Don’t get me wrong I love Covert Cloaking device and the ships that can use them as much as anyone else, what I don’t like is someone who is there afk, and we having no tools to punish it. I have thought of some suggestions that won’t require what I feel are major changes.
- Add a Time Limit to cloaking devices , 30 min for Covert, 1 hour for Improved (standard T2, and 2 hour for prototype (standard T1) this would allow normal use of hunting for targets or information gathering or whatever, but would prevent someone from turning on 15 alts just after downtime cloaking them up and going about their day.
Leave Cloaking unchanged, but add, ways to hard counter it.
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New Combat Probes that can only detect cloaked ships and even then can only get you to within 25 km of a cloaked ship, effectively finding the “Grid” but not the ship, they must be hunted for.
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Add Cloak Disruption modules of varying sizes, have it pulse like a smart bomb with varying distances effectively increasing the “size” of the ship in regards to decloaking a ship, this one could be problematic at gates if allowed to decloak gate cloaked ships. might have to security space restrictions of 0.4 and lower
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Deployable Cloak Disruption Beacon units, working the same as above module only with larger pulse area. pros it might decloak a covert warping in to Hot drop, cons if hot dropper is smart he warps in outside of pulse range creates a warp in perch and uses the beacon as warpable target. Pro/Con illusion of safety. sometimes that’s all it takes to get people doing something dangerous. restrict how far from gates and other structures
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Null-Sec use, System wide Cloak Disruption Beacon, deployed like system cyno jammers or beacons, will this prevent cloaking, no it will deter it by sending a pulse system wide once an hour that will decloak any cloaked ships the deploying alliance can set which “minute” it will pulse on this will allow null bears the ability to stop AFK cloaky campers or it will lead to new ways of using it to attack strategic targets.
Will these additions stop people from using these ships, No it only forces them to change their strategies. I am in null-space not having a counter to cloaked ships is the biggest complaint I hear. The mechanic is broken in the attacker’s favor he can prey only on the weak at a time of his choosing, this I don’t mind it works both ways, I do mind people creating alts training them merely to sit and intimidate, this causes players to stop playing. It hurts the game.