Cadet I/Signature
| ← Miner defense | Forward deployment → |
A video demonstrating everything in this article is available HERE
Watch this video, it covers everything on this page with in-game examples. If you watch the video, you probably don't need to read the rest of this page.
What is signature?
Signature indicates how visible you are to enemy sensors, using a percentage. A 100% signature means that you can be seen at 100% of the enemy's nominal scan range. Greater than 100% means the enemy will spot you outside of their normal scan range, less than a 100% and you can get closer before being spotted.
You are visible to the opponent when you have "eye". The "eye icon" appears in the bottom right corner of your HUD.
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When do I get eyed?
Quite simply, you will be eyed when you get within the "eye threshold".
Example My bomber has a 350% signature. A probe, with a scan range of 1000m (fictional value), is nearby. The probe will be able to detect me at 3.5*1000 → 3500 meters. So if I fly at 3500 meters or closer to the probe I will be detected by the probe and the entire enemy team can see me.
But it's not quite that simple. Ships only have their best scan ranges at the front of their ship. As you move to the side their scan ranges reduce more and more, until at the rear they can only see about 40% as far as to the front.
Items influencing signature
Every ship you fly has a base signature, i.e. what it is when you have no equipment active. There is some equipment that will raise your signature when you equip it, and some which raise your signature when you use it.
Note Anything located in your cargo bays cannot influence your signature.
Mounting your shields and missiles will greatly raise your signature. This is why any stealth fighter, stealth bomber, or troop transport will fly with its shields and missiles in cargo unless the situation requires otherwise. Any ship that doesn't wish to be seen must keep both its shields and missiles in cargo.
Actions influencing signature
In addition to equipment, performing certain actions will raise your signature.
Firing your weapons and boosting are the two actions that will reveal you to anyone nearby. This is why turret gunners must NEVER fire before their bomber or gunship is detected. Certain operations, such as a Galv runs or miner hunting, require that all the pilots restrain from boosting until they are detected. As soon as the lead fighter is detected he will say so via voice chats and the entire fleet will engage boosters.
Engaging your cloaking device, if you have one, will lower your signature at the cost of energy. Keep in mind that it takes some time for the cloak to fully charge so you may still be eyed for some time after you use it, and that it takes some time to unengage and stop using energy. Ships have limited energy stores which recharge slowly, and energy management is important.
Knowing your stuff
The signature impact of an item can be found by hovering your mouse over it in the loadout window when docked. The signature will be indicated among the other properties of the item at the bottom of the screen. The ship loadout window gives you complete information on all items.
Tip: In most ships you should always fly with your F4 cargo screen displayed. It makes equipment and signature management easy.
Optional: TEK (Tigereye's Knee Pad) is a program that you can use to explore the core's code. With it you can pick a ship/faction/equipment and see the actual values for your signature, TTK (Time to Kill Values), etc. You do not need this to play the game. But if you are curious and wish to learn more, visit the Allegwiki article on TEK
Making a difference
Keeping your shields and missiles in cargo makes a huge difference. For example, a fully equipped a stealth fighter will have a signature of approximately 200%. Dismounting shields and missiles will reduce its signature to 50%. Cloaking will reduce it to about 12%, enabling you to pass by probes and interceptors as close as 60m.
This is why after destroying their target a stealth fighter will unmount its shields and missiles, cloak, and run from the enemy as fast as possible - to remain undetected even though it is surrounded by enemy ships. Using Heavy Cloak will reduce signature to as low as 7%, almost having to collide with the enemy before being detected. However, heavy cloak has a high energy drain rate.
Using enemy sensors
If you are defending a miner in a scout, chances the enemy won't see you. If you suddenly become detected (an eye appears on your HUD) you know that an enemy scout or stealth fighter has entered the sector and is relatively near. If you really know your stuff and remember the enemy's ships' scan ranges by heart, you can even use your signature to calculate the distance that the enemy is from you. But if you're only human then get ready for combat and call for help, if you feel it's required.
Similarly, if you wish to verify enemy presence in a sector you can raise your signature using your weapons and boosters and see if you become detected. If not there is surely no enemy nearby. If you get an eye the enemy has either a probe, ship or station nearby. This is also useful for certain tasks that require you to remain unseen. For instance, trying to find a spot where you can drop a high signature Teleport Probe without being detected.
In the Forward Deployment lesson signature is important.
Further information
Optional: The next section goes indepth into actual scan ranges, formulas and information. You may skip it. Keep in mind that TEK is your best tool at this stage for doing this on your own.
Here are a few basic scan range figures for you.
Note These are general numbers. Many factions have buffs or nerfs which modify these values by +/- 10%.
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Let's examine at what distance ships will spot each other, assuming they all use their "common" loadout. That is, stealth fighters going stealthy, bombers having abs mounted, etc.
| Spotted ship | |||||||||
| Scanning ship ⇓ | Scout 150% |
Fighter 175% |
Interceptor 75% |
Sf 50% |
Bomber 375% |
HTT 100% |
Gunship 325% |
Cloaked sb 30% |
Frigate 500% |
| Scout 2400m |
3600 | 4200 | 1800 | 1200 | 9000 | 2400 | 7800 | 720 | 12000 |
| Fighter 600m |
900 | 1050 | 450 | 300 | 2250 | 600 | 1950 | 180 | 3000 |
| Interceptor 400m |
600 | 700 | 300 | 200 | 1500 | 400 | 1300 | 120 | 2000 |
| Stealth fighter 1600m |
2400 | 2800 | 1200 | 800 | 6000 | 1600 | 5200 | 480 | 8000 |
| Bomber 1600m |
2400 | 2800 | 1200 | 800 | 6000 | 1600 | 5200 | 480 | 8000 |
| HTT 1200m |
1500 | 2100 | 900 | 600 | 4500 | 1200 | 3900 | 360 | 6000 |
| Gunship 1600m |
2400 | 2800 | 1200 | 800 | 6000 | 1600 | 5200 | 480 | 8000 |
| Stealth bbr 2000m |
3000 | 3500 | 1500 | 1000 | 7500 | 2000 | 6500 | 600 | 10000 |
| Frigate 2400m |
3600 | 4200 | 1800 | 1200 | 9000 | 2400 | 7800 | 720 | 12000 |
| ← Miner defense | Forward deployment → |
