Cloaking Devices

[astronomypete]

After a discussion at Salute yesterday, I have a small proposal to improve cloaks.

In SFB cloaks come in 3 flavours, dependant upon cloak costs, and power availability. So I'd like to propose that as there is a change in the drone rules to that of the same rules for SFB with the drone types. We have an advanced rule for cloaking, and introduce 3 cloaking attributes.

Fast Cloak (ship can move at speed 12")

Medium Cloak (ship can move at speed 9")

Slow Cloak (ship can move at speed 6")

This would allow ships like the condor to have a Medium Cloak and be able to turn whilst moving at last. It would allow the faster agile skyhawks to move at speed 12 and zoom around whilst cloaked.

What do you think? If enough people like it I'll go through the SSD's and run a quick energy allocation through and work out which should be fast and which should be slow for the ACTA:SF ships.

 

[Da Boss]

If so you need to increase the points cost of those ships with the better cloaks as this gives them considerable increase in power and ability. Maybe add a third again for medium and double for fast.

Note the Drone rules are under review and look unlikely to go anywhere (hopefully)

 

[astronomypete]

If so you need to increase the points cost of those ships with the better cloaks as this gives them considerable increase in power and ability. Maybe add a third again for medium and double for fast.

Note the Drone rules are under review and look unlikely to go anywhere (hopefully)

The points cost for cloaks on the Orions is 25 points, a fast cloak increase would be perhaps 35-40 points and a medium cloak increase would be 30-35. But I don't know how the points values would quite work, it would probably need some playtesting to establish the effectiveness. You can only do so much whilst cloaked so doubling the points value would be proportionally too high a penalty to pay, but the suggested points increase is only a suggestion.

 

[McKinstry]

I like it and I am normally loath to add complications but this is a simple addition (unlike the Update#2 drones). The points would need adjusting but that would be a relatively simple tweak.

 

[Nerroth]

there are three iterations of a "cloak-ish" device in SFB, but not more than one actual cloak (unless one counts the adjustments made to cloaks on first-generation X-ships).


The most primitive form of the technology was the Masking Device, followed by the Veiling Device; both of which only existed in the Early Years and published in Module Y1. However, the big problem for both the mask and veil is that they only work if a ship is moving at impulse; tactical warp movement voids the effect outright. (No-one bothered trying to steal mask or veil technology because of this.)

The "true" cloaking device emerged in Y140, and it does work at tactical warp. But the differences in cloak costs from one hull type to another are not because of any differences in the device itself; but rather, in the degree of (in)efficiency caused by trying to operate it with a certain hull form.

(In the case of the Romulans, the Eagles work best with the cloak, so have the cheapest cloaking cost; the Kestrels are the most inefficient, since the Klingon hulls were not designed to work with cloaks in the first place; while the Hawks are somewhere in between, since they were designed with cloaks in mind but didn't quite reach the same degree of cloak efficiency as their Eagle-series counterparts.)

Orion ships (and anyone else who tries to use a cloak) have distinct cloaking costs they have to pay, since those ships have the same problem as the Kestrels.


So, while there is a difference in SFB and FC in terms of how effective each generation of Romulan ship is at operating under cloak (and how the Orions compare and contrast to all three), the differences are part and parcel of what makes each class of ship unique, and can't easily be ported from one hull type to another.

 

[astronomypete]

Thanks Nerroth, for your historical insight however, the efficiency of the cloaking device for the early warbirds which are supposed to be the most efficient in power terms to cloak still isn't reflected in the game, especially as the warbird can still only move very slowly due to its severe lack of power.

The Skyhawk with a medium cloak cost in power terms still allows the skyhawk to fly around at speed 25+. Each of the series of Romulan's ships eagles, kestrel, and hawk, have their own peformance capabilities which do not reflect the cost of the cloaking power requirements.

 

[Nerroth]

Actually, you could argue that the current War Eagle is getting something of a free ride in terms of movement already (when not using its R-torp, that is); the ship can only go a maximum of speed 21 in SFB terms, yet can keep pace with a King Eagle in ACtA:SF. Technically, it can go faster in FC since "power is power" in that game, but even then the ship can literally do nothing else that requires power if it uses all of its Energy Points, to include its full set of batteries, by moving thirty-two hexes in a single turn (and only every other turn at best, since it would need at least one additonal turn to re-fill its batteries).

Leaving that exception aside, I'm not sure if it's worth trying to adjust the cloak rules here in order to make one series of ship able to travel further under cloak than another (or vice versa). Generally, it seems that the "standard" 12" move rate represents the fleet as a whole maneuvering at a mid-level speed (16 or so?) in SFB or FC terms, with Fast ships and AptE! pushing things closer to the upper limit of tactical warp movement. I'm not sure if adding a mix of cloak rules adjusted to specific ship classes (or series) is going to add or take away from the way things are at present.

But then, it's not my call to make, so.