Yes, you head right. We have re-enabled probes. And a big fat
to LordTonto.
If you had purchased probes at any time they are now gone. Sorry but they had to be removed for the new changes in the probe code.
Your standard probes (Warp, Sentry and Realspace) are back with the addition of three new probes.
Seeker ProbeThe Seeker Probe is designed to do only one thing... Find SG Gateway sectors in realspace. It cannot scan ships or planets. It can only use warp links to move around just like a Warp Probe. The probe will constantly move around the universe checking to see if the sector it moved into is a Gateway to an SG sector. If it is it will report back to the owner the name of the sector it found. That will be the Gateway sector from realspace to that SG pocket. The probe will ALWAYS stay in Realspace and never enter an SG Sector as its only purpose is to find more Gateway sectors. You can set the cloaking level for the probe to try and keep it from being seen while it is wandering the universe.
Hunter ProbeThe Hunter Probe has only one purpose, find a player in a certain ship class and destroy them. The Hunter Probe uses the same technology as the Sector Missile. It will use the targeted ships energy to try and destroy the ship. It will automatically attack the targeted ship when the ship enters the sector or if the probe enters a sector containing the targeted ship.
When you create a Hunter Probe you have to select the player and ship class you want to target. You could select player "Fuzzy Bunny" flying around in a "Razorback" class ship. The Hunter Probe will NOT attack "Fuzzy Bunny" if they are using any other ship class. The target player MUST be using a Razorback. If "Fuzzy Bunny" is detected by the Hunter Probe entering the sector in a Voyager the probe will not attack.
You can also set the sensor and cloak tech levels for the probe. Once the probe attacks it is destroyed.
Sentry Trap ProbeThe Sentry Trap Probe is basically the same thing as the Hunter Probe. The only difference is it never moves. It just sits where dropped waiting for the targeted player in the right ship to come through the sector. It's a perfect probe to drop off in a sector known to be traveled by an enemy player. You can only drop ONE of these probes in a sector and you have to be IN the sector where you want to drop it just like a normal Sentry Probe. Once the probe attacks it is destroyed.
These three new probes will hopefully give everyone an idea what kind of probes can be created for the game.
The code is totally modular so ANY kind of probe can be created and dropped into the game at any time. The game will automatically recognise any new probe as soon as it is added. We could have some really creative probes that do some really nasty things.