Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I know this has been posted on before but I am tossing an idea out there to be considered.

Several years ago a game was created by Wolfpack studios called Shadowbane. In that game there were stealth classes of character; thief, assassin, scout, etc etc. Now Wolfpack determined that stealth was a very powerful thing and limited in certain ways. I am suggesting an idea here that is similar to theirs.

Scout class ship:

In shadowbane the scout was the ONLY class that could see hidden characters. This wasn't a passive skill but one that required that the scout track down and get close enough to its target before he could see them. This idea could easily be implemented into a ship design. The scout was no more or less powerful than the average stealth character, and thus this new scout class ship would be a frigate in design, with roughly the same power as a single bomber.

How it would work:

The idea would be simple. This ship would be able to scan systems with probes, like combat probes but would be able to find a general location of a cloaked ship, say a 25KM radius around the ship, and decreasing to 5KM as you train skills. Now once the scout class ship has located the general area the cloaked ship might be, he can warp to that area but then he would have to manually fly around to locate the cloaked ship. Once the scout is within 5k of the cloaked ship, the player AND ONLY THAT PLAYER, would be able to see the cloaked ship. He would not be able to bookmark the ship or someone broadcast the location to his fleet while the cloaked ship is still cloaked. He would have to get within the standard 2.5k to decloak the ship. Once the cloak is dropped, BOTH ships are decloaked, and then normal combat can begin. NOW the scout ship would have one major advantage. A targeted cyno jammer. It only works on a single ship, only has a range of 5k and would be fueled by something like heavy water or something of that nature. Quick cycle time and fairly high use of materials to power it, so that its not used as a crutch to stop all cyno fields. The idea is a skilled player has to work to lock down a cloaked ship AND if they succeed, they need to have an advantage. The jammer is that advantage.

What this ship would do:

This would allow for PVP which is what CCP wants. It would combat AFK cloaked camping of a system. Anyone that is AFK is at risk of losing their ship. I feel that a cloak shouldn't be a safe guard. Be active or don't play. AFK cloak camping of a system is cheap tactic and requires 0 skill level to accomplish. I am purposing to add some skill back into an already skill dependent game. Most cloak campers are in ships that are worthless and they are preying on expensive ships that people have invested large amounts of time and effort into. I personally feel that if I am going to be at risk of attack, I want it to be on a level playing field.

I realize that PVPers hate care bears and CCP wants to increase the amount of PVP in the game. Well if they want that then they need to level the playing field. This ship design does that, especially with a cyno jammer.

Like I said. This is an idea. It can be and will be refined, BUT I think its a easily implemented solution that every side could agree is fair.

Yes. This ship would have a very hard time locating an ACTIVE cloak character. That's the idea.

Not supporting. Makes gate camping very easy.

Also... OP... check out the stats for cloaking specialized ships. They are already "pre-nerfed" by being weaker than in direct combat than their basic class variants.

What?? Gate camping is already stupid easy. Pop bubble and wait...... I am not sure you understood what I purposed.

Why don't you log off or dock up if a cloaked ship bothers you that much?



Nope. Never had that problem in a cloaky ship. And that's one of the reasons to fit a cloak in the first place.
I pay for this convenience with lower dps and tank. So it's all fair.

I think you're also missing the point. My idea is not to stop cloaking, but it is to stop the idea of cloak AFK camping in systems. I dont care about active cloaked ships, those dont bother me. What bothers me is the 3 month old character, sitting afk in a system with a rookie ship, a cyno and a cloak.

If you think cloak AFK camping of a system is a good idea then that's a different issue.


Shahfluffers.

No I am not. This ship would have a very difficult time locating an active cloaked ship. It would be useless as a point runner cause it would need probes in space, time to warp to a location, time to manually locate its target and then attack.

CCP wants more interaction and combat. Your not doing either. Either play or logoff. AFK Cloaky sitting is not playing.



CCP has put in the logoff of afker's but seems people have figured the way around it by either keymapping or macroing something to interact with the key board.

I think it's time there was a way to counter the cloak altogether. So either your pilot skills get better or you just lose your ship because you couldn't fight or flee when your suppose too.

the single afk stealth bomber preventing you from mining crokite is interacting with you, you just dont like the result

No that doesn't bother me. That's active game play. The guy in a rookie ship with a cyno bothers me and if you are going to say on the forums that things like that don't happen then you're crazy.

This tactic is more and more common. Why should I have to risk my ships that I invested time on to some troll that's in a 3 month old alt, with a cyno, and will blob a hulk just for giggles?

It's shear ignorance to think this is fun or even fair game play. The only reason you snap back at my idea is that I am suggesting that you actually have to fight the good fight instead of picking at the scraps and padding your kill boards with easy kills.

You think I am suggesting a nerf to cloaks or something similar. I am not. I am suggesting a counter to the AFK cloak camper that sits in a system for 8 hours a day, never does anything.

Local is abused both ways, no one would "afk" cloak an empty system.