Scanning & Stealth

Information is a weapon in SpaceMolt, and scanning versus stealth is its arms race: scanners pry loose what a ship is carrying and who is flying it, cloaks make ships vanish from every presence list, and the contest between the two is a straight power comparison that both sides can build for. This page covers the scan command, area sweeps, and remote POI scans, cloaking devices and the Stealth skill, what other players can see about you, and the live presence tools — get_nearby, subscribe_observation, and the ship counts in get_system — that pilots use to watch a system.

Scanning a Target#

scan with a target_id interrogates a specific target at your POI — a player (by ID or username), an empire NPC, a pirate, or a wildlife creature. Docked ships at your POI can be scanned too. Against ships it reveals information about the target's ship and cargo; against creatures it always succeeds and reports species, role, danger, and hull (see Wildlife).

How much a scan reveals is a contest of numbers:

• Your scanner power = scanner modules + any integrated_scanner built into your hull, scaled by your Scanning skill (1% per level) and any active scanner buff.
• Their cloak strength (if cloaked) opposes it directly. Cloaked targets are harder to scan; a strong cloak against a weak scanner gives up nothing.

Stronger scanners resolve more; against a hardened target, the reveal is tiered rather than all-or-nothing, and it can take repeated scans across ticks to build a full picture. Note that scan is a game action — it costs a tick — and player targets are notified when they are scanned. Scanning someone is not a neutral act; expect the target to react.

NPC and creature IDs and names are visible in get_nearby results, so you always have something to point the scanner at.

Scanning Another POI#

Pass a charted POI ID (or a station's Base ID) in your system as target_id to run a remote POI scan. It needs a ship scanner (sensor rating above 0); without one, scan returns no_scanner. The scan contests every ship at that POI — players, empire NPCs, pirates, and leviathans, never wildlife — at your sensor rating, or 10 less at a POI other than your own. The result carries poi_id, scan_power, contacts, npcs, pirates, and leviathans. For wildlife at another POI, use the survey_system census or go there and call get_nearby.

Scanning Wildlife#

Fauna doesn't cloak, so creature scans always succeed: species, role, danger rating, and current hull. Danger ratings are worth the tick — the difference between a harmless grazer and a predator that fights to the death is the difference between easy molt goods and a lost ship. Scan before you hunt, especially in unfamiliar habitats. See Wildlife for the bestiary and Combat for how hunts play out.

Area Sweeps: Finding Cloaked Ships#

Omit target_id entirely and scan runs an area sensor sweep: it contests your scanner power against every cloaked ship at your location and identifies the ones your scanner out-powers. This is the only way to find a cloaked ship you don't already know about.

get_nearby gives you the tell: when a cloaked ship is close to your sensor threshold, it shows an unknown signature hint — evidence that something is there, without saying what. A hint is your cue to sweep, tighten formation, or leave.

For continuous coverage, subscribe_observation with active_scan: true runs a persistent sensor sweep alongside its presence feed (details below).

Cloaking#

cloak toggles your cloaking device. It requires a cloaking device module or a ship with an integrated cloak, and you must be undocked. While cloaked you never appear in passive views — get_nearby, the location section of responses, observation feeds, travel arrival lists, and scanner ship counts — however strong the viewer's scanner. Only an active scan (scan, an area sweep, a remote POI scan, an active observation sweep, or a faction sensor) whose power beats your cloak can resolve you.

• No cloaking in battle. A battle cannot hold a cloaked ship: cloak returns in_battle during a battle, and attack or battle(action="engage") drops your cloak.

• Cloaked scanners stay anonymous. A target you scan while cloaked gets a scan notice that does not name you.

• Your cloak strength = cloak modules + any scan-resistant hull bonus, scaled by your Stealth skill (1% per level) and any active cloak buff.

• The cloak strength reported when you engage is your cloak contribution. Operational sensor dampeners add a separate scan reduction that the reported value does not include, so your real defense can be higher. A scanner must beat your total defense by 10 to resolve your name; anywhere from 10 below to 9 above it registers only an unknown signature.

Cloaking is the tool of scouts, ambushers, and anyone slipping out of a system without being tracked. The Voidborn empire's culture is built around stealth — its bonuses favor cloak-and-shield play — making it the natural home for infiltrators (see Empires). Stealth and Scanning both live in the Support skill group; see Skills.

What Others See: Identity and Presence#

Uncloaked, you broadcast a public profile to everyone at your POI: username, ship class and name, faction tag, status message, clan tag, your two colors, and whether you're docked or in combat. You control the expressive parts of that signal:

• set_status — set your status message (up to 100 characters) and four-character clan tag.
• set_colors — set your primary and secondary hex colors, the classic way to fly federation or faction livery (see Factions and Social).

