Radar really is great, but I think the active detection range (the area where all objects on the map update periodically EX: biter movements) is too small.
So, I've devised a idea, to fix that.
Low Power radars are great for revealing terrain, and detecting movements or updates in a small radius. This is your standard radar, and really isn't much different from the original with the exception of the name.
High Power radars are heavy-duty radars. They have a different game model, and they are much different in function.
They are high-power, which means they consume more power: up to 2X more.
High Power radars cannot be left on constantly, or else they will overheat and break down. They can be turned on manually by right-clicking on them or by a GUI. They can also be triggered to turn on for a set time by circuit network.
High Power radars that are left on constantly WILL overheat. When clicked, a bar will show how hot the radar is. After the heat exceeds maximum, the radar will continually take damage and create ghost entities very frequently. When overheating, construction robots CANNOT fix the radar. A alert popup will also show up on the player's map indicating that the radar is overheating.
They are absolutely worthless when it comes to revealing terrain, and only reveal about 1/3 of the low-power radar's capability.
They are, however, excellent at detecting movement in a large radius (about the size of the regular radar's terrain reveal range). They update movement and changes in terrain every 1 second at far range, and up close, they update every .5 seconds.
However, it has difficulty detecting movement or changes in densely packed areas, such as forests. In those areas, the update time is increased to 2 seconds, and it may not display properly (random "ghost" items or biters). Your best bet in those areas is to use a Low-Power radar.
High Power radars linked together by circuit network gain a boost in range, and will overheat slower if both radars are turned on. This boost can stack 4 times.
STATS:
High Power Radar:
Material Requirements: Dev's choice.
Research Requirements: Advanced Electromagnetics (comes after Advanced Electronics 1)
- Research Material Requirements: Dev's choice.
Power Requirements: 2X of regular radar
"Ghost" chance: 1 in 15 tries
Overheat "Ghost" chance: 1 in 4 tries
Linked "Ghost" chance buff: 1 in 25 tries
"Ghost" frequency: 1 try every 1 minute
Overheat "Ghost" frequency: 1 try every 5 seconds
Linked "Ghost" frequency: 1 try every 1 minute 30 seconds
Radar Overheat: 15 Minutes.
Linked Radar Overheat: 30 Minutes
3X Linked Radar Overheat: 40 Minutes
4X Linked Radar Overheat: 45 Minutes
Overheat damage: 10 pts every second.
If anyone has any more suggestions, please tell me!
EDIT: Fixed some really stupid mistakes.
