Detecting an enemy ship is important, but what good is that when you cannot tell any information about the enemy ship you have detected? This document presents an optional rule that will allow ships to scan each other and determine a certain amount of information, specifically tactical information, about the ship they are scanning. If using the Revised Rules for Large Vehicle Combat, attempting to gain new information about a target using these rules requires one combat action, otherwise a ship will always know this information about a target ship once the target is within range. Most of the information gained through Tactical Intelligence is a combination of information from other sensors, including a visual scan of the target and then processing the image through a computer. Most ships are equipped to handle this sort of information.
To gain tactical intelligence about another ship or space station, the scanning unit must have the other unit targeted in its targeting computer. There are two factors that affect what kind of information is a scanning unit gains about a target. The first factor is the distance between the two units. Sometimes, no matter how powerful a ship's sensor array is, it cannot effectively reach across a huge distance and tell anything meaningful about a target. The second factor is the power and quality of the scanning ship's sensors. With more powerful sensors, details can be determined sooner and at a much farther range then with weaker sensors. The power and quality of a scanning units sensors is listed as the ship's Sensor Class, please see Standard Ship Systems and Ship Classes and Types for more details on sensor classes.
One thing that is important to remember about tactical intelligence is that it requires previous experience, or at least a computer doing the analyzing must have had previous experience, for it to be extremely helpful. For example, doing the first encounter with an alien ship with completely different technology, there is little that a tactical computer can do beyond guessing where certain weapons or systems may reside. Standard tactical computers available in the three galaxies are equipped with information on all of the major empires and on hundreds of lesser fleets and ships.
The following table shows what level of information (from Info A to Info H) is available at various distances with a variety of Sensor Classes. For example, a ship that is equipped with a class III sensor that is 600,000 miles (965,606 km) away from a target would be able to get a tactical intelligence level of Info A on that target.
| Range | Sensor Class | |||||||
| Class I | Class II | Class III | Class IV | Class V | Class VI | Class VII | Class VIII | |
| 1000 miles (1609 km) | Level 2 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 4 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 10,000 miles (16,093 km) | Level 1 | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 3 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 |
| 100,000 miles (160,934 km) | Level 0 | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 4 |
| 500,000 miles (804,672 km) | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 2 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 1,000,000 miles (1,609,344 km) | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 1 | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 3 |
| 4,000,000 miles (6,437,376 km) | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
| 8,000,000 miles (12,874,752 km) | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 1 | Level 2 |
| 15,000,000 miles (24,140,160 km) | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 0 | Level 1 |
At this range, a scanning ship knows that a target is out there, if they can detect it, and they can tell what direction the target is moving in. Some, but not all, tactical computers will be able to determine what type of ship it is based off of its electronic signature. Called shots at this range are impossible.
At this range, very little is known about a target. Specifics about the target's movement that would be very difficult to detect through normal sensors, such as its rate of rotation along any axis, can be accurately determined. In addition the exact type of the target can be determined at this range, assuming that the target is in the scanning ship's database. Finally, any energy weapons fired by the target can be detected by the scanning ship, however, physical weapons, such as missiles and rail guns, have a 60% chance of not being detected if fired at this range. Called shots at this range are impossible.
At this range, a lot more is known about the target. In addition to the information available from the previous information levels, the scanning ship can determine the exact number of weapons on the target and their relative size (small, medium, or large). Unfortunately, concealed weapons and specific weapon types, such as lasers or rail guns, can not be determined at this range. Missile launchers, and similar devices, can be distinguished from other types of weapons, but the size of the launchers or the number of launch tubes cannot be determined. Called shots at this range have a penalty of -5 to strike.
At this range, in addition to the information from previous information levels, individual sections of a ship can be easily distinguished, negating any penalty to make a called shot not specifically mentioned in the target's description. Also, determining the sizes of the target's non-concealed weapons is much easier and can now tell the difference between point defense, small, medium, large, and very large weapons. Unfortunately, missiles launchers can only be determined in two categories, small for mini-missiles and short range missiles and large for all other missile sizes. Finally, the relative damage to the Main Body of the target can be determined in intervals of five percent, such as a ship's main body being reduced by 10%.
In addition to the information from previous information levels, the scanning ship can accurate determine the size and type of all, non-concealed weapon systems and can tell the different between different types of energy weapons, such as lasers and particle beams, the ship can tell the exact size of missile launchers and how many launch tubes are available. The relative damage to any part of the target can be accurately determined as a percentage, such as a ship's main engines being reduced by 17%.
The highest level of tactical intelligence provides all of the information as the previous levels in addition to some new information. At this range, the scanning ship can accurately determine the location of all concealed weapons that have access hatches and can determine the size of the weapon from the size of the access hatch, although the type of weapon is non known. It is possible to create hatches that are smaller or larger then the weapon's size may require, but this is rarely done. Also, all called shots made by the scanning ship are made with a bonus of +4 to strike (remember, you cannot make a called shot on a target's Main Body). Finally, the scanning ship can accurately locate important internal sections on the target's hull providing all internal damage rolls with a modifier of 10%, -10% if the internal damage roll is from 01 to 50 and +10% if the damage roll is from 51 to 00.