0002487: Split cloaking into two distinct ship features. - Arcen Idea Tracker (Bugs and Features)

ID	Project	Category		Date Submitted	Last Update

0002487	AI War 1 / Classic	Suggestion - Unit Abilities And Behaviors		Jan 16, 2011 11:04 pm	Jan 16, 2011 11:05 pm

Reporter	Prezombie	Assigned To	Chris_McElligottPark
Status	closed	Resolution	won't fix
Product Version	4.068

Summary	0002487: Split cloaking into two distinct ship features.
Description	Instead of having a single "enemy can't tell where in the system you are, and can't shoot you" cloaking, along with making perma-cloaking by the roundabout way of making the unit immune to tachyon beams, it would make more sense to split cloaking into a "Strong" cloaking and a "weak" cloaking. Strong cloaking would encompass most "designated" cloaking, Such as stealth guard posts and other units which cloak others. It would also be applied to any unit currently permanently cloaked, such as scout IV and any multiplayer loadouts. Behaviour-wise, Strong cloaking is as cloaking is now, completely invisible to the AI, invisible to the player but the knowledge cloaked ships are somewhere. tachyon beams are useless on it, but the player might need them to remove the "weak" cloaking on whatever is granting the Strong cloaking. "Weak" cloaking is what space planes, scouts, stealth guard posts, and all the other units have. Only difference is they're only untargetable when cloaked, but still locatable, so players who missed the chance to cover the entrance with eye bots or a scout starship can actually hunt them down (Or more likely, get them to actually retreat off the planet rather than get in range). being able to see them could be a defensive perk for both sides rather than always visible, granted by a device similar to the advanced warp sensor and/or by the right command post type. To minimize the confusion, leave strong cloaking with the current name of cloaking, and call weak cloaking being out of phase! It's the perfect piece of sci-fi jargon, it explains why a ship needs to become visible to fire (its shots would phase through otherwise!), and it explains the need for another bit of sci-fi jargon to counter it. Using tachyon beams to disrupt the phase shields seems like a much more "logical" reason you'd need such exotic particles, those faster than light particles are the only known thing that can interact with a phased unit, and it just rolls out as a perfect piece of technobabble.
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Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
Jan 16, 2011 11:04 pm	Prezombie	New Issue
Jan 16, 2011 11:05 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Note Added: 0008800
Jan 16, 2011 11:05 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Status	new => closed
Jan 16, 2011 11:05 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Assigned To	=> Chris_McElligottPark
Jan 16, 2011 11:05 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Resolution	open => won't fix