Player Features and Ideas Discussion

You really should consider the title of the thread, when claiming it's context to be broader than the rest of us are claiming.

AFK Cloaking is the specific, actual cloaking mechanics are involved only to the point where they intersect this dynamic.

Hadn't even considered the effects on highsec, but with the ability to add a hostile pilot as a contact to see their online status and use locator agents to see their location, that could mitigate it some. Would definitely be interesting though.

And really, this could give a boost to either side of the conflict depending on how it's used. Set up a bait trap with cloaked pilots right near a mission ship, aggressors jump the mission ship and suddenly they have a fleet to deal with.

But then it seems like most highsec players will just drop corp in a wardec anyways.

Negative stereotypes aside, concerning high sec players avoiding war decs, this could be an interesting dynamic.

By specifically limiting local chat intel, it both enhances and diminishes the value of said intel.

I admit, after reading Bronson's take on your idea, I found it to be interesting.

I feel a dose of perspective needs to be included, or else changes which are pointless to gameplay begin to seem worthwhile.

The cloaked ship in space, which I will compare to a POS at various points, is only safe so long as the pilot has made the correct choices.
As others have pointed out, the cloak is purely concealment, not cover.
It offers no actual protection directly, it only interrupts the process of being attacked by requiring the attacker to locate the target first.

The difference is the same as hiding from an armed person, as opposed to being immune to their attacks.
The results may seem the same, but for different reasons.

The ship must be far enough away from traffic, and other objects, so that neither deliberate search patterns or accidental contact are expected.

The ship in the POS, can be exchanged for other shipping, resupplied, fittings changed, cargo deposited or loaded.
While the POS using player MAY have been part of the team which supported and maintained the POS, this is not a requirement to use it. They simply need permission from the players who hold the in game authority, to have access.
Communication as the cloaked ship has available is also included.

The cloaked ship can remain cloaked, so long as no modules are made active, no probes launched, or cargo jettisoned.
While cloaked, the player may operate probes already in space, and communicate with the market and other players.

Being in space, cloaked, lacks significance if this has no specific impact on other players.
In high sec, other players are not under duress to react to names of neutral players alone.
In wormholes, noone can hear you scream, fart, or see you in local.
In low sec, wild orgies of violence are expected by many, the guy shooting you is a more pressing issue than the guy hiding from you.

So I conclude that only in sov null does this have the meaningful significance to be addressed.

This is true. Even in npc null no one complains.

This is because PVE in sov null is mostly in open, warpable places like anoms and belts. In the rest of K space except FW low sec, major PVE is in Deadspace (missions, exploration) where probes are needed to get to you and where in many cases vynos won't work.

Take away null sec anoms and replace them with sov null sec missions and afk cloaking concerns mostly go away.

Easy fix to AFK cloaking:

- kill nullsec rental system

Once the botters lose their havens, these terrible threads go away.

The sad part, is that you are misusing the term balance.

You are pointing out lack of resolution options. This has nothing to do directly with balance.

Cloaking is broken, as it is an absolute form of concealment, and resulting intel deprivation.
Local is broken, as it is an absolute form of awareness, and resulting intel source.

These two aspects are opposing each other, resulting in balance, despite offering stalemate dynamics and often a lack of resolution.

Where is the advantage to gameplay?

This game will never adequately play realistically enough to overcome the simple fact, that it is a game.

People log out. They need to, real life takes priority.
We want them to be able to do this, as it promotes good play at other times.

People dock up or sit in a POS, AFK in friendly space. They need to, real life takes priority.
We want them to be able to do this, as it promotes good play at other times.

People engage cloaks in all areas of space, friendly and hostile, and go AFK. They need to, real life takes priority.
We want them to be able to do this, as it promotes good play at other times.

Being able to effectively pause your activity safely, ESPECIALLY in hostile space, benefits the game.
It allows players with imperfect lives to engage in otherwise time consuming and unforgivingly hostile areas.

Imagine how entrenched sov null would become, if players could not effectively cloak.
One or two layers of barrier systems would be all that was needed, to make larger alliances able to PvE with impunity behind these walls of safety.

Time is a undeniable constraint, when operating in hostile space.
It takes patience and effort to coordinate, and penetrate, when other players are opposing you.

Handing them victory by forfeit simply because your real life needs dictated you needed to either log out or be AFK would compromise the game we want to play.

I hate quoting blocks but in this case I need the entire post.

I do agree with what you are saying to some extent but your argument can be extended to all aspects of the game. We all understand that RL takes priority over a game, however that is not a justifcation for certain in game mechanics. If what you are saying is true, then CCP would not have created belt rats. They woud allow the miners to just mine in peace and go afk if they needed. However this is not the case.

No offense to cloakies but they are not the counter to alliances. Their existance is not the sole cause of havok amoungst an alliance. Look at how large alliances fractured with the jump distance change.

The unfortunate truth is that this isnt a single player gamer. If you have to leave, I dont understand why logging off isnt a valid solution.

Nikk. Seriously dude, I like you, but come on.

I have no idea what the original thought at CCP was in regards to belt rats but I seriously doubt it was meant as an isk boost while mining. I am going to guess that it was to make sure the miners were still active and not just letting their ships get attacked by NPCs. Furthermore on this point. Making Isk is invalid to the validity of cloaking. You can be sitting at a gate and rats will spawn. I doubt there are their to give you that lil 100k isk boost while you wait. Again I believe its to maintain a level of activity among players.

Your other points.... again I dont get it. It doesnt take much to log off in a system. 30 second safe log, and even during that time you can move if you are engaged on. Yea you have to start the counter over when you stop, but if you are trying to log off while there are combat probes on the field then well.... that pilot error. Especially when you can see them on dscan. The log off thing has been being used for a long time for penetrating into hostile space.

Also local is a two way street. You can see your targets activity just as much as the target can see yours. Even then, everyone has suggested a change to local.