Sensor & Communications and Non-Cloak Stealth Special Procedures

Hull Upgrades:
- -Masking circuitry minimize their sensor signature and renders the ship difficult to detect with sensors or the naked eye. It is the equivalent of a Class 1 Cloak in terms of effect and power cost. It can be cancelled for one minute by a polaron burst
- -Interferometric Dispersion is a method by which starships become undetectable by radar systems and other STL E/M sensors. This is only effective against slower than light sensors and the naked eye. Establishing interferometric dispersion around a ship requires moderate Systems Deflector Engineering and the expenditure of extra power to maintain it. If the ship uses any weapons, shields, or transporters, the effects of the dispersion are cancelled; it may, however, use sensors and communications.
- -The Refractive Deflector Shield masks us from other ships long range sensors but not lateral sensors, it will work until we are 5 Light-years from enemy’s lateral sensors. It costs extra power to maintain the Refractive Deflector Shield.
- -Covariant shields use an advanced, tetryon-based technology. They work like normal shields, but interfere with sensors. They have the same effect as a sensor-reflective hull when active. It costs extra power to maintain the Covarient Deflector Shield.
- -An Energy Sheath is a special type of hull which, thanks to its materials and shape, makes detecting the ship with long-range sensors or lateral sensors. While operating on low sublight speed power, Energy Absorbing Sheaths (like Arctus Baran's Raider) make us invisible to most long-range FTL (subspace) sensor scans, even at close range. Invisible to long-range (subspace) sensors even when it is perfectly visibly to the naked eye as well as sublight E/M sensor technologies such as optics and radar. Even with high resolution short range sensors, reading what's inside it with any sensors is virtually impossible. A ship can remodulate its long-range sensors to make them sensitive enough to detect a ship with a sheath (this takes about an hour), but only if the sheath's composition is known (that way the sensors will have the correct remodulation sequence). This is different than a cloak.
- -Modulate the Refractive Shield Energy Sheath frequency to avoid detection by even lateral sensors. This requires time, additional power, and routine systems engineering, the equivalent of a class 1 cloaking device for purposes of avoiding detection by sensors, this is only effective up to sensor range but not visual range. This is only effective when we know what kind of base sensor technology we are dealing with, i.e. Federation, Cardassian, Romulan, Klingon, etc.
- -The Sensor Reflective Hull can be powered up and modulated to prevent the interior of a ship from being scanned with sensors. Even if the ship itself can be picked up on sensors like any other ship, its interior cannot be scanned to attempt to determine what the ship's carrying in its cargo holds, who's on board, or how its wholly internal systems are configured will fail, regardless of the proximity of the ship performing the scan. When we know what kind of base sensor technology we are dealing with, i.e. Federation, Cardassian, Romulan, Klingon, etc., we can repolarize the ship’s sensory reflective hull to hide from another ship's sensors. It costs extra Power to maintain the repolarization effect. We won’t have to do this until we are in range of their lateral sensors, 5LY.
- -Hull Holoemitters linked to the navigational deflector can create an illusory duplicate of the ship and "deflecting" a ship's sensor image up to 100,000 kilometers away from its actual position. A Class Beta hull holoemitter system can make a ship appear to be any other ship of equal or lesser Size; requires power to operate. A Class Alpha hull holoemitter system can make a ship appear to be any other ship of equal or lesser Size, empty space, a floating asteroid, or the like. It requires twice as much power to operate. Both types of hull holoemitter system is designed to fool not only the visual senses, but standard sensors as well—a ship disguised like an asteroid registers as an asteroid on another ship's sensors. A disguised ship cannot use weapons, shields, transporters, a cloaking device, communications systems, active sensors, or warp or impulse engines without instantly dispelling the illusion.

Hull Polarity refers to the attracting and contrasting properties of the hull via its structural integrity field (SIF) and Inertial Dampening Field (IDF), and is similar to the shield's harmonics. Altering the hull's polarity ("repolarizing" them) has some tactical benefits similar to altering the harmonics of the deflector shields.
- -Repolarizing the hull allows us to hide from another ship's sensors using only moderate Shipboard Hull Systems. This does no good at visual range. The ship attempting to hide performs. It costs additional power to maintain the repolarization effect.

