Sensor-Based Turret Targeting
TL;DR: Replace the current "perfect knowledge" turret targeting with a sensor-based detection system. This would create more opportunities for engineering, make ship layouts and power management matter, improve the usefulness of decoys, and add much more strategy to both building ships and fighting them.
The current logic behind turret targeting is very basic and doesn't offer many opportunities for players to engineer their ships in interesting ways. Instead of simply porting over the Decoy and turret targeting mechanics from Space Engineers 1, I'd like to suggest a sensor-based targeting system.
Rather than turrets automatically knowing where every block is inside an enemy ship, they should detect and target sensor signatures. Some possible sensor types include:
- Heat Signature – Prioritize the hottest blocks, such as thrusters, O2 generators, and reactors.
- Mass/Density – Estimate the densest section of a ship from the turret's angle of attack. Heavy armor protecting cargo or reactors would naturally attract fire.
- Chemical/Radiation – Detect emissions from firing weapons, armed nuclear warheads, active reactors, or space wakes.
- Electrical Signature – Detect areas with high electrical activity. This would target concentrations of active components rather than individual blocks.
- Optical – Target only what is physically visible. This could also provide longer-range target detection and act as a secondary validation system.
Instead of targeting individual blocks with perfect knowledge, turrets would identify "hot zones" created by these signatures. Design a ship to be compact or spread out? Use small variants VS larger? Have O2/H2 tanks VS generating it?
For example, imagine an assembler, refinery, and gyroscope all located near each other. Together, they create a much larger electrical signature than any one block alone. The turret wouldn't know the exact location of each block, only that there is a significant electrical signature in that area. It would fire at the general location instead of a perfectly accurate point.
This would create many more opportunities for players to engineer their ships and would add another strategic layer to combat.
Some mechanics that could build on this system include:
- Adjustable turret accuracy – Turrets could have configurable shot dispersion so they naturally engage an area instead of a single point.
- Signature-based detection range – Larger signatures can be detected from farther away, while smaller, lower-signature ships remain harder to detect. Antennas would attract attention from farther away.
- Countermeasures – Heat vents, ballast/mass blocks, and specialized paint or coatings could reduce or redirect certain signatures.
- Improved decoys – Decoy blocks could generate false electrical or radiation hot spots, making them useful for protecting critical systems.
- Detection thresholds – Signatures would only become targetable after exceeding a minimum threshold, helping distinguish real targets from background noise.
- Smarter target selection – Properly tuned sensor logic would reduce unnecessary firing and make turrets engage only when appropriate.
- Adjustable sensor thresholds – Players could tune turret sensitivity to ignore insignificant targets, such as small pieces of floating debris.
- Power management as gameplay – Turning systems on or off before combat, or designing ships with lower overall signatures, becomes a meaningful tactical decision.
Another interesting addition would be allowing turrets to combine multiple sensor types.
For example, a turret could use Optical as its primary sensor to detect a target at long range, but require a Mass signature before opening fire. This would allow more sophisticated targeting behavior and make sensor configuration another engineering challenge.
When cameras are added to the game, they could visualize the system above to the player. The player can use a drone to fly around their ship to map out their signature. Or use the done to scout the enemy to identify their weaknesses and strengths.
I like this feedback
if we applied the sensors current PSU to this system, it kinda makes sense. but it would also mean connecting systems that work independently in a new way when combined. your antenna comment, set to broadcast at x range, and sensor connected to it, works kinda like an active sonar pinging out into the distance the antenna is set to.
and setting power management specifically to work in that way. i could see it. this is basically how i run my ships.
one thing i can think of off the top of my head though, defence against the system vs attack with the system.
how does your system keep from being able to set up a reactor with an antenna and a sensor and a decoy, set up to a connector, and just disconnect launch it with some force and you become practically invisible to sensors?
if we applied the sensors current PSU to this system, it kinda makes sense. but it would also mean connecting systems that work independently in a new way when combined. your antenna comment, set to broadcast at x range, and sensor connected to it, works kinda like an active sonar pinging out into the distance the antenna is set to.
and setting power management specifically to work in that way. i could see it. this is basically how i run my ships.
one thing i can think of off the top of my head though, defence against the system vs attack with the system.
how does your system keep from being able to set up a reactor with an antenna and a sensor and a decoy, set up to a connector, and just disconnect launch it with some force and you become practically invisible to sensors?
I love this idea! SO!! MUCH!!
If you think about Decoy blocks. They work for redirecting incoming fire, but ONLY fire from automated turrets. Decoys are useless against PVP. This sensor idea would fix that. You can still pick your targets visually, and manually, but you won't know where to shoot very well. If you had a UI sensor overlay, kind of like IR night vision, where you cycle through settings and different areas of the ship are highlighted as described above, you could make your targeting decisions based on that. A Decoy then, set to give off, say a radiation signature, would give you a false target for PVP to aim at.
Also, think about every sci-fi show/movie out there. How many times have the good guys hidden on an asteroid, turned off all power to reduce their detection level, and waited for the bad guys to fly past. This would allow that kind of gameplay.
