Player Features and Ideas Discussion

[AFK Cloaking Solutions] Class System Scanner as Active Mod

Thread got hi-jacked on a tangent, original post below this. This thread is now about treating the system scanner as an activated module, meaning you require to decloak to scan down anoms. This would assist in combating AFK cloakers and give the D-Scan the same counter-ganking benefits it gives null/lowsec mission runners.

[Interdictor] Counter-measures

So, cloaking is a tad overpowered. It hit me yesterday that with stealth and submarine technology came counter-measures, so why not have them in EvE?

The best candidate for their implementation would be the destroyer hull (because... well... death charges ofc). So why not add some new interdiction probes?



I'm sure you could come up with many more awsome

Bland

This sounds interesting, though I believe CCP already stated we wouuldn't see some thing go AoE and heat generation was among them, iirc.

The Decloaking probe would be nice if you coulnd't use it on gates and such, since it would make gatecamping way too easy, even without good decloakers.

The EMP probe is essentially a combo of smartbomb and Sensor Damp, which sound mildly op even before going into the details. And with a bomber rework likely in the pipe already, I'd wait and see.
Area of Effect sensor Dampening is an interesting concept, but I can foresee it really messing the balance as some fleets would be hit hard by it while others could ignore it altogether.

Lockbreaking probes already exist, they're the underused Lockbreaker Bombs, and they're underused for a variety of reasons.


And before the AFK cloaking crowd all jump on this as some kind of heresy, it would add some gameplay to a boring (if valid) tactic: you can trawl an area with these probes to make sure there aren't campers there. If the afker is dumb enough to do so somewhere close, he can be found and killed, and it would afford cloaky free zones to those that can work for them.

All in all +1 , hope this gives CCP food for thought.

not true, a good sonar operator can tell you the type of screw in the water and the ship it belongs to.

Any AFK action that can positively or negatively impact other players should be removed from the game and prevented at all costs. I believe CCP agrees with this, they already made tweaks to OGB, now they need to fix AFK cloaking.

Side note, removing Local would be a good move too.

Just have to mention... Your "heat" probes would likely be the most powerful anti-capitol weapon in the game. You can't defend against module damage, so you could burn out a capitol fleets weapons & hardeners without even having to engage them.

Also, there is a list of commonly suggested ideas on the sticky. Anti-cloaking probes suggestions go back to at least 2007. It's fine how it is, in my opinion. I do have to mention though, I live in WH space, so I'm used to assuming that there is always a cloaky hanging around somewhere.

Clearly you do not understand the issue with afk cloaking, although off topic, I'll explain;

The main disadvantage sov-dwelling anom runners face over mission runners is the lack of the requirement to probe. This means when I'm running my level 4 missions in npc nullsec I can happily do so with an unlimited number of neutrals in local. I know that if I keep D-Scanning, I will catch probes and have an early warning to any potential threat.

In anomalies this is not the case, you can warp to any anomaly in system without giving away if you are actively hunting or not. Combine this with the upgrade system restricting your choice of systems to the ones you have upgraded (both Ihub upgrades as well as gaining military 5).

Just a single cloaked neut in Sov space system will deny that entire system from potentially 100's of pilots. When you can do so AFK for 23/7, pick and choose targets to hotdrop on your own terms with no means of counter or detection, that is a problem.

It takes 3 minutes for a ratting carrier to be killed by blops hotdrop. That is not enough time for a defense fleet to form, warp in and save the carrier. Even if they could, your talking about having to have an active defense fleet to combat and AFK threat. Why should somoene who isnt at his keyboard have so much power as to have 100 players be ready to counter a potential threat.

In reality, AFK cloaking is imbalanced.

You, can't even argue that if your aligned you can warp before being tackled from a deloaker, because the simple, yet effective tactic of moving infront of and bumping a target prior to tackling it.

I'm all for risk and reward, this is all reward and no risk for the cloaker.

your missing the point entirely. What is the risk taken by the cloaker? nothing. What is the overal impact, a substantially negative one which in my opinion is way too much power for someone who is essentially AFK/Alt tabbed.

His reward is being able to hide his activity, by being present all the time in the system you lack that information provided normally by local count increasing or decreasing.

An easier solution would be to have a inactivity logout timer or a method of seeing who is active, pilots that have not moved the cursor in 10 minutes (as an example) appear grayed out in local.

If you had no local, you wouldn't even know he's there. ...and you would rat anyway with a watchful eye on D-scan...



So you're saying that knowing he's there is what makes your [insert popular word for man-parts here] retreat into your body cavity.