No. The old TROs had additional sensors listed among their equipment. They were retconned out along with fractions.
Yeah; that's the stuff I was thinking about.
The improved comms quirk basically works for the comms equipment.
I *CAN* house-rule something for the sensors, but I wanted to stick to canon, if possible.
The issue is this; I *LOVE* fractional accounting. It's just that little pinch of granularity that gives BT's oddly neat and pretty tonnage-limits a more realistic edge. So what to fill the extra space with? On many of my designs I go with cargo; who cant use a little bit more cargo? But on some I have something minor like; 0.23 tons of Sensors or Comms gear.
In my head I had sworn that you took Piloting rolls to break out of jamming or break encryption; I never used it, but as an optional rule, it felt right. I pictured a range in map sheets listed somewhere for bog-standard communications systems and I figured; okay: So the extra comms gear outside of an even ton gives you a *bit* more range and a -1 on those ECM/Crypto checks? I had over-looked the improved comms *quirk*.
I pictured something similar to the double-blind rules for sensors; a little more range (as shown), a -1 on checks that still kept them well-inferior to active probes (how does improved sensors work with an AP mounted?) and something like a free searchlight quirk without the *HIT ME!* drawback of a real searchlight.
But in reviewing the rules; active probes aren't a roll; they just *work* under given conditions.