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* ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'': The sensor tower, when first introduced in a gameplay demonstration, was used for this effect, particularly in one level where Raynor's Raiders are investigating a colony that's been infested by the Zerg. During the night, swarms of Zerg attack, showing up as an ! in the darkened areas of the map until they come into line of sight. However, the tower's AoE is visible to enemy players.

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* ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'': The sensor tower, when first introduced in a gameplay demonstration, was used for this effect, particularly in one level where Raynor's Raiders are investigating a colony that's been infested by the Zerg. During the night, swarms of Zerg attack, showing up as an ! in the darkened areas of the map until they come into line of sight. However, the tower's AoE [=AoE=] is visible to enemy players.
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!!Captain! The radar shows multiple incoming examples!

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!!Captain! The radar shows multiple incoming {{Incoming}} examples!
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A more recent usage of this trope is to have ''lots'' of blips on the radar display, or to have a really big blip appear, as a precursor to something really bad happening. Alternatively, the blips might suddenly disappear, which is even worse for the heroes.

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A more recent usage of this trope is to have ''lots'' of blips on the radar display, display or to have a really big blip appear, as a precursor to something really bad happening. Alternatively, the blips might suddenly disappear, which is even worse for the heroes.



* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: During the Golden Age Paradise Island had a proximity alarm set up to alert the Amazons if anything was approaching the island from the sea. One one occasion despite the alarm being triggered their foes remained unseen while they scrambled to figure out what was coming since the villain had co-opted the tech that makes Diana's SpacePlane invisible for a ship.

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* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: During the Golden Age Paradise Island had a proximity alarm set up to alert the Amazons if anything was approaching the island from the sea. One On one occasion despite the alarm being triggered their foes remained unseen while they scrambled to figure out what was coming since the villain had co-opted the tech that makes Diana's SpacePlane invisible for a ship.



* ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' has the air traffic control scene, where the aircraft (and possible [=UFOs=]) are represented not by blips as such, but by basic text and graphics on radar-like screens. This is TruthInTelevision, as that scene was filmed at Los Angeles [=ARTCC=] with actual controllers and radar displays. Modern [=ATC=] radar (especially at regional centers even in 1977) uses computer generated data to display targets.
* ''Film/ColossusTheForbinProject'' does this with great tension as the supercomputers launch a nuclear exchange between the US and USSR, all the top heads can do watch the radar and hope the machines will intercept the nukes.

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* ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' has the air traffic control scene, where the aircraft (and possible [=UFOs=]) are represented not by blips as such, but by basic text and graphics on radar-like screens. This is TruthInTelevision, as that scene was filmed at Los Angeles [=ARTCC=] with actual controllers and radar displays. Modern [=ATC=] radar (especially at regional centers even in 1977) uses computer generated computer-generated data to display targets.
* ''Film/ColossusTheForbinProject'' does this with great tension as the supercomputers launch a nuclear exchange between the US and USSR, all the top heads can do is watch the radar and hope the machines will intercept the nukes.



* Before its proper appearance, the monster in ''Film/DeepStarSix'' makes itself known by appearing in the cast's radars, ramming something (usually with disastrous results) and then disappearing into depths of the ocean.

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* Before its proper appearance, the monster in ''Film/DeepStarSix'' makes itself known by appearing in the cast's radars, ramming something (usually with disastrous results) and then disappearing into the depths of the ocean.



* The first time the Bubble Ship is struck by lightning in ''Film/{{Oblivion 2013}}'' , we get a glimpse of the Ship disapearing from the Tower's sensor display, much to the distress of Victoria.

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* The first time the Bubble Ship is struck by lightning in ''Film/{{Oblivion 2013}}'' , 2013}}'', we get a glimpse of the Ship disapearing disappearing from the Tower's sensor display, much to the distress of Victoria.



* Used as BookEnds in ''Film/TopGun''. In both cases the [[JustPlaneWrong MiG-28s]] are flying close enough together that the [=F-14s'=] radar reads them as half the number of planes that are actually in the formation.

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* Used as BookEnds in ''Film/TopGun''. In both cases cases, the [[JustPlaneWrong MiG-28s]] are flying close enough together that the [=F-14s'=] radar reads them as half the number of planes that are actually in the formation.



* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Due to the technology used in the setting, most navies have the capability to instantly detect ships exiting hyperspace, or using [[ArtificialGravity gravitic-based engines]] to move around. However, they are still largely limited to light-speed sensors and communications equipment to make any accurate identification of the ships in question. From time to time we see sensor operators trying to use whatever data they can glean from their gravitic sensors to make inferences about who or what just arrived in their star system. Oftentimes their guesses are wrong due to outdated intel or incorrect assumptions, and at least twice this has lead to FriendOrFoe scenarios. The later development of faster-than-light communications (by a handful of factions) and various types of stealth further complicate things.

