Cloaking Planets. Here!!!

[Lupusman]

That's right!!!

Still in testing though. A few flukes since I'm limited to using what's in the data files but here it is:


Name := Sector Cloaking Device
Description := Cloaks all in Sector.
Pic Num := 1
Tonnage Space Taken := 100
Tonnage Structure := 100
Cost Minerals := 10000
Cost Organics := 2000
Cost Radioactives := 10000
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base
Supply Amount Used := 10
Restrictions := None
General Group := Stellar Manipulation
Family := 9999
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Stellar Manipulation
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Sector - Sight Obscuration
Ability 1 Descr := Hides things.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 2 <----Can increase hiding level
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None


This was only my test, so the picture, size, etc need to be changed.

A few problems though.

First, it does hide whatever is in the sector, but doesn't change the picture
on screen. What I mean is that if a ship containing this component is over a planet,
the planet picture is still visible. But if a human enemy player clicks on the planet, no information
can be seen. It shows up as normal space. I am not sure how a computer player will
interpret this.

Secondly, an enemy ship coming into the sector passes right through like there is nothing there
which is good. However, when I put hyper optics level 2, it can see the ship (which is menat to happen)
and upon enetering the sector will produce the screen asking if you are sure you want to enter because an enemy
ship is there, and when you say yes, no combat ensues. So basically what I'm saying is that you can't attack whatever has it. It works right the other way round though. If the ship containing the component enters a sector
with an enemy ship, regular combat happens, or mines get triggeds, etc.

Thirdly, not a big deal, is that it even hides an enemy ship, or planet, etc from itself when in the same sector. Unless you also put some kind of detectors on the ship also.

I'm thinking making the thing alot bigger and put it only on a base. I've not tried making
a facility with it, though that's a possibilty too.

I worked on this for a couple hours. I tried just making a facilty with cloak, but that doesn't amount to anything. I tried making another type of storm with cloak to hide planets but that didn't work either. This is the best I can come up with.

The only thing I can think of to get rid of the second problem is to make a component thatfits on a ship that negates this effect. Not sure if it's possible though. Without that then what I have here is just too powerful. That's what I'll work on next.

Maybe if there are some negative effects, another abilty that lowers production of whatever to counterbalance, that way after a certain amount of time, the thing would have to be scrapped. Example:

Abilty 2 type := Planet - Change Population Happiness
Value 1 := (negative whatever %)


Anyway, I'm just shooting ideas right now to see what else you people can come up with.

[Lupusman]

Yo. What's up people?

I know there were a bunch of you asking if it could be done. I spent hours looking for a loophole do to it.

I know the way it's posted, it's not finished or anything, but I thought someone out there would have some ideas.

Anyone try it, or did I just waste my time?

[Puke]

Im going to fire it up this evening, i need to make another installation of the game to keep better track of mods - but I will let you know how it looks as soon as i get it going.

sounds promissing though.

[Puke]

well it didn't work AT ALL. omnipotant mode is great for testing things, but let me tell you, it SUCKS for testing things that should be cloaking

looks cool, except for the not attacking thing... i did see some odd behavior though. my second test system (after i figured out the omnipotent-view thing) happened to be a black hole system, so ships kept being pulled out of orbit. heres the setup:

race A: two worlds, both build sector cloaking ships

race B: one world, builds a em scanning ship

race C: one world, builds a non scanning ship with a gun

so the scanning ship race can see all icons on the system map view, but when clicking on a cloaked planet sector it only has the ability to select the cloaking ship, the planet does not appear (however it sees the populaton bar on the map window) no attacking is possible.

the race with the cloaking stuffs can see all of its own stuff, both in the map window and detailed. no problem there.

the non-scaning race cant see the population bar, cant see the cloaked ship, and cant select the planet in the sector window (or anything for that matter)

BUT: when the scanning ship from race B is over the planet from race A with the cloaked ship sharing orbit, and the non-scanning ship from race C wanders in, race C gets to enter combat and everything shows up. i even went tactical and race C can look at the detailed view and components of everything as well.

neat, but needs work. I dont think the game has the right features yet to make this playable.

unrelated, I am thinking of makind some boarding torpedos though, one shot weapons that fire a seeker that does crew damage. I would post it, but its a real fast hack anyone could do.

[Puke]

if someone has time to test something else, I would like to know how planets look when they are in a sensor obscuring nebula. basically this requires that someone start several games with max races in a small ancient quad, until they get starting planets for one race in a nebula system that blocks sensors. and it needs to be done with omnipotant mode of, so it will take that much longer.

It would probably help to see if the sector ability this tech is being based upon functions the same way 'in nature' as 'in the lab.' id do it my self but im a lazy bastard.

if I have not said it before, kudos to Lupusman for hacking this one. It can be balanced if its stuck at the top of the cloaking or stellar manipulation tech tree (or both, if they fix the multiple dependancy thing) and size increased to be more similar to the ring/sphereworld components so that it will only fit on a starbase (or slightly smaller to fit on a baseship). it would also need to have a second ability that increases the maintnance cost of the ship / unit that mounts it by 100-500 percent or so, depending on how hard to own you want it to be.

of course, we need to figure out a way to attack the thing that does not require the cooperation of 2 races to accomplish. and i dont mean "build an enginless ship in the enemies cloaked sector, give it to an AI player as a gift, then attack the sector with your fleet."

[Lupusman]

Hmm, the thing about the two races to need to attack, that's pretty good. I didn't think about trying that.
I'm also waiting for the new patch because I thought I saw a fix that might affect this maybe.
I just enjoy pushing the limits of things, even if they don't work 100%, it's still cool.

[Lupusman]

Here it is:

9. Fixed - Planets that are hidden by storms or nebulae were still being drawn on the system map.

This fix just might make the planet image disappear with also.

[Puke]

well, I would just like to point out that after the patch, not only does it not improve our situation with the implementation of the planet hiding nebula feature, but it stops this lovely little mod from even working at all. in the least. not even a hint of cloaking ability. none. zipp. nada. squat. bo-diddley. Thanks for making the game mod-friendly, and thanks for CRUSHING MY LITTLE DREAMS!!

[Atrocities]

Puke, sorry to hear about that. But hey, run it by MM and ask them to consider adding the component in the next patch. Also ask them to add Orbital Research Facilities that can be constructed and will accept Research Facilities as components.

Thanks.

[Puke]

wow. im almost too embarrased to post this. not only did I make the same mistake TWICE, but I made the same mistake after fully expounding upon the idiocy of making the mistake in the first place, right here on this thread.

DONT TEST THINGS WITH OMNIPOTENT VIEW ON.

right. so, on to the cloaked planets:
it now sucussfully hides planets. AND, it stops the thing where 3 races of ships on the same cloaked square can attack each other. when on the cloaked square, you can only see your own things.

so: race with cloaking device over their own planet can see cloaking ship and planet. race with cloaking device over enemy planet can see cloaking ship but no planet (race that ownes planet can see planet) and if any one else moves a ship onto the square, the only thing they can see is their own square.

a race with a scanner can see any ships on the square, but still cant see the planet even if they get on top of it (so no one can ever see a cloaked planet, except the owner).. and, absolutely NO combat can take place between any number of races, even with scanners on a cloaked sector.

some things better, some things worse. again, it would be nice if someone could test how this works in a nebula sector with a planet to see if it creates indestructable planets in a nebula sector.