Advanced cloak detection options

[dragonmalice]

posted on July 4th, 2011, 3:43 pm

Last edited by dragonmalice on July 4th, 2011, 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I love how cloaking is a viable and usable part of Fleet Ops, but I do think there need to be more detection options.  I know there've been quite a few posts on the topic, so hopefully I'm not repeating too much.

I just spent an hour and a half in an AI skirmish hunting down a single B'rel using the Federation (granted, 50k x 50k map).  This would have been more frustrating, but I cheated a bit by using the map editor to at least see how many ships were around after a lull of 10 minutes or so.

Anyhow, I built 60 or so Ventures and had them in search mode, triggering off the cloak detection every time I could.  I also built sensor stations at all my defense stations (of which there were plenty by the end of a 6 player skirmish).  In the end, the Ventures were useless and the B'rel ran into one of the sensor stations and got killed.  The point is that if the AI had any intelligence, it's the next day and I'd still be looking for it (barring further cheating).

I was thinking it would be cool if there was some sort of collective search pattern that could be engaged where all ships with dectection would stay in range of each other and actually act out a search pattern that would be difficult to avoid.  It would also be cool if you could use the "search" and "search and destroy" commands inside a defined perimeter (to avoid enemy stations or territory). 

Barring that, maybe the Venture could have a toggle that automatically fires the cloak detect when it has energy?  It may not be much more effective, but it would be a bit less of a hassle if you send out a mass of them.  In the end, it wouldn't affect balance since it would only be useful when you already control the area anyhow.

posted on July 4th, 2011, 3:49 pm

I love how cloaking is a viable and usable part of Fleet Ops, but I do think there need to be more detection options.  I know there've been quite a few posts on the topic, so hopefully I'm not repeating too much.

I just spent an hour and a half in an AI skirmish hunting down a single B'rel using the Federation (granted, 50k x 50k map).  This would have been more frustrating, but I cheated a bit by using the map editor to at least see how many ships were around after a lull of 10 minutes or so.

Let me sum up what you said:

In an AI battle you had problems finding the last (cloaked) ship. Because of this you request from the adimins to use their spare time to add MORE options to detect cloaked ships. Please think 5 seconds about what you said and you get an answer to your request. Hint: how often does that situation appear where one is interested in finding the single last ship.

posted on July 4th, 2011, 4:10 pm

i agree with drrrrrr's point if not the way he expressed it.

against a human player if they are someone who keeps the last ship cloaked to be a jerk, then quit and stop playing with them. i dont know anybody who is this much of a jerk. the only time people keep playing after their base(s) is killed is if they have a real fleet which can at least raid (in a team game) or rank up to a point where they are a serious threat in a 1v1.

if you're playing against the computer and you got all their bases and they are keeping a useless brel/scout cloaked, then just end the game, the computer cant claim to win because you quit first, and fleetops doesnt keep win/loss scores.

posted on July 4th, 2011, 4:29 pm

Remember to use Intelligence Report to narrow down the search parameters

posted on July 4th, 2011, 6:29 pm

lol I never have trouble finding the last cloacked ship.

posted on July 5th, 2011, 12:51 am

Let me sum up what you said:

In an AI battle you had problems finding the last (cloaked) ship. Because of this you request from the adimins to use their spare time to add MORE options to detect cloaked ships. Please think 5 seconds about what you said and you get an answer to your request. Hint: how often does that situation appear where one is interested in finding the single last ship.

Feel free to check what section of the forum this is posted in and you might be able to find the relevance.  Will 5 seconds do?

Other cloak detection ideas have been received well enough, so no, I don't feel I'm wasting anyone's time.  I'm sure the moment the developers stop wanting requests and ideas, well, you get the idea (I hope).

I posted the context behind the idea because it was really pretty funny.  I didn't realize the motivation behind the idea automatically invalidated the idea itself.  In any case, maybe I should have kept it short: yes, I think it would be cool and useful if ships could link detection abilities and perform a search pattern.  I think it would be inline with canon, as well as offering more game play options.

posted on July 5th, 2011, 4:25 am

OOOh this might be a little off topic, but what about an option where several ships (maybe a half dozen or so) could link together over a somewhat large area and use a tachyon detection grid like in the episode redemption part II. That could be cool! 

posted on July 5th, 2011, 10:46 am

OOOh this might be a little off topic, but what about an option where several ships (maybe a half dozen or so) could link together over a somewhat large area and use a tachyon detection grid like in the episode redemption part II. That could be cool! 

thats not off topic, the op just mentioned linking ships together for better decloak in his last post.

i like the realism, but it could get a little too powerful if too easy to get.

maybe if multiple sensor nebs (5 maybe?) worked together they could send out blue pings, losing all weapons and engines for a while, and taking all special energy.

posted on July 7th, 2011, 2:30 am

Yeah, I was thinking it would be a high level ability.

Something I've done in my mod is to start making refits for warpins - after the ship reaches vereran rank, you bring it back near an Eraudi yard and a refit option becomes available.  I copied the Topmey's dispatch ability (making the refit available only near the shipyard), and used the upgrade function from the Newton so there is a cost and build time involved.

If you had to start with ranked ships, and then go through some sort of similar process, it would take some work to equip a fleet and start using the ability.

posted on July 7th, 2011, 10:18 am

Yeah, I was thinking it would be a high level ability.

Something I've done in my mod is to start making refits for warpins - after the ship reaches vereran rank, you bring it back near an Eraudi yard and a refit option becomes available.  I copied the Topmey's dispatch ability (making the refit available only near the shipyard), and used the upgrade function from the Newton so there is a cost and build time involved.

If you had to start with ranked ships, and then go through some sort of similar process, it would take some work to equip a fleet and start using the ability.

maybe all refit upgrades (gens/newton/rhienn) could only be available when near a yard of some sort. wouldnt change a huge amount.

posted on July 8th, 2011, 12:07 am

Yep, just some extra ship files on the modding side of it.  I really like how it plays out in the game - you have to pull the ship off the line to take advantage of the refit option.  Very realistic, too.

Sorry if I've strayed a bit - just one thought about how to make the new ability cost as much as it's worth.