6. 1. 3. Reading Vessel and Forces Scans

The numbers shown for vessels and forces can seem cryptic at first, but here is how to decypher the numbers.

Enemy vessels = combined ship defense rating / 10
Friendly vessels = combined ship attack rating x 10

The ship scans don't tell the number of ships, only their combined ratings. Thus, it takes some knowledge of ship configurations to accurately determine what ships your scanner is seeing. For example an enemy vessel (EV) scan of 60 indicates that the ships have a defense rating of 6, and is probably a single trading ship. But an EV scan of 200 could be two or three traders or a single warship. Basically, the higher the number you scan, the more ships there are likely to be.

	Scan Results
Friendly vessels	0
Enemy vessels	410
Friendly forces	0
Enemy forces	0

Planet	No
Port	No
Location	Yes

This scan is of 4 ships, a /15 Planetary Super Freighter, a /12 Advanced Carrier, a /8 Leviathan, and a /6 Vengance.

Forces follow this formula. It is the same formula for Friendly and Enemy Forces.

Mine = 3
Combat Drone = 2
Scout = 1

Again, the scan doesn't tell how many of each type of force there are, only the combined value. So an enemy force (EF) scan of 1 would be without question a single scout. A scan of 2 could be two scouts or a single CD. A scan of 3 could be a single mine, a CD and a scout, or three scouts. Higher scans are difficult to accurately read what the nature of the forces are, but knowing the basic formula will help. Basically, the higher the scan the more forces there are and the more damage you are likely to suffer by entering the sector.

	Scan Results
Friendly vessels	0
Enemy vessels	0
Friendly forces	0
Enemy forces	102

Planet	No
Port	Yes
Location	No

This scan is of 50 combat drones (50 x 2 = 100) and 2 scout drones (2 x 1 = 2), thus 102 scan.

Knowing how to use a scanner and using it often will save your ship time and time again.