AFK Cloaking – The Modern Eve Soap Opera
Cloaking, in Eve Online, is the ability to remove yourself from other people’s visual and scanning systems, i.e. makes you invisible. The ability to cloak is used exclusively in PVP related formats, either for intel gathering, or for first strike capacity, and also for surprise attack. It also is used to escape such PVP dilemmas.
The Modules in Question
Currently, Eve Online has three Cloaking Modules that are in common use:
- Prototype Cloaking Device I – A Tech 1 module that uses 30 CPU, and 1 MW power. Upon activation, your ship speed is reduced by 90%. Upon disactivation, you have to wait 30 seconds before you can target anything.
- Improved Cloaking Device II – A Tech 2 module that is an improvement over the Prototype. This unit uses 60 CPU, but only reduces your speed by 75% when active. When the Improved Cloaking Device deactivates, you only have to wait 20 seconds before you can target another ship.
- Covert Ops Cloaking Device II – This Tech 2 module can only be used by certain ships, such as Covert Ops frigates, Stealth Bombers, a some Recons. It has no reduction in speed and has only a 10 second wait before you can start targeting.
All of these have some additional weakness. For example, if you come within 2000 meters of another ship, it will decloak you. Another is that if you are actively targeted, you cannot cloak at all.
The Issue that Divides Them
However, all three have one very nice advantage. They can stay on indefinately. They drain no power or fuel of any type whatsoever. Thus, it has become a common practice for some enemy pilots to park their ship in system, cloak up, and go afk for hours at a time (or so one would think – there isn’t anything saying they can’t). This usually disrupts operations going on in systems and definately slows down isk profitability.. and thus.. the drama is caused.
If you have ever dealt with this issue, you know that there are two sides.. and only two sides to this issue. For some clarity on that, here are some very recent threads on the subject: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=110852 and https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=102191&find=unread just to name a very, very, very few threads that crop up out of anger and frustration. Just for clarity, here are the two groups:
- The “Its Not Broken, Don’t Fix It” Group is usually made up of pirates or pirate like characters who essentially don’t want to have to try and find a new way to gank others. Mixed in there are the ones who actually use it for strategic purposes and those generally have a pretty articulate argument that revolves around how easily it is to decloak a bomber, or how weak a bomber is in the first place.
- The second group, or the “Whaaaa! You are disrupting my Bot Mining Operations” Group tend to be industrialists, mission runners, and ratters.. the majority of which just simply want to do their own thing and not be bothered anywhere (including in WHs, null-sec, and while avoiding wardecs) by this silly thing called PVP. Imagine the audacity! Mixed in with that group are some who see the AFK cloaking as too powerful of a mechanic because there is no way to counter it.
Myself, I have been on both sides of this issue. Ursha’Khan, back during the days of Provi 1.0, used this almost exclusively to disrupt isk making operations. While I didn’t care for it, the reasons behind it are legitimate.. it was to disrupt our ability to make isk for replacing our losses. I used this tactic myself to gather intel in far off null-sec systems when we were wardeced by various alliances, so it was a useful tactic for me.
All in all though, I do find that I tend to side with the second group. Mainly this is because I don’t think a module as powerful as a cloaking device should operate without limitations. And once it is active, unless you are a complete imbecile or unlucky, there is no way someone is going find you. No other module in the game acts that way. Even the small Damage Control units have to use some cap every few seconds to keep active. All active sensor modules, all active shield modules, all active armor modules, all E-War modules, all weapon modules require either power, or fuel, or ammunition, or a combination of them to remain active and working. Cloaking Devices don’t have any limitations in their use, and in that respect, I think they are overpowered.
So, what have been more common ideas that have been put forth to deal with this?
Fixes and Wishes
The first, and probably most popular, is having a “Fuel Requirement”. Basically said, the pilot would have to have some sort of fuel (predictably ice products) that would burn off while in use. I like the fuel idea, but I can see where it really hampers long range recon when you got to fly through system after system of enemy territory. It also would degrade their combat effectiveness when used in conjuction with Black Ops fleets. Though, to what extent would depend highly on the how much fuel is consumed during use.
