[Taqwus]

One could simply stipulate that it had no effect whatsoever in tactical combat, rather than force more clicking. On the other hand, if one added an improved Scanner Jammer, that blocked all view of the status and components *even in tactical combat* (although perhaps you should be able to identify in-use weaponry/shields that your empire understands), then the holographic cloaking device could come *after* that, and include its properties.

I doubt a ship should be able to look like a planet; the size difference is just too drastic. If one accepts the idea of cloaking that can even fool gravitic methods (as is currently done), 'tho, it's not too implausible to allow mimicking other ship classes [including known enemy designs] of the same hull size, or maybe +/- 25% or so.

And I'd prefer a counter be available -- perhaps as a special property of Tachyon sensors (since that tree is rather expensive, IIRC, compared to Hyper-Optics), or maybe an advanced form (requiring both sensors + cloaking tech).


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-- The thing that goes bump in the night