Warp Eddies, Signatures and Profiles are formed Whenever starships travel at warp speeds, which other ships can use to track or identify them. A warp eddy is sort of a "ripple" in subspace. Warp eddies are relatively difficult to track, requiring moderate Shipboard Sensors Systems to do so. Warp eddies identify the origin of a ship (Starfleet, Romulan, Cardassian, and so forth), each species's eddy is a little different.
- -A Warp Signature is similar to a warp eddy, but is distinctive to an individual ship. A ship can be tracked all across the galaxy, even along well-traveled spacelanes, by its warp signature. Tracking one requires routine shipboard Sensors Systems. Ships can "mask" their warp signatures, making it much harder, if not impossible, to trace them. Masking makes the attempt to follow a warp signature requires a Flight Control Officers' Shipboard Sensors Systems Skills.
- -Remodulate its plasma injector system to suppress its warp signature entirely, making it impossible for another ship to track. This is tricky work, though, requiring at least an hour and a Challenging Propulsion Warp Drive Engineering.
- -A Warp Profile is the distinctive energy pattern given off by various types of warp drive systems. By analyzing a ship's warp profile, another ship can get a good idea of its type (Explorer, Frigate, Transport, Cargo Carrier, or the like). The analysis requires a Routine Shipboard Sensors Systems in most cases. Ships on covert missions often disguise their warp profiles so that they appear to be some other type of ship. The analysis requires Shipboard Sensors Systems Skills.
- -A good wild goose chase tactic is to alter a probe's warp profile so that it looks like a full-blown starship on sensors. This only fools long-range sensors.
- -A Transient Subspace Signals which will hide the existence of a ship from sensors and makes it appear as if that ship suffered a warp core breach and was destroyed. Shipboard Deflector Systems Skill, equivalent of a class 10 cloaking device for purposes of the target ship trying to detect it. The location of the detecting ship must be known and it will only work against one ship at a time.
- -False Signals can make it appear that we are in distress, more badly damaged than we actually are, or suffering from some other problem.
- -Manipulate and boost the Structural Integrity Field (SIF) and Inertial Dampening Field (IDF)) to make relatively minor damage appear more severe.
- -Echo displacement using the main deflector to project false sensor sensor images to another ship, making the target ships think that several other ships are present. Use Shipboard Deflector Systems to generate the proper sensor readings, then "hit" the targets with the false readings.
- -A Warp Shadows, similar to Echo Displacement is more challenging. Warp shadows "sensor ghosts" created by warp-capable ships. Not every ship's sensor system looks for warp shadows, but if it does, it requires challenging Shipboard Sensors Systems to determine that the "ships" detected don't really exist.
- -Reduce Power Signature to reduce detection with most sensors. If circumstances permit, shut down some or all of the ship's systems to make it harder to pick up the ship with a scan. If a ship shuts down all of its nonessential systems (everything but life support, tactical systems, flight control and the like), other ships suffer a Sensors Systems penalties to detect it. Shutting down all systems, including life support, increases the penalty. Reserve and Emergency life support systems can be instead of main life support temporarily.
- -Use electronic warfare-like tricks to make the ship appear to be a different kind of ship when scanned with sensors. Modulate the engine's power emissions, reconfigured the deflector shield grid, and install field buffers around the subspace emitter coil. With just a few hours' work, we can deceive the enemy into thinking we are a different class ship or even another type entirely, i.e. Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, etc, anything in our records.
- -Transponder Codes are crucial for long-range detection and identification of starships. They can't identify at long range the approaching ship since it carries no transponder or subspace marker. Ships constantly broadcast an identity code so that other ships know who they are.
- -Augment the disguise of the ship by shutting off and altering our transponder identity code. If the code is altered or shut off, it requires Shipboard Communications Systems skills to identify with sensors the ship’s type and class by its warp signature or similar means.

Photonic Pulse generated by the ship will knock another ship's sensor systems offline. To create a photonic pulse, a ship must utilize Challenging Shipboard Deflector Systems to generate it, then standard Shipboard Deflector Systems Skills to "hit" the target (this all takes time or made in advance). If the pulse hits the target, its sensors all go offline for 1 minute, or until ship's personnel performs Challenging Shipboard Sensors Systems to reinitialize the entire sensor array (the effect lasts for a minimum of time even if this Test succeeds).

Coherent Neutrino Beam When two ships are within a million kilometers of each other, one can use a coherent neutrino beam to spy on the other. To create a coherent neutrino beam, requires Challenging Shipboard Deflector Systems to generate the beam, then another Shipboard Deflector Systems to "hit" the target (this requires time to set up). A coherent neutrino beam will not penetrate a sensor-reflective hull or various refractive shields which block sensors.

