If you are relying information, you are not AFK cloaking. Your observations are accurate and I agree with your assessment of that situation, but they are largely irrelevant to the discussion at hand. (Check the title of the topic, it’s specifically addressing AFK cloaking.)
I respectfully disagree. While certainly less effective in the era of the Blue Donut, it is still possible to wreak havoc on economic activities (mining, ratting) when the locals are afraid to undock with a non-friendly in local.
This is AFK cloaking, and this is the intended topic of the discussion. AFK cloaking isn’t about watching local or relaying intel (both of which are decidedly at-the-keyboard activities), it’s psychological warfare intended to frighten locals into staying docked.
The benefit of AFK cloaking in this case is that nobody in system can tell whether your AFK cloaker is relaying info or not, because you’re online all day, so the locals never get any info about when they’re being spied upon.
This is one big AFK cloaking thread that includes all forms of AFK cloaking. While AFK cloaking surely scares off some locals, I see a different kind of AFK cloaking in my neighbourhood, AFK cloaking that doesn’t have the main effect of scaring locals, but has the effect of providing intel at times that we cannot tell (because they’re online all day, mostly afk?) and catching big ships that ignored the cloakies (because they’re online all day).
Sure, we can talk about the scare tactics of the AFK cloakers, but we shouldn’t ignore the other aspects.
So even though the player is AFK and therefore personally not playing, because others may be frightened ( ) by his presence he is participating in AFK Gameplay.
With the recent nerfs to the Rorqs and mining operations in null sec, I believe it is now time for a nerf to our PvP friends that like to grind mining and industry to a halt. It has been a long time coming and I would suggest that nerfing the cloaking device on ships would be a good start. I’m not talking about CPU or power requirements but the module itself. This module is able to run non stop from start of server till downtime, unmanned. I do believe that there should be some type of damage modifier on the module for extended periods of use. Just like overheating a module. Also a possible fuel source as well. Then a possible cool down period for this module.
Even in our real life, stealth bombers and stealth aircraft are not 100% undetectable. They give off heat and eco effects from radar pings. We have come up with ways to reduce these, making aircraft harder to track and locate, but not impossible.
I would ask that this idea be seriously thought about. Balance is what your here to achieve and this would be a good start for achieving some balance for the industrial people of EvE.
Everyone thinks that Cloaks need a balance mechanic. Forgetting that Cloaks ARE a balance mechanic, to your ship always being visible in space. Without the ability to cloak and remain cloaked, it’s impossible to spy on your enemies. You can’t monitor their activities unless you fly a Combat Recon and hang out off grid somewhere. But even then, they know there’s a spy somewhere because Local is always providing free Intel.
You want to see changes to perma-Cloaking? First, let’s get rid of Local chat telling everyone the instant someone unwelcome enters the system. Make it so players in Null Sec have to actively keep watch, rather than the game announcing “Player 2 has joined the game” so they know to warp off and hide.
Do that, and then we’ll talk about changing Cloaks.
Lolwut. “Overpowered PvE farming was nerfed, now we need to buff it back to being overpowered”.
PS: if AFK cloaking is grinding your industry to a halt then it’s because you’re in a renter trash alliance that doesn’t have the ability to secure its space. You think that just because you paid someone to put your name on a system you’re entitled to 23/7 farming like highsec. The solution is to stop being bad at EVE and keep PvP forces active at any time your industry operations are happening, so that if an AFK cloaked ship does decide to attack you just press F1, laugh at the killmail, and go back to your industry stuff. The solution is NOT for CCP to nerf every PvP threat until you can farm 23/7 without disruption no matter how terrible at EVE you are.
If it also removed the ability to dscan, then you might have a deal. Cloaking should protect you from harm and not much else. You could make it using the dscan leaves a ping for combat probes to find that shows your location or somesuch for x amount of time, thereby increasing the risk should you wish to gain intel.
I’m more interested in being able to engage a cloaked ship, because being immune to danger out in space is not a part of the design philosophy has become for eve online.
But on subject, it would seem you are rewarding a player for doing effectively nothing. It’s not something they put out that is in danger, and yet it invokes danger. It provides boons without any proper drawbacks, regarding the task at hand at least.
I’ve already stated it, but again for those in need: Outside of being logged off, it’s the safest you can be in the game, and you’re out in space. Safer than being in a station, because people don’t know where you are. It removes danger, which is something that’s part of eve online. There’s no risk to cloaking, no worthwhile penalty, you can just cloak and go. Outside of computer or internet connection issues, there is no danger to you while cloaked out at a safe bookmark.
