EVE General Discussion

This.

I think you're misinterpreting the suggestion intentionally, based on a biased and vested interest.

Cloaky Blockade runners are very nearly as fast as a Cov Ops; and can get in and out of systems handily. Even if they do break your cloak; you're probably already moving to warp, and well away from there. If you aren't, they likely could have caught you with current mechanics.

Basically, anything that is brought in needs to be balanced and allow for all playstyles. Even afkers.

- Removing local doesn't work. For this, you lose the ability to cloaky harass locals in Null. Not fun.

- Delaying local doesn't work. This results in afkers harassing locals in Null being able to do so for weeks without consequence, as it is now. Not a solution, but rather a buff to sneaky cloakers wanting to get through unoticed. It makes their job easier.

- Instant decloaking measures on grid don't work. This is to all-encompassing and destroys the effectiveness of the cloak entirely. Why bother using one, if you can have your cloak busted the second you activate it by someone at gate. No time to align, no time to warp, you're podded. This just makes Gate camps unbeatable.

- System or even >1 AU wide measures to quickly detect cloakers don't work. They limit the need to search, and make it relatively easy to find any cloaker. The fastest means of probing to find a cloaked ship, should be on grid with you. Gatecamp cloaky hunter drops probes, positions them for the gatecamp grid and waits. Cycle the probes every little bit to see if someone is sneaking up on you.

The range is short, so it's only really going to identify the presense of cloaked vessels in close proximity to the grid. You can keep it tight, (min. probe radius), so you can identify exactly when they are that close. At best, it should only give you a general direction though; like a hot spot-that you can technically warp to-within the probes overlapping coverage area. You always know where you are when probing; so, provided you have a good grasp of your position relative to the system when probing, you should know which direction to look for them in.

There should be nothing easy about this. It should require skill on the part of the player; and it should require Skills on the part of his Toon.

There should also be ways to counter it, and make it harder for a ship to be probed down successfully; such that rather than having a hotspot, all they may get is an inconsistent indicator, even at this level. Fitting required of course.

The probes shouldn't have the ability to detect anything but cloaked vessels either.

With regards to things that may decloak a vessel, there are already many simple possibilities existing: Drones, Smartbombs, Bombs, Bumping, etc.. Those methods and others should still be useful in the attempt. Any new device, should be either limited range or longer range directional, and have its own limitations. Like ECM, it should have limited effectiveness and be counterable. It needs also be limited to on-grid effectiveness.

A good covert Ops pilot should be able to maintain cloak against just this device; provided they are fit to resist its users attempts to decloak them. Even should they be in some new Cloak-Hunter vessel that applies bonuses to its effectiveness. New skills should cover both the use of counters, and the use of decloakers and the ships required to use them.

Any new device and 'Cloak-Hunter' ship design; should also be paired with each other. Much like Covert Ops cloaks, the decloaking device should really be required to be used with a ship intended to use it. Like cloaks, less effective and practical devices may also exist for other ships; but should be easily counterable by a Covert Ops pilot with skill and SP in the right area, without need to fit Counters for it.

/just my 10 cents.

I would just make it possible to find ships that are not supposed to fit cloaks in the first place. Whether through a new ship, T3 Destroyer and/or a module, make it something that takes lots of sp and isk to do. I would tie the ability to find cloaked ships to the sig res of the ship with the cloak. Then give ships that are supposed to have a cloak a bonus to reduced sig res.

"Finding a Submarine"


So I figure you'd have to drop some kind of "Sonar" Device. This would ping the area. Maybe require special probes to get launched.


I'd say the major issue is actually waiting for them to actually change LOCAL chat so it's less obvious seeing everyone who is in local at one glance. I think that would balance out the cloak hunters more than enough (you don't know to look if you don't know if it's there).


I think the idea is intriguing and will lead to a niche type of ship that can be useful but I doubt it would overtake all other cloaky ships in its functionality.

...and My Manticore just started crying >.<

I like it. Everything in EVE should have a counter. And EVE should be risky if played AFK.
If you suspect an AFK cloaker there should be means available to seek and destroy.
It should be hard though and the "finding a submarine" metaphor seems about right.

What really bothers me is new AFK-cloak bots. How can we counter a bot that just keeps warping to random bookmarks all the time? And what happens when every EVE player needs a bot to play the game?

Posted this in the features and ideas forum just yesterday:

Simply knowing there is a cloaked vessel in a WH would break WHs completely.

Oh no, it will will now require the smallest degree of skill and actual player input in order to collect long term intel on an enemy system.

Boo hoo.

There's no counter to some dude cloaking in a system and collecting all the information he pleases, but this is set to change.

Actually you don't want any counter to active Cloaked players right? -it's wrong.
Because actually unless your Chrystal ball tells you to date your insta lock arty cane and warp at 70 from whatever point to insta kill those bombers, all it's going to happen is that you warp to you jump and ...fresh pod, you might also not be lucky enough and survive a few seconds where there's nothing you can do because the arazu just pinned you at/for 50km.

What an awesome game, I mean why there's not much more people playing it?? -it's so incredibly awesome, evolving....they can even use hybrids...
But wow is still better for backstabbing, just train rogue and have real fun.