL11.
Why are the Spaceship Sensor Array so cheap and low-performanced?
I guess Spaceship Sensor Arrays are more bulky than Ground-Vehicle Sensor Arrays so there may be no need for compactizations which increases its cost, but then why are the Spaceship Sensor low-performanced than Ground-Vehicle Sensor Arrays...? I think it makes no sense that 0.5tons of Spacecraft Sensor Arrays have low performance than much lighter Ground-Vehicle Sensor Arrays.
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The arrays in
Spaceships include Extended High and Low Band Vision, whereas even the PESA sensors in [I][B]Ultra-Tech[I][B] do not (they only have Low-Band). They also have ESM systems to detect communication and active sensor emissions from other ships. They have active sensors as well, both radar and laser, and they are large and advanced enough to have no practical target tracking limit (with a rande of 1.5 light seconds in the case of your example system). On top of this, they include radio and laser communications systems with very long range (1.5 AU in your example). Finally, all of these sensors and comms function over the whole sky.
I don't think the mass is at all unreasonable. The low cost might be, but unlike the
UT systems these ones don't need rugged casings, and the whole system only needs one UI, saving on the cost of screens, input keyboards, and so on.
Also, remember that the design system is intended to produce reasonable results across a huge range of sizes, and was originally for spaceships only. It's not surprising that at the very high and low ends of the scale and for non spaceships it gets a bit weird. I think it does a very good job, all things considered, but it's not perfect.