Weird questions about cloaking..

N

Naféasonto

Swabbie
Banned
Is there a game I could play that is fun and be able to use a cloaking device Freely, because in the Wing commander universe it's always restricted to a certain mission.
 
Not Wing Commander but Star Trek Bridge Commander featured cloakable ships. At least in the skirmish editor you can choose from Romulan and Klingon ships with cloaks.
 
In Armada you can fly a Kilrathi fighter with a cloaking device and use it whenever you want.
 
Wing Commander Armada lets you cloak freely in multiplayer. It's good for sneaking up on people.
 
Before you go ahead and start your seventh thread about whether or not something has a cloaking device you should probably explain exactly why you're doing this. As already pointed out, allowing a player to cloak in single player isn't really much fun.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Before you go ahead and start your seventh thread about whether or not something has a cloaking device you should probably explain exactly why you're doing this. As already pointed out, allowing a player to cloak in single player isn't really much fun.
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Aren't there whole single player games where the point is to not be seen for as long as possible, and to "cloak" around? MetalGear Solid, Thief, etc...? Or Knights of the Old Republic 1/2 if you build your character around stealth. Not space combat games, true, but the same idea... It's fun to be able to sneak up even on AI opponents and unleash on them when they least expect it!

Or for a more space combat game, how about the original Descent? The cloaking device came in awfully useful in that game even in single player...
 
Farbourne said:
Aren't there whole single player games where the point is to not be seen for as long as possible, and to "cloak" around? MetalGear Solid, Thief, etc...?
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That's a very different concept of stealth. Those games would not be fun if you just pushed the A button and were completely invisible to the enemies.

Or Knights of the Old Republic 1/2 if you build your character around stealth. Not space combat games, true, but the same idea... It's fun to be able to sneak up even on AI opponents and unleash on them when they least expect it!
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It's not the same idea at all. Those games involved skill and challenge in making your character less likely to be detected. Cloaks in Wing Commander and pretty much every space sim are just a magic invisibility mode that gives you a free shot at the AI. That gets old.
 
ChrisReid, your point is well taken.

I actually always thought it would be a cool addition to Wing Commander-type games if there was some challenge to using cloaking. I.e. not just pushing a button and becoming magically invisible to get free pot shots at the enemies. Some ideas I've had:

I.e. maybe if the cloaking device didn't render complete invisibility, but just partial invisibility that gave you a probability of not being seen that decreases the closer you get to an opponent...

Or maybe operating the cloaking device drew system power, so you had a time limit on how long you could cloak, and the longer you kept it engaged, the more your guns and shields would be drained when you came out of cloak.

Maybe cloaking shuts off your shields for a second before and after it engages (a la Klingon cloaking devices in Star Trek), so engaging your cloak makes you vulnerable for a second, so it would be a bad idea when under fire--you'd have to evade and disengage before enabling it.

Maybe make some kinds of missiles continue to work even against cloaked ships (I always thought heat seekers ought to work against cloaked ships---IR is HARD to mask).

And maybe the introduction of some counter-cload devices, like a mine or special class of corvette or fighter that can emit bursts that disrupts the cloaks of all cloaked ships withing 2000 m...

Features like these could have given a Wing-Commander type game, or at least certain missions, a "Run Silent, run deep" submarine feel, and would be really cool for covert ops missions...
 
Farbourne said:
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Or maybe operating the cloaking device drew system power, so you had a time limit on how long you could cloak, and the longer you kept it engaged, the more your guns and shields would be drained when you came out of cloak.

Maybe cloaking shuts off your shields for a second before and after it engages (a la Klingon cloaking devices in Star Trek), so engaging your cloak makes you vulnerable for a second, so it would be a bad idea when under fire--you'd have to evade and disengage before enabling it.
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The cloak in Armada draws energy from your gun energy - you can't stay cloaked very long and can't fire many shots afterwards (but you can get a missile lock).

I think in Fleet Action (or End Run?) it is described that the cloaking device on the Strakha renders its sensors useless as long as it's cloaked, and there's something about the shields as well, but I don't remember.

And, IIRC, in the videos about Arena you see that cloaking drains energy as well.

Farbourne said:
(...)
And maybe the introduction of some counter-cload devices, like a mine or special class of corvette or fighter that can emit bursts that disrupts the cloaks of all cloaked ships withing 2000 m...
(...)
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There is an anti-cloak gun in Proving grounds (add-on for Aramda) and in WCP implemented. In Arena you get the sonar to detect cloaked ships/mines.
 
Mekt-Hakkikt said:
There is an anti-cloak gun in Proving grounds (add-on for Aramda) and in WCP implemented.
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Also, the Dragon in WC4 had anti-cloak optics, though we don't officially know if that technology was adapted to post-WC4 craft, as it doesn't make a showing in Prophecy, Secret Ops, or Arena (which, of course, doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't exist, just that we don't see it).
 
When you fly the Lance (Dragon) in WCIV you can 'see' cloaked ships. They don't appear on radar, but their outlines are visible through your cockpit.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
When you fly the Lance (Dragon) in WCIV you can 'see' cloaked ships. They don't appear on radar, but their outlines are visible through your cockpit.
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Hmm, which is vital when flying with friendly cloaked ships.

Which leads me to wonder if the Strakha had similar technology. It would have been pretty embarrassing for the Kilrathi if they had slipped past Blair & Co. to attack Tiger's Claw on approach to K'tithrak Mang... only to be destroyed when the three invisible fighters accidentally collided because they couldn't see each other! :)
 
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