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1. General
2. Game Management
3. Technical

1. General

Is Laser Tag Safe?
Absolutely. The worst chance of getting hurt when playing Laser Tag is by tripping and falling.

Why is Steradian Technologies known for outdoor equipment?
We offer equipment that fits your needs for outdoor laser tag. Steradian Technologies is the outdoor laser tag company. Our Sunplay technology allows for excellent range and consistent results, far beyond anything else on the market. Our Sunscore technology gives you full digital transmissions, with variable damage per shot, remote healing, add clips, resurrect, instant kill, reset, and more. Guns can only be turned on and off by the field marshal to prevent cheating. Our SunBand is easy to fit to any size head, letting you set up a player in mere seconds.

Are there franchise fees involved or any such annual payments and if so how does it work and what is the cost?
No. We simply sell you the equipment, which you then own. There are places like www.laserblitz.com which offer franchises to help provide you with sample business plans and field management techniques. But that is entirely your option.

Do all toy guns need to have orange muzzle tips?
All toy guns have to have a United States federally regulated markings on it.  They need to either have an florescent orange barrel, or be a solid bright color, or be translucent.

Do you sell just circuit boards?
We only sell our circuitry to OEM manufacturers, those who are set up to manufacture laser tag equipment.

Is your equipment waterproof?
Like all electronics, our gear does not like water, but will generally survive encounters with water.

What about repairs?
Repairs - we do suggest having a couple guns on hand to use in an emergency.  Most gun repairs tend to be just resetting the configurations, which can be accomplished through our technical support.  Every once in a while we'll have a gun that needs to be shipped back for repair.  We can also send repair parts to you...many options that make viable solutions. 

What is in your future development?
We have many projects in the queue.  We intend to bring a full computer system for game setup and stat tracking to market by the end of the year.  We are also looking at a couple of new gun styles and are researching new features such as the possibilities for RF communication for real-time stats or area effects, like grenades.

How big does the play area need to be, to make for good play?

This totally depends on the type of game you want to play.  You can have a good game on an area as small as a backyard with some barriers.  This leads to a very fast-paced, tactical type of game very similar to paintball's "speedball" and is a fairly good simulation of close-quarters combat.  A couple of our customers operate mobile businesses this way; with just a trailer full of foldable barriers, they can setup a game virtually anywhere.  On the other hand, if you want to have a more strategic game that's more of a military simulation you'll want more area with more natural barriers.  In this case you'll probably want around ten to twenty acres of land to give the teams plenty of area the maneuver in.  You may need more if the area is very open (not very many trees or brush to hide behind).  The goal is to have the teams start out of sight of each other so they can setup their strategy freely at the start of the game, and give them an opportunity to maneuver with some degree of safety (as long as they're careful) throughout the game.

The important thing is that the field provide enough cover to allow the players to maneuver around with some degree of safety.  The smaller the field is the more cover it requires.  Most of the fields we play on are wooded plots of land and we haven't really felt the need for any artificial structures because the woods provide sufficient cover.  On a large field, some basic bunkers to represent bases at either end of the field can add to the game by giving teams visible objectives and making parts of the field more defensible.  On smaller fields, lots of small barriers tend to work better.

2. Game Management

How are your products anti-cheat? 
The sensor and gun electronics are fully integrated with each other.  When the sensor dies after taking the last hit, the gun becomes disabled and cannot fire.  Also, the SunBand's sensors light up solid and bright, showing the person is dead.  In addition, the gun cannot hit it's own sensor. 

What is a "anti cheat power switch" on the Eclipse?
The power switch is a 1/8" plug, doubling as a charger jack.  When there is a dummy plug or charger plugged in, the gun is off. When you remove the plug, the gun and sensor turns on.  This is robust, safe and secure. 

What prevents players pressing the buttons on guns to change configuration, add a life or get more ammo etc?
A gun can be configured by a Game Controller at any time.
Configuring a gun by hand, however, can only be done at gun power-on. Since only the referees have the power keys, a player can only use a gun as it's handed out. Shoot, change clips, adjust display brightness, etc. He cannot cheat in any way, shape or form. If the player unplugs the SunBand in an attempt to stop taking hits, the gun locks and cries out a loud warning beep, until the SunBand is plugged back in. The gun will start working again, and the player has now given away his position. :-)
(It is not possible for this connector to fall of by itself, thumbscrews hold it in place.)

