Radar

The Radar is a placeable building that actively charts the terrain and entities around it and performs a long-range sector scan to reveal distant map chunks. Each radar grants vision of a square area around itself and writes the visible image of scanned chunks into the force map (charting), enabling zooming from the map into the world view and interaction with blueprints and deconstruction planners.

A radar performs two scanning functions. First, a nearby pulse scan continuously updates a 7×7 chunk area (224×224 tiles) centered on the chunk the radar occupies. This nearby area is updated as a single pulse approximately once per second when the radar has full power; reduced power slows the pulse and can make the map appear to “blink.” At 20% power the nearby pulse occurs roughly every 4 seconds, which keeps the area continuously lit but with reduced detail. Twenty percent power can be supplied by a single solar panel, or by using one isolating accumulator for every five radars. Second, the radar performs a long-range survey scan: it charts one distant chunk each time its long-range scan progress bar fills. At full power the radar consumes 300 kW and a single chunk scan uses 10 MJ, so each distant-chunk scan takes 33.333 seconds. The long-range scan covers a 29×29 chunk area around the radar, excluding the central 7×7 nearby area (792 chunks total), so a single radar takes 7 hours 20 minutes to complete one full cycle. Unexplored chunks are scanned first (radar scans will also generate chunks that have not yet been created), and when everything is explored the radar re-scans the chunk that was scanned the longest time ago.

Charting writes a bitmap image of a chunk into the force map whenever the chunk is scanned by a radar or the player. A chunk that has been actively scanned remains actively charted (updated) for 10 seconds; after 10 seconds without a repeat scan the chunk stops being updated and the last charted picture is preserved (fog of war). Vehicles retain their last charted positions in fog of war (trains are not preserved because they usually move), displayed as a circle with a directional arrow. The map generator places invisible (black) border chunks that become active when charted or when pollution spreads to them.

Radars on the same surface share a global circuit-network connection: any circuit signal sent into one radar is output from every other radar on that surface. If a radar loses power it loses its circuit connection. Because radars do not have a GUI for circuit output, their signals are visible only through connected objects such as electric poles.

Practical notes and strategy:

• Place radars to overlap long-range scan areas when you want to speed exploration of a particular region: multiple radars share long-range chunks and will not duplicate scans in progress, so distributed placement reduces total cycle time.
• To reduce map “blinking” during low-power periods, ensure radars keep at least ~20% power (one solar panel or one isolating accumulator per five radars) so the nearby pulse remains frequent enough to keep coverage steady.
• Use radars to chart remote bases or rail networks so you can zoom into those areas from the map and use planners or blueprints without being physically present.
• Remember that a previously scanned chunk can later contain newly spawned enemy nests; lack of a recent active scan does not guarantee the area remains unchanged.
• Charting many chunks each tick (for example, many radars updating simultaneously) can impact performance (UPS/FPS), so consider radar placement density if performance becomes a concern.