[Pyromaster13]

Overlapping vision modes is a subject that's been on my mind for a while, the question actually came to mind when I was a player in a game and my teammates were saying "Okay I'll keep watch by swapping between low-light vision and thermographic"

It got me thinking 'Can't you just leave both vision modes on?', essentially taking the lowest visibility modifier of all the vision modes active.  Which is what I allow in my games since I believe it fully possible for certain combinations such as normal vision or low-light and ultrasound overlapping (mainly makes me think of Halo:ODST in the campaign mode as an example of that combination) but then normal and thermographic I have trouble visualizing how it would look.

And then there's tacnets, in which you throw all your sensory information into one shared pool, to which it makes me wonder, should I just allow sensory overlap if there's a tacnet to process all the information, resulting in the player to take the lowest visibility modifier for all attacks. Such as if someone drops a thermal smoke, but he has an ultrasound sensor tied into the network so he gets a lower modifier by ignoring thermographic and normal vision, or is that already compensated by the inherent bonus from the tacnet to begin with.

[Cass100199]

They are different kinds of vision utilizing different technologies. It's possible that technology has advanced enough where the hardware could run multiple systems, but the brain is still the brain.

[Crash_00]

Ultrasound actually says in the text that it overlays the image onto you normal vision (which I take to mean whatever vision mode you're currently using). Thermo worked that way in SR3, but I haven't found anything saying that it does in SR4A. I rule in my games that thermal overlays a heat "aura" across you normal vision (or current vision mode), but its not RAW as far as I know.

That said, if a GM won't allow it, a perfectly viable option is to have one mode on (we'll say low-light for this example) and buy a micro cam for the nosepiece of your glasses/goggles with another mode (we'll say Thermo). Run Low-light and have Thermo running picture in picture with your image link.

I haven't studied TacNets much so I can't help on the third.

[Pyromaster13]

I think the picture in picture idea is a great suggestion. 

And going back on what Cass said I assume tacnets would cover the software needed to process all that data? 

[Trenchknife]

My interpretation is that unless it specifically states, the vision modes do NOT overlap.

[Deliverator]

With current technology our highest levels of military night vision include thermographic... So its a combination of low light enhancement (that really ugly green that seems to work really well) and FLIR(forward looking infra-red) integrated into a single image. Of course there is now a team working on using sonar to amplify the three dimensional perception through NVGs but at this stage it only works if your eyes are parallel with the ground and you have to cart around a battery the size of a rolling bag stuffed with car batteries.

[CanRay]

Of course there is now a team working on using sonar to amplify the three dimensional perception through NVGs but at this stage it only works if your eyes are parallel with the ground and you have to cart around a battery the size of a rolling bag stuffed with car batteries.

"So it's Man-Portable then." - Some REMF that deserves to be shot.

[Valashar]

It makes perfect sense to me for most vision modes to overlap. After all, it's not the brain that's parsing the images, it's the implant. Especially for such long-existing basics as low-light and thermo, not only has the tech for those existed since well before the Awakening, but since then they've been able to get simsense input from elves and trolls/dwarves who actually see in those modes.

More radical vision modes (such as the microband radar) would override, because they're providing a vastly different sense (seeing through walls in this case) that it can't be overlaid on normal sight. In the case of the radar, it's because it's not providing a substantial return on things like the wall/floor/ceiling you're looking through.

[JoeNapalm]

Of course there is now a team working on using sonar to amplify the three dimensional perception through NVGs but at this stage it only works if your eyes are parallel with the ground and you have to cart around a battery the size of a rolling bag stuffed with car batteries.

"So it's Man-Portable then." - Some REMF that deserves to be shot.

"So THAT's where that frag grenade landed...man, these Scatter rolls are murder."

 


-Jn-
Ifriti Sophist

[Deliverator]

Of course there is now a team working on using sonar to amplify the three dimensional perception through NVGs but at this stage it only works if your eyes are parallel with the ground and you have to cart around a battery the size of a rolling bag stuffed with car batteries.

"So it's Man-Portable then." - Some REMF that deserves to be shot.

Actually the team working on it are former spec-ops guys who were pissed that they can't tell the difference between 10ft and 50ft while wearing NVGs. They know its completely unworkable at this stage and are trying to make it smaller and lighter and more robust. Anecdotal: My brother damn near fell into a 15ft deep hole while doing patrols in Afghanistan with NVGs, was walking along, saw the hole but thought it was pretty far ahead, kicked a rock and it fell into the hole, he stops and pulls off his goggles and BOOM big ass hole 2-3ft in front of him.

[CanRay]

"Bifocals, Grandpa!"

I think I'd rather good night vision and depth perception.  That said, my night vision sucks due to living in a city for far too long (All my life.).

[Weldûn]

"Bifocals, Grandpa!"

I think I'd rather good night vision and depth perception.  That said, my night vision sucks due to living in a city for far too long (All my life.).

You haven't walked enough back-alleys is all. 

That being said, my feeling is that with all the sensor software and the like running around the Sixth World in SR4, any vision enhancement includes a basic software package that "dials back" any extraneous data, basically allowing most of your sensory types to overlap in their given "channels". It's much like how a radar system doesn't tell you about everything it's picking up, just what the system has categorized as "important" or "notable". Combined with a population that's used to walking around with AR overlays and multiple in-field-of-view pop-ups, I just say that it's all mostly overlayed. Basically, it's like how the pilot of an Apache Gunship has to learn to fly while using the left-eye monocle to feed them targeting data. It takes getting used to but, after a while, it becomes second nature.

[The Cat]

Our common sense rule-of-thumb has always been that SR tech (in any edition) is better than real world tech.  If we can do it with our current technology, they can do it better with theirs; if we're close to being able to do it, they've had it for decades.  Therefore, overlapping vision modes have been common in games I've been in since the beginning unless it was stated in the rules they wouldn't overlap.  The only exceptions were were a vision mode was natural (elf low light vision) and a retnal mod (not a full eye replacement) superceded it where it was logical the tech was replacing the natural mode rather than being part of the same set of systems.

[Joush]

I tend to generally think that implants/goggles/ect produce a computerized composite image that tries to make things as clear as possible, using what sensors are available. So you'd generally use the best visual modifier in a given situation without having to adjust anything, and might realize you were in a dark room only when the light levels fell enough to lose color detail.

If you want to use a specific feature though, you might have to adjust it. IE: normally it tries to give you the best full color/full detail image it can, but if you want to look for heat left by footprints or a equipment that has been used recently, you need to switch to thermograpic only.

You could even fluff the levels of visual enhancement as the internal software automatically recognizing some things and highlighting them. (Such as giving weapons a faint red aura and highlighting metahumans that are otherwise low contrast or camouflaged in the visual spectrum but can be spotted on thermal.

[CanRay]

All depends on your budget and access to the right equipment and software.