Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Yep, it's another thread about AFK cloakers. Just to cover the basics real quick - The "AFK cloakers cant do **** to you, they can't even actively report intel on you," "Wait, what's the problem? How much damage can an AFK cloaked ship cause? As far as I know they can't use modules so WTF," "I was blown up by an AFK cloaker yesterday. I'm sure the bastard was AFK the WHOLE DAMN TIME HE WAS SHOOTING ME!!!!!!11" comments are either obvioustroll or incredibly naive, everyone knows that the threat doesn't typically come from the AFK cloaker himself but the cyno/backup he brings.

Personally, I find it a bit irritating that you can "own" space that becomes - for all intense and purposes - locked down by one or two guys sitting around cloaked. AFK? Probably. Something you want to bet your mining/pve/whatever ship on? Probably not. I heard rumors of CCP suggesting a sonar-type triangulating module to hunt down cloakies; why not introduce this as a POS module?

By introducing such a POS module, you're not directly nerfing cloak ships by requiring capacitor use or other such nonsense, and you're not allowing just any old Joe Shmoe to throw a module on his ship and hunt down the elusive AFK Cloaker. Rather, you're allowing those who have enough authority over a system to construct POSes the freedom to force hostile cloakie pilots to simply keep an eye on their D-scan and move around if they wish to remain in hostile space, same as any other hostile pilots would have to do.

I know that the uncertainty of knowing someone hostile is in system is bad. But I don't think that it should be quite as crippling as some folks are making it out to be.

A cloaky ship can bring a cyno. A cloaky ship can use said cyno. A cloaky ship can also pack some pretty significant weapontry. But, that threat has always struck me as rather low. Even when I was in it. Quite frankly, I forgot all about them after a couple of hours. I also never had the misfortune of losing a ship to one. I was too busy losing my ship to other silly shenanigans.

It strikes me as more of a threat managment issue than anything else. People need to establish a way to cope within their own corps. After all, calling upon CCP to fix every piece of mind issue distracts from important balance and delays new content in favor of something that is comparitively minor.

Groan.

No.

Work as a corp to deal with your problems. Either go back to high sec if you can't hack it or persuade your corp to fulfil their function of defending their space. Bait traps whilst ratting. If they don't bite, they're AFK and you've ratted. If they bite you spring the trap and get a kill.

If your corp can't do this they don't deserve their space and that "AFK" cloaker has fulfilled their purpose splendidly, highlighting this fact.

There is no AFK cloaker issue. There is an issue with corps being incompetent and players refusing to adapt.

You know, nullsec carebears are seeming way more whiney and pathetic than high sec carebears these days. I think it's funny.

First, Sonar+Space=NOTHING!!!

Now that that's out of the way lets move on to your reasoning behind this little idea of yours.

I find it funny how a ship that for all intents and purposes is built specifically to infiltrate and survive deep behind enemy lines to be given away as quickly and easily as a glance towards local. Covert Operations doesn't exhist in Eve because local chat intel is in place. Reducing the value of that intel (this is achieved by parking yourself in a system for a few days) is the only way to gain accurate information or viable targets.

I understand that 'your' space is being threatened, and you've worked hard to retain that space (or not). Why devalue the application of our only way to conduct covert operations with the tools that we are given to the point that it would kill all forms of black ops warfare in general.

Just sit and think about it for a moment, as an AFK Cloaker I'm just trying to fight you the way that I want to fight you. That is through fear and intimidation, local chat allows me to do this without effort. Without local chat intel I would have to actively engage one of your ships (that I would have to hunt down) and risk losing my own extremely fragile ship in the process; and on top of that I would have to maintain a certain rate of attacks to continue to intimidate you, not to mention if you should move I'd have to hunt you down all over again.

So with that in mind I wouldn't mind a slow (30-60 seconds), short range (on grid only), cloak finder. Removing local would actually help you!

Lets just sort this out right here, right now: AFK cloakers are not a god damn issue. Period. They are, by definition, incapable of doing anything to anyone. If you have such a battered, frail psyche that you cower in fear because there's an extra name in local (gasp! Another person in a MMO! I'm scared! Hold me!) well... thats your problem. It's not a problem with the mechanics of the game. HTFU

-Remove local

-Give destroyers a sonar module for finding cloakies

Everybody happy!

No.

Once again: the ability to find or decloak at range completely nerfs every ship that can fit a covert ops cloak. You can't implement something like that without buffing covops, bombers, recons, and T3 covert subs.

HTFU
afk cloaking is fine and required.

You utterly failed to comprehend my post.

Every ship designed to fit covert cloak is BALANCED for the fact that it can't be probed down. They're designed to move under cloak and gain position on the enemy. Their offensive and defensive capabilities hinge on their ability to attack with surprise. If you remove that element of surprise, you heavily nerf these classes of ship. What you ask for requires a serious rebalancing of at least 16 different ship types.

Well then in that case remove stations so docking up is impossible.

You and your ratting Tengu has no right to safety in a universe that is supposed to be a harsh and cold place.