If you set the hit points to 10 for example and the player takes 10 hits, does the gun turn off until a "referee" reinitializes it?
Yes.  Any of our guns can be reset again by the game master or referee. 

As I understand it, the game organizer / administrator / referee uses the Multibox and the Game Controller and not the players. Although your info gives the benefits of both, can games be run without them?
Our guns can be reset remotely. This is the preferred method to restart guns between games. It is much faster and easier than doing it with the power key.
The Multi-box can be set up to act as a reset box. The cheap way of resetting without buying a Game Controller. In almost every other use, the Multi-box is a players' tool. For example, configure it to be a health box. Send one out on each team as a medic.
Sell your customers each ammo in the form of a Ammo-box. When they run out of ammo, they point the handheld multi-box at themselves or another player, press the button, and voila! They have another clip of ammo.
You, the field owner, configure the settings, and once you power the box on, those setting cannot be changed or abused.
The game controller is designed to help set up games quickly and easily. It's for the person actually running the game. And yes, you do not need any of these to have a great time! Our gear is entirely self-sufficient

3. Technical

How close does the aim have to be to record a hit?
At distance, the spread of the beam is a few feet. Anything smaller, and players find it frustrating.

If anti-self-hit mechanism is active, can I in the moment of shooting receive the shoot from another player? Will it be not identified as self hit?
Yes, you can be hit while shooting even with our self-hit mechanism.  There is a very short time for each shot (less than 0.005 seconds)  when the sensor is disabled, but the chances of that time period overlapping with someone else's shot are nearly zero.  We also apply a small randomization to the time between shots so that even if two people are shooting at each other and happen to start out in sync, they will be able to hit with the very next shot.

How long does a charge last in a gun? How long does it take to charge the guns?
Because of the lithium-ion battery we use, the charge will last all day (20+ hours).  As a routine, just plug it in at night, like you would your cell phone, then it's ready for use the next day.
Some companies have built shelves that hold a row of guns and have the plug-ins for the charger right there.  Keeps the guns safe and is a good reminder to plug in each at the end of the day.

It takes about three hours to give a gun a full charge if it's totally empty.  That charge will last twenty hours of constant run time.  We use Lithium-Ion battery technology to give the most battery life and fastest recharge time for the least amount of weight in the gun.

What wavelength of IR do you use?
Our guns fire 950nm IR, which is pretty standard.  The sensors can receive anything in the 850-1000nm range, but peak around 940nm

Is there a hit sensor on the gun?
The Eclipse 260 and 405 models and the LaserHopper have hit sensors built into the guns in addition to the SunBand. 

What frequency is used?
We use a 56kHz carrier for all of our signaling.  That carrier can then either be modulated at 1.8kHz for WoW compatibility, or encoded with digital data using our SunScore protocol.  The receiver can receive either type of signal at any time.

Do you have compatibility with other systems? WoW?
Yes, we will receive all WoW hits and guns can be configured at game time to transmit a WoW signal instead of our digital SunScore signal if you want.

I read that there is a lens system; does this need to be aligned, cleaned, etc?
No, the lens is fixed focus and sealed.  The lens is also recessed in about one inch of tube so it's almost impossible for it to get scratched.  You may need to occasionally wipe off the exterior if it gets dirty, but that's it.

Since the beam spreads as it goes, does it get easier to hit targets at distance?
While the beam does spread, its power also drops over distance, so the percentage of the beam that can actually score a hit reduces.  The end result is that you do have to aim more accurately to hit targets that are farther away.

I also live in a high desert and the alkali dust is very fine and very intrusive; needs to be as impervious as possible.
Our lens assemblies and receiver optoelectronic modules are sealed so you don't have to worry about water or dust getting in and disturbing the optics.  The guns themselves are not sealed, but small amounts of moisture or dust should not cause any problems.  We have often played in light rain and snow.

How easily and quickly can the guns be reconfigured?
If you use our Game Controller unit, you can save up to four different configurations and setup a gun to one of those configurations in under a second.  Setting up a new configuration on the Game Controller takes about 30 seconds.  Without the Game Controller, you can still reconfigure the guns using a built-in menu system, which can take about 15-45 seconds per gun depending on how many settings you want to change.