I don’t care if it takes 15 minutes or something, but being able to find a cloaked ship, or at least give me a lead to decloak them is something I seek. If I want to hunt a ship out in space, why must this stop me completely?
And I get there’s reasons, real life or otherwise why being able to safe up with a cloak is good. But being permanently safe? That’s a no in my book.
Those advocating for keeping the mechanics as is have vested interests in it. Be it a business of cloaking camping, an alliance that benefits from it, or any of the other various bonus’s gained.
I just want a higher chance to be able to engage a cloaked ship, the chance to hunt it, to reduce it’s 100% safety bubble. If you don’t want that 100% number to drop, you’re just scared.
And there’s more than enough quotes here that tell people to not be scared. But which is it?
The problem is that all of the boons for true AFK cloaking are provided by player perception of the situation, not game mechanics. Last time I checked, CCP is in the business of developing and coding EvE online, not the human psyche. And the drawback is that the player engaged in AFK cloaking can’t be using that account for anything else, which is also, fittingly, based entirely on player perception of the situation.
There is no reward based on game mechanics to AFK cloaking. Why should there be any risk based on game mechanics for it?
This has nothing to do about what corp or alliance I’m in. This has to do with a module that basically has not penalty for using it. Yeah, sure, a small delay in using the module if you uncloak. Not hardly enough to worry about if your in a safe and no one is probing you out. Might get caught on a dscan if some one is actually scanning. Safest place to be in EvE, cept docked up, is cloaked. This in itself is not balanced due to the struggle that CCP continues to maintain in game.
It has everything to do with the renter trash alliance you’re in. Strong alliances don’t care about a cloaked ship in their system because they have active PvP forces that are stronger than whatever the cloaked ship can attack with, and if the cloaked ship does anything but continue to sit uselessly in a safespot they die. Weak renter trash alliances like yours shut down when a cloaked ship appears because you have no PvP strength and the mere threat of PvP is enough to keep you permanently docked. So, rather than whine about how a cloaked ship can’t be engaged, try being less bad at EVE and never presenting a weak enough target that the cloaked ship matters.
Good question. Why is a ship allowed to warp between safespots faster than you can chase it? Why not demand a remote warp disruptor that lets you click a name in local and prevent them from warping for 15 minutes while you locate and kill them? After all, if cloaking is so overpowered that it is unacceptable then surely a means of evasion that is also 100% effective but doesn’t come with any fitting requirements or reduction in your ship’s combat effectiveness must be even more overpowered.
I can see that your still referring to a corp/alliance I’m in. Again this is not about that. This is about an over powered module. You need to get past that and look at the module itself and compare some of the balances it doesn’t have and compare it to the balances CCP makes to everything else.
This sounds like Kant (tries to sounds smart), like weak, dont deserve to survive, only strongest are allowed to live to sort of… maintain strenght in the race.
I would just like to point out a rule in policy stating:
I have hear poeple stoping thier sub becoz of this, not that it should drastically affect game population but its a factor.
However… and this is what might make my previous statements null… i have changed my mind after reading a post about how eve has become in some aspect more friendly to carebears. Afterall, the risks and consequences is what making this game exicting, and some poeple rarely relate to intel when a neut is moving to other systems in dead end constellation… like hes walking in a candy shop…
If you are trying to say afk cloaking is griefing you should file a petition and see what ccp tell you.
It’s not like afk cloaking is unrecognised by ccp. It’s even on the list of NOT AN EXPLOIT.
Common Misconceptions about Exploits
This passage contains common tactics and other player conduct that is often mistakenly reported as exploits but are in fact not.
Non-Exploit
Description
Log Off Traps
* Players are free to log out and back into our game at their own leisure.
* Surprising a target by logging in is not considered to be an exploit.
Grid Manipulation
* Extending the grid to increase the available information on the overview.
AFK Cloaking
* A player is present in a system for a long time, usually cloaked, doing nothing at all most of the time.
MWD Cloak Warp
* Using a Cloaking Device and one cycle acceleration on a Microwarpdrive module to enter warp immediately upon decloaking.
Ship Bumping
* Ram the ship of another player with your own in order to prevent them from warping.
Warp disruption fields at star gates
* Having players dragged into bubbles by strategically placing them behind star gates is not an exploit.
Constant War Declarations
* War Declarations are a risk that every player corporation has to face and they are under no circumstances considered harassment. Wars in general can be completely avoided by remaining in an NPC corporation.
Ship text always shown on all brackets
* It is possible to always show ship types next to each bracket, as outlined in this forum post. However, this function is not officially supported and may result in unexpected behavior of the clien
) by his presence he is participating in AFK Gameplay.