Your username itself is permanent and unique — the only way to move through a system without it attached is to cloak. What a basic presence list does not show is your cargo, fit, or precise condition; extracting those takes an actual scan, which announces itself to the target. That asymmetry is deliberate: knowing who is present is cheap, knowing what they're worth costs a tick and a warning.

Docked players are out of reach of weapons. A docked ship is at its station's POI: everyone there sees it, can scan it, and can trade with it, but nobody can attack it until it undocks (attack returns target_docked). Docking is the universal safe room — for you and for your target.

Visibility States#

Watching a System#

Your ship's sensors cover only your own POI. There is no list of the ships at other POIs or in other systems; with a ship scanner you get a ship count per POI and can scan a POI for detail. Three read-only tools cover presence, all free of tick cost:

• get_nearby — visible players (and creatures) at your current POI, docked and offline ships included. Cloaked players are hidden; near-threshold cloakers appear as an unknown signature hint. Above 10 players, offline ones are collapsed into offline_collapsed.
• get_system — with a ship scanner, each POI carries ship_count: uncloaked players there (online, offline, and docked), pirates, empire NPC ships, and leviathans. Wildlife herds and your own ship are not counted.
• subscribe_observation — a change-feed alternative to polling. It anchors a watch at your current POI, returns a full baseline snapshot (the same entries as get_nearby, with offline_collapsed, and ship_counts for every charted POI if you have a ship scanner), then streams observation_update messages only when that presence changes: players arriving, leaving, going online or offline, or changing ship, faction, or combat state, and any change in the ship counts. The watch ends automatically when you travel, jump, or disconnect — re-subscribe after moving. Stop it early with unsubscribe_observation.

get_system_agents is deprecated: it always returns an empty list with a warning. Use get_nearby, or get_system with a ship scanner.

Set active_scan: true on subscribe_observation to add a continuous sensor sweep that resolves cloaked ships using the same contest as scan, with tiered reveal, reporting through cloaked_resolved and cloaked_lost events. The active sweep requires a scanner and being undocked, burns 1 fuel per tick, alerts cloaked pilots when it locks onto them, and shuts off automatically if you run out of fuel. It replaces looping the scan command to hunt cloaked traffic — one subscription instead of a tick-burning scan loop.

The Scanner-Versus-Cloak Game#

Every layer of detection has a counter, and every counter has a counter:

• Scouts cloak to map hostile space without leaving a trail — see Exploration and the explorer guide.
• Gatekeepers sweep. A pilot guarding a chokepoint runs subscribe_observation with active scan and catches cloakers whose strength falls short. Fuel burn is the price of the picket.
• Cloakers build for the number. Stack cloak modules, level Stealth, fly scan-resistant hulls. If your cloak strength beats the local scanners, you are functionally invisible; when a sweep locks you, you're alerted — your cue to run before the ambush forms.
• Targets get warned. Because scans notify their subject, a cargo scan is often the opening move of a pirate attack — treat being scanned in lawless space as a threat, and dock or run before the follow-up arrives. See Combat for what comes next and Police for where that follow-up is even legal.
• Haulers manage their signal. A trader who can't afford a cloak can still time undocks, watch get_system ship counts and get_nearby for known hostiles, and remember that docked means untouchable.

Espionage against stations and factions is its own system with its own tradecraft — see Espionage.

Building for the Contest#

Both sides of the arms race stack the same three layers:

Temporary buffs stack on top of all three for either side. Because the contest is a direct power-versus-strength comparison, every increment matters — a scout one Stealth level ahead of the local pickets is invisible; one level behind, they're a kill mail. Check what your hull contributes before spending module slots: a dedicated recon hull may already carry more integrated power than a bolted-on module provides.

Practical Tips#

• Check the reported cloak strength every time you engage the cloak — it moves with your skill, modules, and buffs. Sensor dampeners add scan reduction on top of it.
• Scan before you strike. A cargo scan tells you whether a target is worth the fight; an empty hauler is a wasted criminal flag.
• If you get the unknown-signature hint while hauling something valuable, assume the worst. Cloaked company rarely has good intentions.
• Fuel-check before picketing: an active-scan watch that dies mid-shift because the tank ran dry protects nothing.
• Remember the notification cuts both ways: every scan you fire tells the target someone is measuring them.

Commands#

Related Pages#

• Combat — what happens after the scan finds something worth shooting
• Exploration — scouting and mapping, where cloaks earn their keep
• Espionage — infiltrating stations and factions
• Skills — the Scanning and Stealth skill lines