All sight in the game is at a system level. This means that if one of your ships sees (sensors) at a given level, then you will see all items in that system at that level. If you do not have any presence in the system, then you will not be able to see anything in the system (except for your maps of what the system looks like).

When you start the game, there will be a number of solar systems which you have not explored yet. If you have never been in a solar system, then it is marked as "Unexplored". You will not be able to see anything in the system until you move at least one ship into it. Once you have visited the system, then you can view it again at any time. You will be able to see all of the stellar bodies which are present. However, if you do not have some kind of planet or vehicle in a system, you will not be able to see any enemy ships in that system.

There are 5 sight types in the game called EM Active, EM Passive, Psychic, Gravitic, and Temporal. These are the technologies used to detect other enemy ships. All objects can be seen with these different sight types. Each object starts with a standard rating of 1 in EM Active sight, and zero in everything else. This means that they can detect other objects by sensing their Electro-Magnetic emissions. All objects in the game can be seen with a level 1 in any of the 5 sight types (unless the object is somehow obscured).

Objects can be obscured by natural or technological means. Obscuring is the idea of making something harder to see (sense). A cloaking device adds levels of obscuring to the object in certain areas. Storms and nebulae may also do the same. If an object is obscured, it can only be detected by that level of sight type or better.

For example, if I have a cloaking device which obscures both EM Active and EM Passive to level 3, then this ship cannot be seen by anyone. Unless, however, a player in the system has sensors with EM Active Level 3, EM Passive Level 3, Psychic Level 1, Gravitic Level 1, or Temporal Level 1. A sufficient sight level equal to or greater than the ship's obscuring ability, in any of the 5 areas, will allow you to see that ship.

Most storms will naturally give an obscuring ability to any objects which are within it. The same goes for nebulae, which will obscure anything in the entire system.

Sensors give your ships sight abilities to defeat cloaks. The more advanced your sensors, the more items you can "See" within a solar system. Since sight is always at a system level, you see ships within a system at the level of the best sensors of all of your ships within the system. If you have two different ships, with different sight abilities, you will "see" the system with both of them combined. Basically, if you have one ship in a system which can see cloaked enemy ships, then you can see cloaked enemy ships (of that level) everywhere in the system.

Sensors are always on and do not need to be activated.

If your ship is obscured in some manner (cloaked), then it cannot be attacked by enemy ships. Enemy ships will move through the square and not engage the ship in combat (because they cannot see it). When you move a cloaked ship, you can move freely through locations with enemy ships. If you wish to attack the enemy, you must decloak first to do so.

Be careful when moving your ships. You have no way of knowing what sensor level an enemy might have. You may try and move through an enemy held location, and combat may begin. If they do have sensors that can detect you, combat will being automatically.