Seismic Sensors?

[Trebuchet]

How would one best construct seismic sensors that pick up vibrations from footfalls, etc, like the critters in Tremors? I'm thinking Spatial Awareness vs. Hearing, but is there a better or more logical way?

 

I'm putting together our game universe's EU version of Stronghold, situated deep underground on the island of Man between Ireland and Britain.

 

And if any of our UK or Manxian brethren want to give me a bit of local color, I'd certainly appreciate it. It's the little touches that add that bit of veracity that makes a setting come alive.

[CrosshairCollie]

Hmmm ... now, this is gonna sound REALLY weird, but ... try some permutation of Ranged, 360-degree N-Ray ... Touch, only vs targets on or underground. Since the devices sense vibrations (which seems more like a 'feel' than a hear to me). Or if the idea of Ranged Touch freaks you out, make it a specialized Sense Vibrations custom-detect, perhaps.

 

I think the last version of Stronghold I saw cut straight through the crap and just said 'Detect Tunnelling'.

[Silbeg]

Originally posted by CrosshairCollie

Hmmm ... now, this is gonna sound REALLY weird, but ... try some permutation of Ranged, 360-degree N-Ray ... Touch, only vs targets on or underground. Since the devices sense vibrations (which seems more like a 'feel' than a hear to me).

Well, I would still go with hearing, personally, as sounds are nothing but vibration waves anyways. I would suppose you could classify a seismic wave detector as a sort of subsonic sonar? Thus, the spatial awareness would work we. You could even use active sonar, if you have a "thumper". In any case, you would take a limitation such as "Only Detects Objects or Events Underground, -1" or something like that.

 

Silbeg...

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by Silbeg

Well, I would still go with hearing, personally, as sounds are nothing but vibration waves anyways. I would suppose you could classify a seismic wave detector as a sort of subsonic sonar? Thus, the spatial awareness would work we. You could even use active sonar, if you have a "thumper". In any case, you would take a limitation such as "Only Detects Objects or Events Underground, -1" or something like that.

It needs to be passive. I want it to pick up intruders by their footsteps, and able to be circumvented by a good Stealth roll. The idea is to detect an opponent well enough to lob an Area Effect or EX attack at whatever hex they are in.

[SirViss]

To determine which sense group to base it off of, I would simply ask myself "Which sense would I have to Flash so that the character couldn't use it?"

 

If no sense group applies then it is from the Unusual Sense group.

[CrosshairCollie]

*nods to SirViss* Which is how I came up with Touch, since you'd feel the vibrations in your feet.

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by CrosshairCollie

*nods to SirViss* Which is how I came up with Touch, since you'd feel the vibrations in your feet.

That's kind of my own thinking, but I'm not certain if Hearing or Touch are more appropriate. If I just do it as Hearing it's essentially just a form of Passive Sonar, although the N-Ray Vision or Spatial Awareness seem to best describe it in game terms. Certainly this ability would allow sensing movement underground as well.

[TheEmerged]

Ranged touch isn't as hard to justify as you might think. I've given this to speedsters and Telekinesis for example...

 

As to your specific example... I generally use something I call "Tremorsense", placed in the touch group but otherwise bought as a detect.

[Steve Trustrum]

Seismic vibrations are not sound vibrations in real life but rather are tactile in nature, and, as has been pointed out, it would be odd if you could flash the "hearing" of a seismic sensor with something intended to flash one's ears. Go with touch, but use an appropriate disadvantage