silent / loud propulsions for dynamic sensor range

[Giani]

It's a nice idea, but what is a WS sensor and what is the ECM jammer?

[aubergine]

WS = Wide Spectrum sensor (the really green one)

ECM jammer = experimental feature that cloaks units from sensors, see: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=8519&hilit=ecm+support

[crusaderv83]

Why are sensor systems in RTS games in general radar based? IMHO a radar can only detect flying objects and perhaps ships. Although WZ is playing in future, I cannot image a radar based system that retrieves vehicles or buildings in landscape. There are too many reflections from stones, trees, hills, ... A combined optical/acoustical system is much closer to reality than radar. At least for detecting ground forces. Maybe there could be a passive op/ac tower to detect ground units. Later it can be improved with active radar to trace VTOL over long distances. This improved system can be detected by radar detection turret, since it is an active transmitter.

[aubergine]

Police use radar to trap speeding cars, so radar can basically track anything that moves and is the size of a car or bigger.

[crusaderv83]

That is right, but police does only measure speed. The policemen has to aim the car of choice. Tracking is optical with his eyes.
You can not detect few single moving objects over far distances in terrain. There is a reason, why NO tank or wheeled vehicle in any army of the world uses radar to detect ground forces.

[C27]

Infrared sensors, then - I know these are used by modern tanks. Small vehicles with mechanically efficient propulsions would generate less heat and be sneakier than huge tracked/hover monstrosities. This would also make propulsion and size matter more than chassis family, too, though that could also have a minor effect.

[Jorzi]

A radar is essentially a 3d scanner. The AH64 apache longbow has a millimeter radar that identifies tanks & stuff based on their shape. It then automatically compares everything to its internal database of military vehicle shapes and sorts the detected vehicles according to their threat level.
This is of course also combined with infrared and daylight cameras for completeness.
Edit: wikipedia has some more information on the subject:

The AH-64D Apache Longbow, is equipped with an advanced sensor suite and a glass cockpit. The main improvement over the A-variant is the dome installed over the main rotor, housing the AN/APG-78 Longbow millimeter-wave Fire Control Radar (FCR) target acquisition system and the Radar Frequency Interferometer (RFI).[206][207] The raised position of the radome enables the detection of targets and launching of missiles while the helicopter is behind obstacles (e.g. terrain, trees or buildings). A radio modem integrated with the sensor suite allows data to be shared with other D-models; allowing them to fire on targets detected by a single helicopter.[208]

In other words, radars are no longer the simple fluorescent screens they used to be.

[Corporal Punishment]

Just to clarify: Ground-based radars are totally able to detect ground targets. Compare this artricle describing the RASIT system. This is just one example of several, which I happen to know from my own military experience. It detects individuals over a range of 6000 m, groups of persons over 8000 m, ground vehicles and aircraft over a range of 20.000 m.
The hand-held speed measuring pistols, in contrast, are not radars at all, but LIDARs, laser scanners. They use light instead of radio waves, making the devices cheaper and smaller, but at drastically reduced range (but of course still adequate for the application). The basic principle is identical, though.

[aubergine]

The policemen has to aim the car of choice.

...because their hand-held scanner is specifically designed to allow them to aim it in a certain direction, so they know which car is speeding. In other words, it's designed that way to make it easy to use with only minimal training "point at car, see what speed it's doing, if going to fast issue fine".

Small vehicles with mechanically efficient propulsions would generate less heat and be sneakier than huge tracked/hover monstrosities.

Not necessarily true - a human being outputs a brighter IR heat signature than a modern tank...

In fact, the bigger the vehicle, the easier it is to hide its heat output because the engine can be buried deep inside it.

[C27]

Not necessarily true - a human being outputs a brighter IR heat signature than a modern tank...

In fact, the bigger the vehicle, the easier it is to hide its heat output because the engine can be buried deep inside it.

Well, if you put it that way...