A few questions from a Newbie

[Alneyan]

Originally posted by Maerlyn:
Hi guys, since the Last time I was wondering about something so many of you replied so fast, I thought that it would be worth another try. so here it goes

Here we go, I don't promise to answer every query though.

1. is there a way of deploying fewer sattelites from a ship with sat launching components than 4 sats per component?

If you are playing with "normal" movement, the answer is easy enough, use the "Launch/Recover" button. However, in simultaneous movement (I assume you are playing with this movement), you will have to use two ships to do that. One of them stores the satellite(s) you want to launch, the other the satellites you want to keep. Or play a mod that features a component launching only a satellite per turn.

2. is it possible to cloak the sattelites BEFORE I launch them? otherwise they would be visible for at least one turn which I need to cloak them.

I don't believe you can do that, but I may be wrong. (I never found a way to automatically cloak these cloaked ships/units)

3. Is there a way to choose which units to be launched first? f.e. first deploy these sattelites than the other kind of sattelites?

I would believe they are deployed in the order they are stored in the ship. You will have to use a cargo ship I'm afraid if you want to change the order. (In simulatenous move)

4. About long range scanners, I build some of them only to realise, that they dont scan. I thought they would scan the entire system, but they dont. what are they exactly doing?

They allow you to scan in detail a ship/unit/planet at the indicated range.

is the lvl 1 longrange scanner really only scanning the surrounding sectors?
if this is true, am I right that it makes very little sense to build lvl 1 "long range" scanners (btw: what does "long range" mean in this case )

Yes, they allow only a scan of the surrounding sectors. However, keep in mind a sector is 10 light-years in SE:IV, which definitively qualifies as long range in my book. The main advantage of the first level scanner is that they are much cheaper to research. (100,000 points after the prerequisite research, which is Physics if memory serves right) The other levels are not worth it IMO.

are long range scanners worth it at all?
how do you use them?

It is worth it if you like to spy on the enemy fleet. Could be useful to know if they are lacking, say, PDC, or if they have a "secret plan" ready. However, the Scattering Armor prevents you to use long range scanners, and the Scattering Armor is widely used because of its +15% defense bonus. So I fear you will have to use another way to gain their designs in the long run.

is a ship scanned with long range scanners copied in my "enemy ship design" data file, or do I need to battle those ships first?
how long do know the scanned data about a ship, as long as it is in range of my scanners? as long as I stay in vision contact to it? forever?
can I also scan the cargo of a ship/planet?
does anybody use scanner jammers?

The designs should be copied in your data file, at least it works for ships. (Never tried with units though) I used them against Loser recently, I learnt he was lacking PDC, but he didn't give me the time to put a few seekers and fighters to "welcome" his fleet. I digress.
You know the data about the ship forever. Except if the ship is retroffited obviously. You can scan the cargos and the planets, you can even know what is being built at a space yard.
I have yet to see a use for scanner jammers when Scattering Armor does the same thing, with a +15% defense bonus.

I don't know about question five.

6. why does it so often fail if I try to gift a ship/starmap of whatever to another player? is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

Are you talking about the AI? It doesn't always accept your gifts. It worked fine in multiplayer when I tried a trade with someone.

7. in a simultanous turn game, which units are deployed, can be deployed, during combat? drones? mines? fighters? sattelites?
what do I have to do to get this units deployed?

Fighters and drones are launched during combat, automatically I believe. You can only specify the number of drones that are launched against a target, and the size of fighter squadrons. But as you won't launch all the units at the same time, it is best if you launch them the turn before the battle, if possible.

8. there is no way of getting a talisman equipped ship to NOT hit me, right? so it makes little sense to equip ships with ECM jammers in order to fight Talisman ships, right?

You are unfortunately right. The talisman does NOT follow the usual formulas, and automatically applies a 100% chance to hit no matter what. (While the regular maximum is 99%)

I don't know either about question 9, as I don't know about the mechanisms of ground combat. I would say fighting milicia is not a problem usually, and I am more in favour of weapons than armour on units. (How much damage can the small armour withstand? Three? Four? While a ground cannon does 15 damage every turn. Or is it only true for fighters?)