GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses

[Eukie]

Originally Posted by Anthony

However, the physics of how scent travels is decently known (though complex; the math for vision is way easier), the unknown part is mostly what detection thresholds are for various chemicals.

There are certain realms within which the math for vision is way easier (stationary target with grayscale contrast in daylight conditions with no clutter and a narrow search field), but the math for colour contrast of a moving target in a cluttered, foggy scene with partial sky illumination in the mesotopic spectrum with a wide search field is not all that more simpler than smell.

[Humabout]

Originally Posted by Anthony

...the unknown part is mostly what detection thresholds are for various chemicals.

This is what I ran into while trying to sort out smell before ES came out. What really complicated matters was that what little research I could find all indicated that detection thresholds varried greatly not just between chemicals but also between people.

A (bad) visual analogy would be if all people see, but different people detect different colors more clearly than others or just comoletely lack them. Frex, I might suck at seeing blue and be awesome at spotting yellow, but you're completely blind to yellow and see orange awesomely. So I wouldnt even know a yellow duckling was two inches from my face, but you could spot a life vest from three miles away.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I have been told that smileys convey emotions, but I have never been able to figure out what emotions are meant.

There are translation tables. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emoticons

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

There are translation tables.

That doesn't surprise me. But I wasn't actually making an appeal for help; I was remarking on a peculiarity of how my brain processes information.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I was remarking on a peculiarity of how my brain processes information.

There are certainly some weird quirks like that floating around.

I'm OK with smilies usually, but I definitely don't have pareidolia to the degree I'm "supposed to". Cars don't have faces, there is no man in the moon (or rabbit), and I've never been able to see things in clouds. But power sockets do look like faces, more or less.

The dedicated "circuit" for facial identification and/or interpretation in the brain is complicated and has a lot of potential points of failure.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Bruno

The dedicated "circuit" for facial identification and/or interpretation in the brain is complicated and has a lot of potential points of failure.

I mostly get "looks like a face." But I don't find it easy to interpret what emotion a face conveys, not even an actual human face.

[Phantasm]

Finally got the cash flow to afford this and a few other items which were on my to-get list, and just taking a quick glance through it, I can say this:

I will definitely be digging into this for quick re-works on several of my extant enhanced/animal senses characters, and as a guide for future ones.

Bill, a belated "you've outdone yourself." :)

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

I will definitely be digging into this for quick re-works on several of my extant enhanced/animal senses characters, and as a guide for future ones.

Bill, a belated "you've outdone yourself." :)

Thank you. I had a wonderful time doing the research; this was one of the most research-intensive books I've written. I'm glad to see you benefitting from it.

[awesomenessofme1]

I know this is an old thread, but it's still the best place to ask this. What exactly is the difference between Hypersensory and Sense-Based, Reversed? I've been going around in circles in a conversation over this and gotten nowhere. Hypersensory is worth so much more points for seemingly a fairly similar limitation, and the book includes both of them on Detect in different abilities.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

I know this is an old thread, but it's still the best place to ask this. What exactly is the difference between Hypersensory and Sense-Based, Reversed? I've been going around in circles in a conversation over this and gotten nowhere. Hypersensory is worth so much more points for seemingly a fairly similar limitation, and the book includes both of them on Detect in different abilities.

IIRC, Hypersensory is a Power Modifier, with the subcomponents of it outlined in the book; I'll have to wait until I get home to check my copy to see what all went into it.