EVE New Citizens Q&A

When cloaked...

- no one can see you.
- no one can detect you.


However...

- if you come within 2000m of any object (player, asteroid, drone, wreck, jetcan, cargocan, etc) you will automatically decloak.

- you cannot cloak as long as...
------- you are within 2000m of any object.
------- someone (even an NPC) has target locked you.

- cloaks have a "cooldown timer" which varies according to the ship and type of cloaking device you are using (anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds). So you cannot cloak, fire a volley, and cloak back up.

- you can not use any module while cloaked.

- only the Covert-Ops cloak...
------- does not give a speed penalty to your ship when active.
------- allows you to warp when cloaked.
------- can be fitted to certain "specialty" ships.


Other things to consider;

- Ships that can use the Covert-Ops cloak are "pre-nerfed" in various ways. Some are too slow, some are too squishy, and others deal anemic, to no, damage.

- There are no direct counters to cloaking devices.

- Cloaking devices may be able to conceal you from everything in a system... but people will still know that you are there. Local chat will always reveal your presence in a particular system regardless of how you entered it.

- You cannot seamlessly transition from "gate cloak" to "regular cloak" (see: cloaking up with your regular cloak after jumping through a stargate).
There is a one to two second delay when transitioning (see: hitting align/warp/move and then activating your cloaking device) and people will be able see you for a brief moment during that time.
Well prepared or experienced gatecampers can guesstimate your trajectory (just from seeing you for that moment) and will try to decloak you by literally running in your direction and hoping they get close enough.

If I understand wormhole space correctly, you do not show up in local when you enter there. (If I am mistaken, please let me know.)

Also, being cloaked does nothing to prevent mishaps such as being in range of bombs or smartbombs. You can still lose your ship if you take enough AOE damage.

Good Newbie, have forum candy for that.

You should still ask questions here obviously
but
eve rewards those with knowledge by enabling them to feast upon those without it

Yes, you appear in Local if you're in nullsec; "afk cloakers" exploit this by staying cloaked at a safe-spot, completely safe, and go afk for long periods of time to either disrupt mining and PVE operations in the area, or to desensitize the locals to their presence. PVE activities raise the rating of a null solar system, and a higher rating makes it slightly more difficult for an enemy alliance to conquer that system.

So every possible game mechanic is used for an advantage somewhere.

In any case, for the cloaky pilot, the cov-ops cloak provides a huge advantage over the prototype cloak, and your window of vulnerability is reduced to being around stargates, because you become visible as you switch from the gatecloak to the cov-ops cloak, and also because gate camps (definitely common in 0.0) can have a lot of litter spread around the area to decloak cov-ops intruders. They'll also have fast-targeting ships to keep you visible by targeting you as soon as they see you, interceptors to rush to your last visible position to decloak you, and possibly smartbombs to just AoE the area and kill everything, cloaked or not.

True... but it helps to simplify things a bit for newbies. They can learn certain nuances later.