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* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Due to the technology used in the setting, most navies have the capability to instantly detect ships exiting hyperspace, or using [[ArtificialGravity gravitic-based engines]] to move around. However, they are still largely limited to light-speed sensors and communications equipment to make any accurate identification of the ships in question. From time to time we see sensor operators trying to use whatever data they can glean from their gravitic sensors to make inferences about who or what just arrived in their star system. Oftentimes their guesses are wrong due to outdated intel or incorrect assumptions, and at least twice this has lead led to FriendOrFoe scenarios. The later development of faster-than-light communications (by a handful of factions) and various types of stealth further complicate things.



* In the ''Star Wolf'' series by David Gerrold, due to the distances involved in a space battle no-one ever sees their opponent. In fact the first novel originally ends with the main character discovering that the enemy spacecraft they've been chasing the entire novel is just a sensor glitch (Gerrold later expanded the novel and had this just be an enemy ploy).

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* In the ''Star Wolf'' series by David Gerrold, due to the distances involved in a space battle no-one no one ever sees their opponent. In fact fact, the first novel originally ends with the main character discovering that the enemy spacecraft they've been chasing the entire novel is just a sensor glitch (Gerrold later expanded the novel and had this just be an enemy ploy).



** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]": The expedition base camp has a scanner that shows life-signs moving around in the cave system the expedition is exploring. Over the course of the episode, we get dots suddenly disappearing (expedition members being killed), a dot that fades in and out (the thing that's killing them, which is alien enough to confuse the scanner), and dots suddenly appearing (the Doctor and friends arriving, just in time to be accused of the murders).

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** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]": The expedition base camp has a scanner that shows life-signs life signs moving around in the cave system the expedition is exploring. Over the course of the episode, we get dots suddenly disappearing (expedition members being killed), a dot that fades in and out (the thing that's killing them, which is alien enough to confuse the scanner), and dots suddenly appearing (the Doctor and friends arriving, just in time to be accused of the murders).



* ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' has this in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E04MementoMori Memento Mori]]", where the heavily-damanged ''Enterprise'' is forced to hide from a Gorn ship in a brown dwarf. With the sensors of both ships not working, Spock comes up with an idea to use the navigation system's atmospheric sensors to track disaplacement, which is shown with a top-down view of the ''Enterprise'' and a blip representing the Gorn ship.

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* ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' has this in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E04MementoMori Memento Mori]]", where the heavily-damanged ''Enterprise'' is forced to hide from a Gorn ship in a brown dwarf. With the sensors of both ships not working, Spock comes up with an idea to use the navigation system's atmospheric sensors to track disaplacement, displacement, which is shown with a top-down view of the ''Enterprise'' and a blip representing the Gorn ship.



* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' had an interesting example in the Psychic Sensor. It had a fixed range, but could detect any unit that had the intent (orders) to go into that range.

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* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' had an interesting example in the Psychic Sensor. It had a fixed range, range but could detect any unit that had the intent (orders) to go into that range.



* ''VideoGame/{{Uplink}}'', a spritual predecessor to DEFCON, had a program that would beep depending on how much time you'd have to hack into a target system before someone caught you in the act.
* ''VideoGame/{{Defender}}'': The scanner was just a display of colored squares. But seeing humanoid abductions -- and the [[EarthShatteringKaboom high price of failing to prevent them]] -- brings on the Sensor Suspense bigtime. The UrExample among video games.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Uplink}}'', a spritual spiritual predecessor to DEFCON, had a program that would beep depending on how much time you'd have to hack into a target system before someone caught you in the act.
* ''VideoGame/{{Defender}}'': The scanner was just a display of colored squares. But seeing humanoid abductions -- and the [[EarthShatteringKaboom high price of failing to prevent them]] -- brings on the Sensor Suspense bigtime.big time. The UrExample among video games.



** One scene has you defending a comatose Alyx against antlions with a two other resistance members. The sensors are repurposed traffic lights that light up for the volume of ant lions incoming. The end of the scene has all of them light up as much as they can, forcing the player, the resistance, and a few other Vortiguants that came to help to fend them off.

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** One scene has you defending a comatose Alyx against antlions with a two other resistance members. The sensors are repurposed traffic lights that light up for the volume of ant lions incoming. The end of the scene has all of them light up as much as they can, forcing the player, the resistance, and a few other Vortiguants that who came to help to fend them off.



* In the ''VideoGame/MechCommander'' games, certain active enemy units are shown as blips when out of your vision range but within sensor range. Unless you have a skilled pilot and proper sensor hardware though, you have no way of knowing what that blip ''is''; it could be a light scout vehicle, or a fully-loaded assault 'Mech. The only exception is when a 'Mech starts up; the game does alert you to the boot-up in a rather melodramatic voice.