Miscellaneous Sensor Interference:
- -Heavy Metals, Actinides, 15525 other known substances, radiation, strong electrical interference, strong magnetic fields, strong magnetic fields, tetryon fields, solar radiation, nebulas, certain asteroid belts all render sensors useless.
- -Long range FTL (subspace) sensors are completely dependent on detecting active warp emissions or subspace fields. Running on sublight and powering down subspace emissions will foil their Long range sensors, which have a range of 17 light-years. Lateral Sensors have a range of 5 Light-years. Short-Range High-Resolution Sensors have a range of 1 light-year.
- -Sensors are impeded by the same “tetryon fields” that render warp navigation infeasible. Strategically place mines of tetryon field emitters can be useful.
- -Sensors are incapable of sensing anything inside or beyond direct line of sight of Nebulae. This should be taken into consideration during navigation. Emission nebulae also render cloaking devices useless. Emission nebulae are large gaseous objects which are made to glow by some sort of hot celestial object in their midst such as a large star. They glow because their gas density is much higher than normal interstellar gas, and is similar to the gas density of Earth's ionosphere (the extreme upper atmosphere where the Aurora Borealis occurs). The ions in the nebula are kept in a state of excitation by ambient electromagnetic radiation, and this makes the cloak totally useless.
- -Asteroid belts commonly contain materials that block or interfere with sensors. These should be scouted out in advance whenever possible. Asteroids can also be a good source of ionizing radiation which blinds sensors.
- -The magnetic poles of planets and even inhabitable moons are sufficient to confound sensors.
- -Sensors are adversely affected by strong gravitational forces. Even a starship hiding in the Lagrange Point (the point between two bodies where an object will experience equal gravitational attraction to each body) can potentially evade detection by Federation sensors.
- -Any strong source of radiation, electrical activity or charged particles renders sensors useless. The Aurora Borealis would be sufficient to hide most shuttles.
- -As sensors are especially susceptible to most solar radiations, ships with metaphasic shielding should take advantage of close solar orbits to elude capture. Technology which causes solar flares can render broad areas sensor blind.
- -Communications and sensor technology are related, Sensors are useless when communications are being jammed.
- -Long Range Sensors are dependent on active signals and subspace emissions.
- -Hiding from line of sight with main power system shut down is sufficient to avoid most detection because their sensors are based primarily upon active emissions and direct line of sight, so you can evade detection by simply “running silent” and hiding behind something.
- -Superluminal detection of starships at long range is accomplished by detecting their leading warp-field disturbances, not by detecting the ships themselves. They can easily detect incoming warp-driven ships from light years away, but sublight ships could approach visual range without being detected.

Materials:
- -There are 15525 known substances which are invisible to the sensors of the Enterprise. Particular types of detonator can make an explosive device invisible to sensors.
- -Two meters of “duranium composite” will block any Federation scanning device, although apparently you need more than that in order to defeat the hunters' superior sensor technology.
- -The presence of actinides makes the asteroid belt impenetrable to their sensors. Actinides are a family of elements with atomic numbers 89 through 102, Actinium, thorium, protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, and nobelium.
- -The presence of heavy metals would render sensors useless.
- -The presence of naturally occurring Magnesite (magnesium carbonate) interferes with their sensors. Magnesite (magnesium carbonate) is neither rare nor physically remarkable.
- -The presence of naturally occurring “meklinite” interferes with their sensors.
- -Their sensors don't pick up potentially hazardous asteroidal debris until they're almost on top of it, just one light-second away.
- -Their tricorders obviously can't scan outside the cave, because of the presence of certain metals. They can't tell whether the air is toxic in the deep subterranean cavern until they beam down and check it for themselves.

Nebulae:
- -Once inside the Hugora Nebula they are sensor-blind, so they have to use a probe left on the outside of the Nebula in order to see what's happening out there.
- -Sensors to be blinded by the presence of certain elements in the Paulson Nebula, even though those elements are very diffuse (as they are in all nebulae).
- -Their only working sensor inside the nebula is a metal proximity detector (metal detector) which is only good for a range of 500 m.
- -They are completely blind while inside the nebula.
- -Undetectable when his ships are sitting in the Hugora Nebula.
- -Emission nebulae also render cloaking devices useless. Emission nebulae are large gaseous objects which are made to glow by some sort of hot celestial object in their midst such as a large star. They glow because their gas density is much higher than normal interstellar gas, and is similar to the gas density of Earth's ionosphere (the extreme upper atmosphere where the Aurora Borealis occurs). The ions in the nebula are kept in a state of excitation by ambient electromagnetic radiation, and this makes the cloak totally useless.

