Since I know my players I know they will want to try to keep low-profiles, and strike from the shadows. They’re very fond of covert op type stuff. With that in mind how do my GMFoNs ‘find’ the PCs for offensive conflict scenes? Should I use Circles here? If so can my GMFoNs simply Circle up someone in a Circle that the PC and GMFoN share? I’m a little unclear on how to work this, and I don’t want to accidentally cheat.
Check out the rules for relationships. You can call a scene with a relationship whenever it’s appropriate.
If the players are holing up, then it becomes a Security/Observation/Security Rigging/Inconspicuous/Forgery/Signals style game. Lots of tracking and scanning and tailing and watching.
Of course, that’s only if the players actually have the tech. If they don’t have the tech, then you can just describe exactly how it is you find their secret hideout with your death commandos.
What you can do, for your offensive strike, is to hit something the players care about - and if they don’t come out to fight, it’s gone. Blown up or whatever. I recently (last BE game) set up a scene where I said resupply ships came in, and I was hitting them. The player didn’t want a firefight, so I used a building scene to cripple his fleet.