Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I prefer just making non-covops cloaks require cap booster charges, with a base cycle time equal to the cap charge rating in seconds. leave covops cloaks alone.

Remove local.


Rabble rabble rabble.

So where's the balance in regards to intel? With your idea, you've just improved locals intel power enormously. I don't see any balance in that at all.

No, try again.

I would actually think the solution could be far more simple.
Cloak Detection Probes

They could be used for scanning down cloaked ships, I mean a cloaking device by nature does not physically hide the ship.
In-fact it is little more than a Sensor Trick, a bit like Radar Absorbant Materials on Aircraft ... I mean they don't hide the ship, just reduce their cross-section so it is difficult to tell them apart from natural background noise (i.e. Birds)

Thus the solution is to have a Combat Style Probe, that had more accuracy ... but the downside to them is that they take considerably longer to cycle scans due to a more comprehensive scan. Would need to be carefully balanced so we don't end up with the Combat Probe situation, which with a good probe scanner is possible to find targets (even as small as Frigates) within a matter of 2-3 Cycles. I mean it takes a lot of skill to achieve that quickly, but honestly is still too quick - Fleets imo should have atleast a minute before probes detect them, I've been able to scan down fleets in a single cycle.

Still that issue aside, a single ship (often a Frigate) on their own is a little more tricky to track down. This can take a minute or so depending on the Probers skills. Now if there were specific Probes for hunting down Cloaked ships, then the Cloak itself could have a value of how much it reduces the signature ... thus the better the Cloak, the more it is reduced in Signature.

This would in-turn increase the time it took to get a lock.
I mean look at certain Celestial Sites, such-as the specialised Mining / Gas ones - they tend to be a ***** to scan down... far more so than combat probing ships.

If there was a way to balance it so that probing these ships down took that same level of skill and frustration, then that would be awesome. Now especially when you consider most Cloaked pilots don't sit still, so even if you warp to them, you still have to find them.

With normal Cloaking devices this would be relatively easy, but Covert Ops (or Black Ops) this becomes more of a challenge given their speed and ability to warp while cloaked.

Now something that could also help in terms of that, without breaking the game could be that once probed down the ships gives off a unique signal that could be linked to your active scanner. Each time you hit "Scan" (i.e. every 10 seconds) a pulse is emiited that would "ping" visually in space momentarily.. making your tactical view and being zoomed out a good idea.

This said when this "ping" happens, the cloaked pilot could be informed his end that someone has detected him with a noise of their own.

The way I see it, this wouldn't reduce how effective Cloaking is. It would however force more people to use Covert Ops ships for their intended roles... rather than just super special awesome Probing Ships.

It would create a nice dynamic, similar to Destroyers trying to hunt down Submarines. I mean the choice is either a ping, or for mines to return with a specific role change akin to "depth charges"

I also believe that Cloaking Devices should use Capacitor, enough so that they can't exactly be perma-run. Enough so that based upon the ship-size, means they would use more Capacitor in-relation to what is available. You want a nice average of about 1hr to 1hr 30min of Cap. This would prevent AFK Cloaking, but someone who is semi-AFK Cloaking would still be able to do that just fine, as you'd warp between long safespots so the capacitor recharges and allows you to recloak for another hour or so.

Solutions to me that are little more than a "We have enough ISK to Anchour this and make Cloaking useless" to me are just stupid. I will say that cloaking on the whole is a considerably powerful tool though that has no real method for preventing past sheer luck or stupidity on the pilots part. To me the above suggestion would keep cloaking as a viable mechanic, but make it so that Skilled pilots would be able to have a chance to combat it.

This said, should these suggestions be acted upon though... for the love of god do not simply test internally CCP.
You guys frankly suck at the game, which to your credit so does a large portion of the player base - but in the hands of players who learn a system effectively, it becomes ridiculous. Combat Probing is a very good example of this, where most people are crap at it so seems like it works as intended - but then there are guys who basically use it daily for ganking. These are ppl, like myself who have it down to an artform. You have at most 30seconds to GTFO or the fleet will land on you... generally this means anything larger than a cruiser fleet will get rofl-stomped.

Now from a using it perspective, I think it's a fun and powerful tool... but I do think it is a little to easy. Esp when you compare it to certain Anomolies (such-as Radar) that can be a ***** to scan down. The system on the whole is fine, but it does need some fine tuning.

Anything done to hinder AFK cloakers will inevitably harm active cloakers as well, if not more.

As he said.

Why did you feel the need to create another thread when you could just have added your pointless comments to one of the plethora of other threads already in existence?

Why are you suggesting breaking cloaking?

Why is it that people can't accept their incompetence where cloaks are concerned. If I, who fail horribly at EvE, can survive perfectly well with cloakies around you must all be complete fail.

Yet another pointless whine about a system which doesn't really have any problems other than people's erroneous perceptions.

Seriously, that proposal from the OP.... total troll, has to be.

Not even going to waste my time explaining how bad it is.

Anyone who has ever been an AFK cloaker knows that it is very easy to avoid being killed by one. The only people who get killed by AFK cloakers are bots and lazy pilots and I say good riddance to them.