IF CCP would like to end the AFK cloaking there would be so many variations how to do it. I guess they just don’t want to change it. As I don’t see AFK campers in my WH anyway I don’t care much, but I can understand why the null folks are so serious about it.
But in the unlikely case CCP wants to change it one day here is my favorite:
Cloaked ships can be probed down just as any other ships BUT the activated cloak causes a very long “scan probe scan times”. As you still wouldn’t see cloaked ships on D-Scan you had to start scanning at 32 or 64 AU and lower it down in 3+ more scans depending on your skills. Make every scan last 30 to 60 minutes depending on ship and skills you could only catch the very AFK ships. (As they had over one hour to noticde the combat probes getting nearer.)
Dedicated ships to scan AFK cloackies (if such a thing was ever needed…) would then be ships with a bonus to “scan probe scan time” to find them somewhat faster.
The problem with this, as in all the module ideas, is that if there is someone else in local people are afraid to undock; they therefore cannot use modules.
The unspoken root problem is “Someone is here in my empty system, I can see them in local, and I want them to go away.”
Well said… Reminds me of the old videos about Battle Hulks. Miners got tired of getting their Cans flipped, so they geared up for war instead of mining and started killing some people.
If the mystery name in Local is an “AFK Cloaker” then he’s not going to do anything to you.
If they are awake and plotting against you, then gear up and prepare to fight. Or better yet, bring some friends with you, that way you guys can get something productive done while you’re waiting for the fight.
Oh, wait… Could it be that this whole long-assed godforsaken thread has been about ways to solo combat Cloaks? But… isn’t this an MMO? Isn’t this a (M)assively (M)ultiplayer (O)nline game? As in… you might have to work with other people to get what you want?
Congratulations, you identified the problem: “I can see them in local”. The root of the problem is local giving you too much information, remove local and you remove the AFK cloaking problem. You are no longer aware of the cloaked ship and can no longer feel compelled to remove them from your system (and in fact they probably left voluntarily when they logged out).
Lack of a mechanism to non-consensually force interaction on the cloak use is.
It is impossible to force interaction on a player who is not AFK, cloaked or not. Your target can always warp between safespots faster than you can probe for them, so unless they go AFK you will have zero chance of forcing any interaction (and no, “I make them click the warp button” is not meaningful interaction). The only situation where you could even in theory force interaction is killing an AFK ship. And guess what the inevitable conclusion of that change would be: it is no longer possible to stay logged in while AFK, local becomes a 100% accurate intel source, and RMTing becomes significantly safer.
TL;DR: you don’t want interaction between players because your proposals don’t add it. You want RMTing to become safer by making local more effective.
Are you kidding? Being bait is what they are trying to avoid; the whole point of this thread is to make the cloaker leave without taking any personal action or risk.
Exactly this. They already don’t, so why would they then? They could still be hot dropped if they got close. Anyone arguing this way is just lying through his teeth.
It’s been over a decade, things have progressed. People don’t even try to form up and hunt cloaks anymore, because it’s impossible.
Why isn’t this same idea good for the cloaker too? Make him get support and take action to maintain what he’s doing safely and effectively.
Given how you wet yourself just imagining a change that you didn’t show up in Local but were visible on probes and Dscan, I think I am safe in assuming you are full of bull.
Why is this always one sided? How about we put a little danger in the cloakers life too, especially if he is so unwise as to afk deep in enemy space with active hunters in the system?
There is danger in the cloakers life as well. He doesn’t know if he’s being baited or not. If he attacks a combat-fitted hulk/skiff, he’ll be dealt with quite fast due to the drone damage.
Mike left nullsec for highsec quite a while (years?) ago. He’s still here whining and lying about AFK cloakers, though. So I’m not sure what he’s talking about, but I doubt it’s nullsec.