The second most common is actually one that seems to have some traction with CCP, and that is to have special Cloaky Hunter ships. To me, this was what the Electronic Attack Frigates should have been used for. They are currently useless and often the E-war they are paired with make them just quick and easy kills. I like this idea, but it doesn’t really “fix” the overpoweredness of Cloaking Modules, and I’m not even sure how effective they would really be in actual use.
Personally, I’m in favor of just having the cloaking device use capacitor. I think that on a full capacitor, using base skills, with no mods, that a Stealth Bomber or Covert Ops should be able to stay cloaked for about an hour. This would cut down on lazy AFK cloaking, while those actively trying to get intel could make a distance safespot, warp to it when their time is almost up. uncloak for a few minutes, then go back again. Long distance ops can still work because you are operating with the same payload and you don’t need a “fuel” to keep you going.
We’ll have to see, I guess. From what I understand, even the CSM isn’t very cohesive on this issue and we’re probably not likely going to see anything simple come out of CCP.. not when they could show off their art skills with new ships and modules. So, in the meantime, go read the drama that fills the forums on this issue.. Or better yet, do some trolling of your own. Just tell’em, Orakkus sent ya.
CSM 7 – Occupy… Everywhere? – My view on where CSM 7 and CCP should Focus
CSM 7 is on more Eve Online player minds than ever before. This I think is a good thing, and I am particularly impressed by how much of a push there is by the Faction Warfare and Low-sec groups. To me, this is a good thing. As I have mentioned in the past, while currently Null-sec is the apple of CCP’s eye, I really think that if low-sec was done well, it could easily surpass and redefine Eve Online and even its playerbase. I kind of wish that what I am going to discuss becomes a blog banter, because I would love to see how each blogger feels about the issues on hand.
I am going to list what I think the three biggest issues should be this year, as well as some things that I think would be bonuses for success.
Priority One: Null-sec Soverignty Issues
Right now, Null-sec still has problems. The Sov system needs a massive re-work, something that allows options for both large invasions and defense forces, resource control, better distribution of assets, as well as giving smaller groups better options by removing the problems and challenges brought about by Supercaps. While I still think that low-sec is eventually where the focus of Eve Online should be, right now it isn’t there and null-sec is the breadwinner and still needs a lot of work. The big issues that still are on the table:
- Supercap Proliferation – Supercapitals are still being produced in such large numbers that no new alliance can get a serious foothold into null-sec without a fleet of these. Ideally, in my mind, Titans and Supercarriers should either a.) Take on a much more logistical role and scale back their combat abilities even more, or b.) Require that these Supercapital ships need more than one pilot to operate successfully. Both of these would not necessarily reduce their need/use, but it would reduce their ability to dominate the battlefield exclusively.
- Soverignty Control – Soverignty Mechanics suck. In many ways, even the old way had better options. To be honest, I have no idea where to begin on this. Ihubs, POSes, Stations, the whole thing needs to start from scratch, hopefully finding ways to make sov confrontation to work beyond the “n+1″ model.
- Wealth Distribution – Tech Moons, Taxation, Supercapital Fleets – Time and time again we keep hearing about how the grunts on the ground, the typical null-sec player who doesn’t have multiple bot alts making him isk while he’s sleeping, often struggles to make enough isk to keep his PVP habit going. On the flipside, the leaders of many of these organizations, as well as industrial corporations, often siphoning ships, materials, isk, with no easy way of fairly distributing resources.. or even just documenting what resources the alliance is maintaining. Perhaps a system needs to be determined where players get more of the isk generated from sov, and can reduce their efforts in their own personal isk operations, but are required to spend more time maintaining that sov through various activities, unrelated to invasion and invasion defense.
Priority Two: Low-Sec and Faction Warfare Complete Redesign
While Low-sec and Faction Warfare are two different entities, they do tend to deal with each other more than most and both have the same problem: Purpose. There isn’t much of a reason to be in low-sec for industrialists and mission runners.. the very fuel of pirates. The problem stems from a conflux of issues, concerns, and doubts.. along with a number of tears. Faction Warfare on the other hand is supposed to be an aspect of Eve where people can pick up quick PVP fights in smaller gangs. Not sure where I read it but the amount of actual PVP’ers in Faction Warfare range around 9% to 15%, a failed mechanic if there ever was one. Most FW players just spend their time running plexes and making isk. Not really anything like it was meant to be.
