Player Features and Ideas Discussion

As an intel-gathering tool, cov-ops don't have much going for them. Sure, they can probe and warp under cloak. They can see what a fleet has in it (unless they are hot-dropping), and even look closely at ships to get an idea of what modules they are using.

Still, it could be better. I assume these are all impossible to code under current eve mechanics, but that won't stop me from throwing these ideas out in this high-quality forum that is full of high-caliber ideas.

Ship/Cargo Scanning While Cloaked

1. If covert ops ships could lock targets while cloaked, it would mean that they could use modules like ship and cargo scanners, and thus be able to gain very real, very applicable intel on targets. A pilot that dedicated time to this could amass a good idea of what targets have weaker tanks, are more dangerous, et ceteras. I'm talking about the dedicated prober cov-ops, here, not any ol' ship with a cov-ops cloak.

2. Additional ideas: I like the idea of some covops-only modules. A module that gave you a target's effective hit points and resistances, for example. A suite of intel-gathering tools should be available, and currently are not. In combination with the cloaked scanning idea, I like the idea of needing to get pretty close to a ship to scan it; perhaps you need to get within 7500 meters to scan while cloaked, for example. That could be pretty scary (ie fun).

3. Problems: We can't lock ships while cloaked, and this is probably hard-coded or would otherwise be difficult to code. We can't lock ships that are in a POS shield, which is pretty much the only place in null that hands-on intel gathering could actually take place. There is a segment of the game that hates cloaks and would probably hate this, by extension. There is also no clamoring player-base demanding more cov-ops modules or claiming the ship lacks a purpose, and CCP is rightly focusing on those issues at this time.

It's fun to day-dream!

Some really fun and good ideas for expanding the intel role I think, gets my support.