Is there a computer system that allows you to give players a post game 'analysis'? How is the download accomplished?
We do not currently have a computer system, but a the end of the game players can read out who hit them how many times off the guns built-in display.  By holding down the trigger after being tagged out, the gun scrolls the ID of each player who hit you and the number of times they hit you.  We do have a computer system in development which will work with our existing equipment.  We are targeting release for the fourth quarter of this year.

What are all the features that can be configured/manipulated on the guns?
You can set any of the following on each gun, either using menus on the gun itself or using our Game Controller handheld unit: Rate of Fire: 0.1 seconds per shot (600rpm) to 9.9 seconds per shot
Burst Size: 1 (semi-auto) to 9 shots per trigger pull, or full auto
Clip Size: 1 to 99 rounds per clip, or unlimited
Number of Clips: 1 to 9 starting clips, or unlimited
Gun Type: Damaging, Healing, or Ammo Providing
Shot Power: 1 to 30 points of damage caused (or healed) per shot
Hits Allowed: 1 to 99
Game Mode: Friendly fire allowed/disallowed
Team ID: Up to four teams
Player ID: Up to 30 players per team

In addition to the main gun types, you can also set guns to instantly kill (regardless of how many hits the target has remaining), to resurrect (bring a dead player back up to 1 hit), or to fully reset a player's gun.  You can also set a game timer on each gun which will kill the gun after a specified amount of time.

Do you have physical feedback in the gun?
When hit, lights on the SunBand modules flash and a sound effect plays on the gun. The S-5 features tactile feedback in the gun while firing.

How do you address the mid-distance problem where the beam focal crosses over?
We set the cross-over point to occur very close to the front of the gun so the beam spreads consistently.  Note that the spread is very slight, only about two thirds of one degree off the center line.

In "shotgun" mode, is there a different emitter used?
We do not currently offer a "shotgun" mode on our equipment.  We used to have it standard (and, in fact, or electronics still support it internally), but our customers told us that it wasn't worth the added briefing time it required to get customers up and running with the equipment; especially since players have to be very close to each other (about thirty feet) before they're in range of the "shotgun" and even at that range it's easier to just aim and fire with the main barrel than it is to remember to switch to shotgun mode.

What are the construction materials?
We use a variety of materials to maximize durability and usability.  Our lens assemblies are machined aluminum.  Most of our gun bodies are made of very tough plastic.  The S-5 is aluminum, and the R.A.I.L. in made from sheet steel. Our SunBands are made of cloth, elastic, and plastic for the modules and small electronics box in back.  Each of our models is drop-tested several times from seven feet onto concrete to ensure it does not take any damage.

What I need to know is will the Eclipse 260 set work indoors and if not what is the cost to modify the system?
Yes it will work fine indoors, we will throw in lens reducers for free. The lens reducer lowers the power of the gun to a level used indoors. The one thing you need to pay attention to for any indoor system is lighting. Some compact fluorescent lamps and large dimmable florescent lamps cause interference with electro-optical devices. Standard fluorescent work fine, as do high-pressure sodium and other standard indoor lighting systems.

What is the difference between the 260 & 405 regarding the gun action and clips?
There are two differences between the Eclipse 260 and the Eclipse 405.
The 405 has a sliding reload action, 260 has a reload button.
The 405 is larger and more stable. The 260 is a lightning quick pistol.

Clips are a simulation of real ammunition. If you have 25 shots per clip, the gun stops firing after 25 shots. You then reload the gun (260 pressing a button, 405 by sliding the reload grip), and continue firing. You can limit how much ammunition a player gets, the number of clips he gets, or infinite.

Is there a visible laser light that can be seen in the dark. I understand the system works on infrared but a visible beam could add to the visual effects, particularly in a smoke filled scene.
While we do not ship with a laser beam such as this, you can easily add it with an aftermarket laser pointer mounted to the dovetail rails. (We do have a bright muzzle flash, forward facing.)
When buying any laser device, make sure that it is Class I. That is the only truly eyesafe system, considering these beams will be pointed at other people's heads.