Thrust toward your target, cut power/dampeners, drift towards your target invisible to Most sensors, except mass maybe. You'd look like an asteroid flying by, until you power up (which should take a small bit of time) and Bam, you start firing.
Stealth, Ambush, Hiding, Decoys, more engineering challenges, more strategic designing, distributed systems, redundancies. This opens up a whole World of possibilities for interesting gameplay!
I love this idea! SO!! MUCH!!
If you think about Decoy blocks. They work for redirecting incoming fire, but ONLY fire from automated turrets. Decoys are useless against PVP. This sensor idea would fix that. You can still pick your targets visually, and manually, but you won't know where to shoot very well. If you had a UI sensor overlay, kind of like IR night vision, where you cycle through settings and different areas of the ship are highlighted as described above, you could make your targeting decisions based on that. A Decoy then, set to give off, say a radiation signature, would give you a false target for PVP to aim at.
Also, think about every sci-fi show/movie out there. How many times have the good guys hidden on an asteroid, turned off all power to reduce their detection level, and waited for the bad guys to fly past. This would allow that kind of gameplay.
Thrust toward your target, cut power/dampeners, drift towards your target invisible to Most sensors, except mass maybe. You'd look like an asteroid flying by, until you power up (which should take a small bit of time) and Bam, you start firing.
Stealth, Ambush, Hiding, Decoys, more engineering challenges, more strategic designing, distributed systems, redundancies. This opens up a whole World of possibilities for interesting gameplay!
The issue of detection...
You cannot see inside the ship, and the ship is not required to reveal its internal structure to the enemy.
1) You will see the exposed engine nozzles and the exhaust plumes coming from them. You will see the cooling panels. Nothing more. From the direction of the exhaust plumes, you can predict the direction of acceleration and maneuvering.
2) You cannot see inside the ship; you can only see the surface. Therefore, you are unable to distinguish between heavy armor, light armor, and cover panels.
3) You can see exhaust from firearms and missiles. Nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons do not emit any radiation outward; they are “invisible.” Otherwise, the crew’s lifespan would be very short...
4) No electrical signatures. It is possible to detect radio signals from transmitters, radio signals from radars, and optical radiation from lasers, laser rangefinders, designators, and lidars. But only as long as they are shining directly at you; when viewed “from the side,” they are invisible, at least in a vacuum.
5) Yes, that would be realistic. A perfectly black body does not exist. And an alien ship can be detected as a shadow—a dark silhouette against the starry background—or as an optical disturbance. Detection would be difficult, but possible.
The accuracy of modern weapons is high, significantly better than 0.5–0.25 MOA.
Weapon aiming accuracy is problematic in the game—weapons can only be rotated to the desired direction in discrete steps of a finite size. Tracking a moving target is even more difficult in the game, because the rate at which gun mounts can rotate is also limited to discrete steps (real-world systems are analog, while the game uses only digital systems)
The problem of aiming—game systems rarely use prediction of the target’s future position based on tracking its previous movement. They usually fire at the target’s current position, not at a future position derived from the target’s angular velocity, its distance, and the projectiles’ velocity.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
The issue of detection...
You cannot see inside the ship, and the ship is not required to reveal its internal structure to the enemy.
1) You will see the exposed engine nozzles and the exhaust plumes coming from them. You will see the cooling panels. Nothing more. From the direction of the exhaust plumes, you can predict the direction of acceleration and maneuvering.
2) You cannot see inside the ship; you can only see the surface. Therefore, you are unable to distinguish between heavy armor, light armor, and cover panels.
3) You can see exhaust from firearms and missiles. Nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons do not emit any radiation outward; they are “invisible.” Otherwise, the crew’s lifespan would be very short...
4) No electrical signatures. It is possible to detect radio signals from transmitters, radio signals from radars, and optical radiation from lasers, laser rangefinders, designators, and lidars. But only as long as they are shining directly at you; when viewed “from the side,” they are invisible, at least in a vacuum.
5) Yes, that would be realistic. A perfectly black body does not exist. And an alien ship can be detected as a shadow—a dark silhouette against the starry background—or as an optical disturbance. Detection would be difficult, but possible.
The accuracy of modern weapons is high, significantly better than 0.5–0.25 MOA.
Weapon aiming accuracy is problematic in the game—weapons can only be rotated to the desired direction in discrete steps of a finite size. Tracking a moving target is even more difficult in the game, because the rate at which gun mounts can rotate is also limited to discrete steps (real-world systems are analog, while the game uses only digital systems)
The problem of aiming—game systems rarely use prediction of the target’s future position based on tracking its previous movement. They usually fire at the target’s current position, not at a future position derived from the target’s angular velocity, its distance, and the projectiles’ velocity.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
I support this idea. Turrets are too versatile; they're a thing within themselves. For automated defense, it shouldn't be enough to just build a turret on a battery. It should be an infrastructure with elements for detection, targeting, and only then firing.
I support this idea. Turrets are too versatile; they're a thing within themselves. For automated defense, it shouldn't be enough to just build a turret on a battery. It should be an infrastructure with elements for detection, targeting, and only then firing.
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