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* In the ''VideoGame/MechCommander'' games, certain active enemy units are shown as blips when out of your vision range but within sensor range. Unless you have a skilled pilot and proper sensor hardware though, you have no way of knowing what that blip ''is''; it could be a light scout vehicle, vehicle or a fully-loaded assault 'Mech. The only exception is when a 'Mech starts up; the game does alert you to the boot-up in a rather melodramatic voice.



* Since ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' is one of the most large-scale RTS games out there (with maps going up to ''81km squared'' in size), radar is essential to keep track of enemy units moving in the fog of war. You can't tell what kind of units they are until you get visuals on them, although experienced players can generally tell the difference between a swarm of land units, sea units or different kinds of air units by their speed and formation; a patrol of high-tier interceptors will move a lot faster and smoothly across rough terrain than a gaggle of low-tier tanks, for example.
* In a similar vein, ''VideoGame/AshesOfTheSingularity'' uses a heat-map-esque system for enemy movements and buildup in your radar range. A small reddish-orange blob isn't much to be concerned about, but when you see a giant yellowish mass slowly rolling towards your front line you ''might'' want to brace for impact.
* During TheWarSequence from near the end of ''[[VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders Zone of the Enders: the Second Runner]]'' you get a radar showing the battleground with your army of allies and oncoming swarms of enemies as different coloured dots. Not too tense, until you reach the final wave -- when the entire top half of the rader is flooded by a ''ridiculous'' number of dots as a colossal horde of enemies starts sweeping down towards your poor outnumbered force. OhCrap time.

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* Since ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' is one of the most large-scale RTS games out there (with maps going up to ''81km squared'' in size), radar is essential to keep track of enemy units moving in the fog of war. You can't tell what kind of units they are until you get visuals on them, although experienced players can generally tell the difference between a swarm of land units, sea units units, or different kinds of air units by their speed and formation; a patrol of high-tier interceptors will move a lot faster and smoothly across rough terrain than a gaggle of low-tier tanks, for example.
* In a similar vein, ''VideoGame/AshesOfTheSingularity'' uses a heat-map-esque system for enemy movements and buildup in your radar range. A small reddish-orange blob isn't much to be concerned about, but when you see a giant yellowish mass slowly rolling towards toward your front line you ''might'' want to brace for impact.
* During TheWarSequence from near the end of ''[[VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders Zone of the Enders: the The Second Runner]]'' you get a radar showing the battleground with your army of allies and oncoming swarms of enemies as different coloured dots. Not too tense, until you reach the final wave -- when the entire top half of the rader is flooded by a ''ridiculous'' number of dots as a colossal horde of enemies starts sweeping down towards your poor outnumbered force. OhCrap time.



* One can only imagine what it must be like to be a military sonar operator, or to have been a radar operator during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Or worse, inverting things being on the receiving end of the former.
** Sonar units were intentionally left off some capital ships despite there being plenty of room and budget for them. Unlike lighter escort units that would be tangling with submarines anyway, the hydroacoustic kits would often have a demoralizing effect on the crew due to false contacts. Though it should be mentioned is that half of this was so capital ships wouldn't try to investigate contacts directly rather than sending their escorts to do it.
* In modern air and naval warfare, this is effectively all there is as the odds of seeing an enemy have massively decreased with the advent of more modern missiles. With naval vessels this has been true for several decades but for aircraft it is only since around Desert Storm that this has become true.
* Modern parking sensors use beeps as indicators that you're reversing and reduce the interval between them the closer the vehicle's rear end gets to an obstacle, until it flatlines at point-blank range. This system induces this trope on an incredibly mundane level.

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* One can only imagine what it must be like to be a military sonar operator, operator or to have been a radar operator during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Or worse, inverting things being on the receiving end of the former.
** Sonar units were intentionally left off some capital ships despite there being plenty of room and budget for them. Unlike lighter escort units that would be tangling with submarines anyway, the hydroacoustic kits would often have a demoralizing effect on the crew due to false contacts. Though However, it should be mentioned is that half of this was so capital ships wouldn't try to investigate contacts directly rather than sending their escorts to do it.
* In modern air and naval warfare, this is effectively all there is as the odds of seeing an enemy have massively decreased with the advent of more modern missiles. With naval vessels vessels, this has been true for several decades but for aircraft aircraft, it is only since around Desert Storm that this has become true.
* Modern parking sensors use beeps as indicators that you're reversing and reduce the interval between them the closer the vehicle's rear end gets to an obstacle, obstacle until it flatlines at point-blank range. This system induces this trope on an incredibly mundane level.

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