A big, upcoming problem for low-sec and faction warfare is that there is a fundamental difference in how to do that. Many null-sec leaders, especially those running for CSM, would like to see low-sec to be a “null-sec lite”, in which low-sec carries some of the benefits and some of the heartache of sov control, so as to prepare ones for the supposedly better benefits of null-sec sov control. However, running counter to these arguments are the low-sec dwellers as well as some in the faction warfare group that say that null-sec can be all about sov control and sov entities, but low-sec should be something different. One big aspect they hope to achieve appears to be around getting pirate factions set up to work much like the major factions do, which would require ways of improving factions with all the pirate groups, some of which have no way to improve their relations.
Another downside that I see is the disconnect between those that like to pirate and the rest of the known reasonable universe. This group is a very vocal group that seems to think that the more freedom you give them to slaughter industrials and miners, the more industrialists and miners will want to line up in nice neat rows to be slaughtered. Often their proposals are pretty short-sighted to say the least.
Things that are also considered on this list:
- Bounty Hunting Changes – As everyone knows, Bounty Hunting is a staple of the Sci-Fi world, ever since Boba Fett came on the scene. However, the Bounty Hunting mechanic in Eve Online is.. for lack of a better term.. awful. Do whatever it takes to make Bounty Hunting a career choice.
- Crimewatch – This needs to be radically different, and fortunately, lots of CSM candidates are actually wanting to fix this, so that is good.
- Wardec Changes – With CCP basically saying that a major exploit is no longer an exploit to escape wardecs, the ability to wardec is no longer viable. On the other side of the table, the case can be made that wardecs are too easy of a tool for griefers to use.
Priority Three: Mining and Bots
Of all the activities in Eve Online, mining is by far the least interactive. You point your mining laser and shot a rock until its gone. The rock doesn’t move, you pretty much get all the material so long as you have enough space for it, and it goes on endlessly and repetatively. True, some people like the monotonous activity because its a way of making isk while you do things around the house.. like make sure the kids don’t catch themselves on fire or something. Nothing wrong with that.. but.. the mechanic is so old, so easily exploited by bots, that it just needs a complete redo.
There are already some great ideas out there, like having the asteroids.. well, move. As well as having to scan down asteroid belts in every system (shoot, would be kinda cool to have those ice belts move from system to system to system within a region or constellation…), much like finding wormholes or anomalies.. just much easier. And having to scan down asteroid belts do give a measure of added security.. enough of one that it might embolden more industrial types to take the risk.. particularly if better belts are harder to scan. But that’s just one thought of many being looked over.
CSM 7 and My Unofficial Rules
The Campaign for CSM 7 is upon us.
Because it is always interesting to see how the Candidates move and operate, I have set up a page where I plan to link interesting information about various candidates, such as threads they’ve commented on, interviews, or blogs that they run. So, if you are planning on trying for a seat on the CSM, I’ll put a link to your stuff here on my webpage.
Now, onto the rules, My Unofficial Ones…
Rule #1: Thou shalt not be clueless. If you are going to run for CSM, please have the decency to know what the CSM can do, and in particular, what it can’t do. Maybe the new guys to the game may think you can cause all of null-sec to be converted into high-sec space.. but the fact of the matter is you’re going to need the votes of those who have been in the game a long, long time. And if they figure out that you have no idea what you can or can’t do, they aren’t going to send you to Iceland.
Rule #2: Thou shall speak to the peoples, legibly. Have interviews, speak with good grammar(*see comment), and know what you are talking about. However, most importantly, know what your opponents are talking about. Things to avoid: l33t sp3ak and “i no like punctuashon & spel chek to hrd 4 me 2 us capit0l leaters bad 2″. In the words of Samuel L Jackson: “English Motherf***er! Do you speak it?!” Russian works too.
Rule #3: Thou shall have a blog. Yes. Blogs are FREE. Get that.. FREE. Say it with me.. FREE. There is no excuse for a CSM candidate not to have a site up detailing their positions. If an interviewer wants to discuss your case for CSM.. you are going to need something for him to pull from.
After seeing the chaos of 50+ CSM Candidates, the majority of which forgot that they were running after announcing that they were running, and the fact that the vote comparison tool wasn’t all that useful in giving detailed viewpoints of individual candidates positions (in some cases, it was detrimental), it would behoove the candidates to follow the above rules to give them a better shot at reaching the people they want to reach.
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