Radiation:
- -Ambient radiation interferes with their proper operation.
- -An X-ray burst from the solar flare interferes with sensors.
- -Ionizing radiation blinds Federation and Romulan sensor systems.
- -Sensors are disrupted by the naturally occurring “hyperonic radiation”.
- -Stellar radiation can interfere with the Enterprise's sensors even though it is many tens of millions of kilometers away.
- -The ionizing radiation and high density of the asteroid belt both impede the effectiveness of sensors. Systems which can supposedly identify any ship within many light years will now require a full week to find a starship which is deep inside one of the asteroids inside this belt.
- -Sensors are negatively affected by shields. Shields must periodically align themselves with the sensor beam (phase alignment), or the sensors will presumably become ineffective.
- -Sensors are negatively affected by the natural emanations of a binary star system. A directional array would have longer range under these conditions (which is perfectly understandable, given the theoretical differences between directional and omnidirectional sensor systems).
- -The Enterprise's sensors are useless when the ship is in the star's chromosphere (the thin region between the photosphere and the corona, which is filled with relatively cool, highly dispersed gases). Undetectable while in this region.
- -Sensors can't scan anything near a “plasma streamer”, probably due to the presence of energetic charged particles.
- -Sensors are impeded by the same “tetryon fields” that render warp navigation infeasible.
- -Verterons are subatomic particles that interfere with sensor scans and only exist when artificially created or in the presence of wormholes and singularity emissions. Verteron Particles prevent sensor operatons, but since verterons are artificial, that would reveal the deception. The Bajoran wormhole was formed by self-sustaining verterons.
- -Ionizing radiation has the ability to interfere with a starship's sensors. Blanketing the ionizing radiation, if there are high levels already present in the system, won't look out of place. Ionizing radiation is a form of radiation which carries sufficient energy to ionize an atom or molecule. It can be both natural or artificially generated.

Magnetic:
- -A naturally active magnetic field (such as that which surrounds our own planet during periods of solar flare activity) can interfere with their sensors enough to keep them from detecting the Borg spacecraft or even their large headquarters building.
- -Can't track a ship sitting over a planet's magnetic pole. They can't scan through the natural magnetic field of an inhabitable moon.
- -The planet's magnetic fields interfere with their ability to detect things on the ground, but they also interfere with their ability to detect ships in space.

Electrical:
- -Electromagnetic interference prevents accurate readings.
- -Strong electromagnetic interference or electromagnetic field fluctuations renders sensors useless.
- -Even the high-powered sensor arrays on the Enterprise can't see through an electrical storm. and even after the storm are mostly or almost useless by the presence of the charged particles left from the electrical storm.
- -Sensors cannot penetrate the natural bio-electric field of S8472. They are obviously very sensitive to electromagnetic interference; perhaps electromagnetic fields scatter the subspace radiation that they use for their sensors.
- -Tricorders work better on live people than dead ones, they are designed to primarily detect specific characteristics of living beings such as bio-electric activity.
- -Sensors can't penetrate the emergency bulkheads any more than their comm. transmissions could. Communications and sensor technology are related. Sensors are useless when communications are being jammed.

Gravity:
- -Sensors are adversely affected by strong gravitational forces. A starship hiding in the Lagrange Point (the point between two bodies where an object will experience equal gravitational attraction to each body) can potentially evade detection by Federation sensors

Active Subspace Dependence:
- -Long Range Sensors are dependent on active signals and subspace emissions:
- -Sisko evades detection from a runabout and a Klingon Bird of Prey by simply hiding behind a moon. They have demonstrated the ability to detect vessels through physical obstructions before, so why does this tactic work? Based on their decision to shut down the main power system, it would seem obvious that their sensors are based primarily upon active emissions or direct line of sight, so you can evade detection by simply “running silent” and hiding behind something.
- -Superluminal detection of starships at long range is accomplished by detecting their leading warp-field disturbances, not by detecting the ships themselves. This is consistent with sensor usage in TNG, where they could easily detect incoming warp-driven ships from light years away, but sublight ships could approach visual range without being detected.
- -Sensors can't identify at long range the approaching ship since it carries no transponder or subspace marker.
- -Transponder codes are crucial for long-range detection and identification of starships.

Medical:
- -Sensors can't detect life forms whose skin has mimetic capabilities.
- -Their medical instruments can be fooled by a transmitter.