effectiveness of cloaking

[PvK]

The other thing that makes cloaking more useless than necessary in the unmodded game is that once researched, high-level detection equipment doesn't even cost any more than low-level equipment, and has no maintenance costs. So making the higher-level detectors cost a lot more and not be placable on no-maintenance units would make it more likely that there would be some places for cloaking devices to be better than stealth armor.

PvK

[tesco samoa]

i cannot remember will this work as a cloak...

Name := Passive EM Cloaking Device I
Description := Field generated around a starship which passes all energy around the ship. This field has the effect of rendering the ship invisible.
Pic Num := 237
Tonnage Space Taken := 40
Tonnage Structure := 40
Cost Minerals := 500
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 1000
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base\Sat\Drone
Supply Amount Used := 100
Restrictions := None
General Group := Cloaking
Family := 600
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Cloaking
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 1 Descr := Prevents level 1 Passive EM scans.
Ability 1 Val 1 := EM Passive
Ability 1 Val 2 := 2
Weapon Type := None

or do you have to include all the other cloak abilities...

[Karibu]

Only cloack I ever use is Stealth armor and that is only because of its ECM bonus. Well, not only, because it grants invicibility if enemy does not have experience enought to have scanners of any kind. I agree that cloacking device is worthless, because all scanners are so cheap to get.

I have never been able to find out any minefield beside ramming/sweeping them. At the moment it is balanced, because you can sweep them easily after you find them, but you must have sweeper with you all the time.

There should be some alternative to it. One scanner to counter one kind of cloacking. For example: inertial nullifier would counter gravitic scanner, Electromagnetic circulator (would turn any EM signals toward ships instead of sending them away) to counter Hyper Optics, etc.

In practice, you would have to had all kind of scanners to counter all kind of cloacking. Well, Ihaven't thought this through to the end yet, but you get the idea. Also, cloacking should include some percentage to be ineffective against a scanner of certain level (MOO3).

[Fyron]

Tesco, that will be detected by any level of non passive EM scanning, and it will block only level 1 of passive EM scanning. A level 1 gravitic scanner, for example, can detect such a ship. You do not need all levels of cloaking on a component to get some cloaking (such as stealth armor), but you have to be wary of other scanning types when setting it all up. Check out P&N PBW Version for an example of a system where the cloaking abilities are separated into different components.

[Taera]

i just realized my opponent is temporal... bad luck i guess. he's also quite experienced, to the best of my knowledge.

(and i think he just might be reading this... ohwell)

[tesco samoa]

ok... looked at it.

Now quickly explain it to me.

I believe I understand but want to confirm.

Thanks.

[Fyron]

Explain what exactly? What questions do you have?

A ship gets the highest level of each cloaking ability from all the components (and ship hull abilities) it has on it. The highest levels are used for what can detect it. A scanner can detect a ship if only one ability it has can detect one level of a cloaking type on a ship. So if a ship has level 50 in all cloaking except Temporal, where it has only 3, a level 3 Temporal Scanner could detect it (keep in mind the ability values are offset a bit ).