Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Ah, sorry. I barely read the details of any specific ant-afk proposal anymore. It's THAT tired of a subject because no one idea EVER addresses WHY people AFK-cloak in the first place (hint: it's the mechanic that allows you to know they are there).

But... after [really] reading your idea... it would make wormholes easier to secure (not a good thing)... you would still know roughly when and where a bombing run would come from allowing larger fleets to escape... and it would still hurt cloaked hunters that are required to slowboat right into scram range of a target.



The general consensus is that they only balanced way you'll ever get the ability to probe or hunt down cloakers is by giving them the ability to be truly stealthy in the first place. Right now we have this situation; "absolute presence awareness countered by absolute location concealment."

You "break" one side you HAVE to "break" the other.

The post is a suggestion to ADD more content to the game by way of Skills, Ships, and Modules.

There is nothing is there about reducing the cloak, ships, or combat. In fact it adds combat.

Someone would have to train say:
Electronics 5
Cloaking 5
Then - Cloak Signature or Tracking or whatever the skills would be

For the ship it would be Frigate class so the associated skills for say the covert ops ships would be required then the other ship skills that track the cloaked ships.

This adds more to the game that someone would have to specialize in order to do correctly which is a plus.

Been talking about this a bit with corp mates. To address the issue with gate camping. This idea wouldn't make it any easier. I can understand that you think that it would allow you to see a cloak ship trying to sneak thru a bubble. This can already be done with only a couple ships. All I have to do is launch drones and assign them to a fellow squad member. The drones will have a very high chance of decloaking the stealth ship.

What type of buff would you suggest? You already have a good thing going with the current cloak setup.

I dont see the imbalance you are speaking of. If you truly think that youre cloaky ship is weaker than the average ship, then I think youre just arguing for the sake of arguing.

Look, when is the last time you sat solo in a system, not in a fleet just looking for your own solo kill? I would guess it's not all that often and if you are, I highly doubt it's in a bomber. It's probably a cloaky tengu or loki and if your crying that these ships are under powered, then I dont know what to tell you.

I know the idea of taking local out of the game has been put out there but I just dont think CCP will do it. I could be wrong but I just dont see it. I think the removal of local would require a true overhaul to the game and I am not sure that's going to happen.

And yes, pointing out other examples in other games that have effectively dealt with stealth is a completely valid argument.

Your idea unbalances null sec play, and breaks wormholes.

I don't think you understand this since you seem to accept the intel provided by local as inherently balanced.
This indicates a lack of objectivity.

But don't just take my word for it, rather consider the following too:

Local provides free intel. This is obvious, and not disputed.
Specifically, it is instant, and complete. No teamwork is needed to use it, it comes ready as is.

In sov space, EVE allows corporations to place defensive structures. These CAN be taken down, but not before individual pilots and ships have time to evacuate. This level of defense allows pilots to be completely safe, short of pilot error.

Now, by using local as a warning method, and staying aligned to one of these safe locations, a player can be in warp to them within moments of noticing a new name in local.
It is not possible for a hostile pilot to force a failure in these events.

What this means: PvE assets in space with anchored POS or Outpost structures cannot be effectively threatened.

What does AFK cloaking do?
Since there are no comparable structures present for the hostile to use, normally, they must achieve a defensive equivalent in order to counter the presence of the locals.
If this defense is compromised, the locals have their "I WIN" button. It simply has a delayed effect equal to the amount of time needed to locate and expel the unwanted presence(s).

The idea does not unbalance anything. If anything it adds more balance to null sec play and increases the chances of PVP on all sides.

The argument over local seems slightly invalid since it is unlikely that CCP will be removing it. If they do, so be it, but at the moment it does not appear they will be.

As for breaking wormholes. I dont understand how. Wormholes have no local unless you speak in it. You don't know who is there or who isn't The scout ship would only allow you to find cloaked ships. Current game mechanics allow you to find EVERYTHING else with standard probes. With a little work, anything in a WH can be found.

You're complaining that a person can use local to setup networks of intel channels so that invading forces can be spotted and people have time to safe up their ships. If you removed local, you would have to install some way for ships to find other ships and again, intel channels would be setup and the same warning system would exist.

As for your argument about structures in space. I am sorry but it doesnt make sense. No one person is going to be out hunting for a POS to take down on their own. If a corp wants to take a POS/System/Station/Whatever they form fleets, they come in mass and they take what they want or they are fought off. AFK cloaking does nothing for this other then provide a bit of intel. However we both know this is not what it is used for. It is used to score easy kills in industrial territories or softer targets.

What does AFK cloaking do? It's a fear tactic used by corps/alliances to try to keep people logged off or stop production in industrial systems. Nothing more. You can argue that it has other roles but we both know that they are rarely seen.

The idea of a scout ship seems rather simple. The ship would be highly limited and wouldnt effect things to the scale you think it would.

There is no proposed nerf. This only effects Cloaked ships that are inactive. If your active, then you would have to actually play instead of goofing off on whatever.

Just a way to chase you and MAKE you active. If you stop flying around then your dead. I would even go as far as a longer scan time to give you time to warp off. That makes you active and not some movie watcher trying to disrupt gameplay for lots of other people or alliances.

Someone mentioned gangs of Cloaked individuals. Right now the covert cyno has no counter. You can not stop it with a Cyno jammed system. You can not see it on the overview. There's no way to stop it currently.

This would give other players a way to chase down those players who are trying to gank whatever or disrupting operations. That way instead of everyone waiting for either the cloaky to get kicked off, leave. or log. It gives the player who gets bored of waiting in the station something to do. Then if they succeed, they can do what they originally wanted to do.

This gets the players in the station playing "Hunt the rabbit" and the Cloaky actually moving around instead of afk sitting.

You are asking for the imbalance here. Behr is asking for a legit way to chase you down. Not lowering any ship abilities or defenses.

Eve-Kill shows the current deaths to cloaked ships at a high. So you have no grounds for that comment about pvp fit. Most steath bombers are used as cyno ships anyhow. Covert Cyno and Black Ops ships can not be stopped by cyno jammers.

I am asking for a way to make you active. A way to make sure your playing and a way to interact with you without turning up or down the current ship balances.

A new ship all together would even the playing field on both the inactive players and give something to do to the ones who are bored sitting in the station. If you are actually playing, then you would have nothing to worry about. Except that time you take to go to the bathroom or the "Smoke break" you want so badly.

You should really quit that habit though.

I bet if people stopped staying docked/POSd up when there is a cloaky-camper in the system there would be more PVP too.