Cloaking Device

To impliment, or not to impliment?

from GalCiv2 Forums
I know, I know. 135743 posts about if we should include them into the game.

I though it seriously, and I may have a good idea how to impliment them in a nice way:

Levels of identification:
1- Nothing out here, captain
2- Something appeared on our sensor, Captain. Probably an anomaly
3- There is someone in a cloaking device over there!
4- The cloaking device has a drengin signature.
5- This is the old Battle Frigate X-2 with a class-4 Cloaking device, nothing to worry about, sir.

Cloaking technology/sensor technology would be a new kind of weapon tech tree. If your defensive (sensor) is higher tech than their cloak, you have the upper hand. Vice-Versa. It would mean a new kind of arm race.

Also, the level of identification would depend on 3 factors: Level of Cloak tech, level of sensor tech and distance.

For example: a single sensor mark 5 (pretty advanced) could:

- Level of detection 5 for a Mark-2 Cloak at 5 parsecs
- Level of detection 4 for a mark-2 cloak at 7
- Level of detection 3 for a mark-2 cloak at 9
- Level of detection 2 for a mark-2 cloak at 11
- Level of detection 1 for a mark-2 cloak at 13.

With a simple rule of thumb, you increase the effectiveness of the cloak by 2 parsec for every cloak technology. (5 at 3 parsec, 4 at 5, etc...)

Now, if a cloaked ship manages to get near an ennemy ship while only having a level of detection of 1 or 2, he benefits a "surprise round" (he gets to fire free).

And NOW, this is where it gets interesting: If the ambushed fleet is destroyed within the surprise round, the attacking fleet is NOT identified, and the responsible governement cannot be blamed.

off course, freighter don't have anykind of sensors installed on them, so it would allow piracy. It would force players to escort their freighters.

The AWAC ships would be even more important..
7,524 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
bump
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think this is an excellent idea, however it would ahve to be written into the engine by SD. Hopefully they get included in the expansion, but don't hold your breath. It certainly would give us a reason for including sensors in our ships designs
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
nice idea, and when you said SD you mean a Star Destroyer or Star Dock??? (just kidding)
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yep nice idea, but you might have to remove the second level of identification, because a player won't be fooled late in the game when an 'anomaly' appears on a ship's scanners.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Anomalies do crop out randomly during the map, no?
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
No. At least, I don't remember it being implemented.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Maybe I was hallucinating, but I remember, in a game, anomalies cropped near the altarian territory, and my 4 survey ship raced to conquer them all..
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Very well thought out idea. Of course, it would make privateering a fittingly dangerous task. As said however, anomolies don't appear out of nowhere, and they certainly don't move! Instead, here's my idea for modified levels 2 and 3

2- Ship or fleet detected. No further info availible; just that *something* is out there.
3- Gives information of amount of ships and size of ship or ships. It would say of a fleet, for instance, "1 large, 3 medium, 7 small, 10 tiny." But other than amount and size, no data on ownership, strength, et cetera, would be availible. It could be a bluff; they might be cheap, barely-armed hulks with extra cloaking for an illusion. Or you could be staring at an armed and armored space fleet perfectly capable of crushing your own forces in the area within a second.

EDIT: More on cloaks. For a sneak attack, the cloaked ship should only have to start it's turn out invisible to it's victim, and be able to detect the ship it's attacking with it's own sensors at turn's start. If they can't see you when they hit the "turn" button, and you can see them, they gone! Of course, if you randomly spot them cruising, your ship wouldn't be moving in with concern for stealth, and it'd probably show up on their viewscreens. Another reason for fast, sensitive interceptors. Secondly, cloaking devices should be ignored for allies; you wouldn't hide from your friends, would you? And finally, to give starbases more usefulness, their sensors should get an advantage in detecting cloaks.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If the idea was implemented, planets should have a 4-parasec circle of level-5 identification regardless at the start of the game regardless of all other factors (so many observatories and potential places for telescoping, plus orbital telescopes, that it becomes almost impossible to surprise a planet early on). Starbases should have a 2-parasec circle of level-5 identification, but their sensor improvements should add twice as much as ships (because starbases are very large, stationary objects that have no need for engines and are focused less on combat than on strategic asisstance).
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
a starbase will have sensors if you decide to build some on them. same for planets. Planets will have sensor array only if you build some. I don'T see why a ship could not orbiting a planet, unknown to all...

In Birth of the Federation, you could build an improvement on a planet that gaved sensor power. Really usefull for worlds at the border of the Romulan Empire.

edit: to correct mistake and add last paragraph.