Yeah, as TheUnforgiven said, standing still version of the such device would be the best. Or at least, ships unable to cruise with that turned on. I believe that would be the golden middle on this one.
Pros --
- You cannot be targeted.
- You do not appear on the radar.
- You do not appear as a selectable target.
- You are "invisible" to the NPC vessels.
- Available for all vessels except for the transports.
Cons --
- Your vessel is still visible.
- You cannot shoot and have shield (think of the small vessels turning out shield while dropping cargo & this would avoid idle trading, at least in the asteroid fields).
- You cannot cruise.
- Energy will have to regenerate after "turning up" everything
- Shield will take 10 seconds to be up.
Possible tactics:
- Passing by the blockade fleet.
- Engine-kill still possible (usage of thruster, most of them don't go faster than 200).
- Ambushes in the asteroid field, nebula or on the far side of the planet.
- Be creative.
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You realize that, as was pointed out on the previous page, this device would grant effective invincibility, right?
If there's no way for others to target you and/or disrupt the effect, even if they can track you, they're not going to ever stop or kill you without being able to target you or make the effect stop.
(11-14-2014, 01:32 PM)Haste Wrote: You realize that, as was pointed out on the previous page, this device would grant effective invincibility, right?
If there's no way for others to target you and/or disrupt the effect, even if they can track you, they're not going to ever stop or kill you without being able to target you or make the effect stop.
Well, it is not too hard to get the target which is -not- cruising. My point was to allow a cheap alternative, which is in fact inferior to cloaks in every possible way, because you can't cruise in that. Small vessels, sure, they will have a higher chance of escape, but I don't believe caps would be able to hide much, because they are visible from a very large distance.
As I said, no weapons, no cruise and no shields. Isn't that balance enough?
I've got the very good idea now on this:
Make that item mountable on the thruster slot, for the balance.
I don't know how futher it would be "nerfed" to make whole thing like "if you are caught, you are in VERY big trouble".
topics of ECM have come up on The Starport a few times over the years.
option B would be the only one that is even remotely balancable. but it would only be really balanceable if the ability lasted for say 15-20 seconds and had a 1-2 minute cool down.
(11-14-2014, 03:25 PM)Hidamari Wrote: topics of ECM have come up on The Starport a few times over the years.
option B would be the only one that is even remotely balancable. but it would only be really balanceable if the ability lasted for say 15-20 seconds and had a 1-2 minute cool down.
I like that option, but I'd extend that to the 30 seconds though. 20 seconds is in my opinion too little, if we add up the fact that weaponry must load the energy after "appearing" though (what takes up some time). Or we do not need the forementioned energy cut?
Also, if we say about time limitation, why not doing dissappearing from both radar and screen?
It sounds fun, except the 'Not being able to be selected' part.
You could literally dodge and - never - get hit. It's basically impossible for other players to even hit you, doesn't matter if you have a shield or not. It's awfully stupid.
It would be fun if, once you see the ship, it can be selected and appears on the radar. Once a new target is selected the guy with the fancy toy disappears.
(11-14-2014, 05:44 PM)Freedom Phantom Wrote: It sounds fun, except the 'Not being able to be selected' part.
You could literally dodge and - never - get hit. It's basically impossible for other players to even hit you, doesn't matter if you have a shield or not. It's awfully stupid.
It would be fun if, once you see the ship, it can be selected and appears on the radar. Once a new target is selected the guy with the fancy toy disappears.
+1
So no energy drop or anything (perhaps only shield offline or energy forced to be on half). It would take place in cargo hold, but work as an active Stealth, hm...
Yeah the only way to avoid the invincible thing would be a still version only, even engine killing but thrusting on momentum could let you get across a system without being able to be targeted, with no time limit like fuel. Especially with snubs only getting around a minute cloak time with a light cloak...to give them an unlimited radar invisibility and the ability to travel at the same time...just wouldn't make sense.
Even though I am not looking forward to the cloak changes (at all), it seems like this will all be negated by the fact that if cloaks go ammo based with cloak batteries, cargo holds are going to be freed up from using fuel, so in theory even a freighter or transport could use a cloak and still smuggle goods. Although I'm not sure on what ships will even be mounting what cloaks after this due to the numbers thrown around.
But I will admit I'd rather see a 'still' version of the power down and have cloaks remain as they are, than ammo based cloaks that will force fixed times and limits to what you can get out of a cloak.