Cloaking or Stealth

I think it's good tech to add. I was thinking of this myself. I often make what I call survailance vessels. They have nothing but massive amounts of engines, sensors, and life support. They are my eyes and ears (so to speak) into enemy territory, or even just exploring unknown space. I've never had an enemy go after those ships, but I'm sure they would eventually. It would be nice to be able to cloak them and not have to worry so much about them being attacked.

My thinking was that the item would be rather large so it would only be able to fit on a medium sized hull or larger...unless sufficient miniaturization was researched of course.

There already is cloaking in the game files... but the devs chose not to implement it because of balancing issues (to my knowledge).

i agree, cloaking ships would be a very cool addition to the game.

If they add 'cloaking', they damn sure better leave an easy backdoor for people who don't want it anywhere near their games.

I figure this is expansion pack material if at all. There'd probably be a lot of work to do getting the AI to use and react to it properly.

And of course it'd need a toggle.

Cloaking should only be an option if in the game at all. Stealth, on the other hand, and the use of a "signature" system, would be a much better choice. For instance, a certain level of stealth technology would make a ship invisible on the minimap and harder to detect on the main map (have to be within a certain range, possibly half the normal sensor range), unless the other civ had already researched the same stealth level, or a sensor level 2 or 3 higher than the first civ's stealth level.

This is of course a very rough, off-the-top-of-my-head concept, but I have always found that "cloaking" makes a joke out of any strategic/tactical game, and is only useful as a plot element in science fantasy stories.

Perhaps my use of the term was incorrect then. It seems to be a matter of symantics. Your description is what I intended.

To build on Mistoffeles concept. Their could be equal sensor and stealth branches on the tech tree. Extend sensors branch another three techs and give stealth a same length of branch. If Civ A has level 4 stealth teched and Civ B has level 4 sensors, then there is a 50% chance per turn that a Civ A vessel within Civ B's sensor radius would be vissible. Basically, at equal levels of sensors and stealth there is a 50% base chance per turn that an enemy ship would be visible on the mini map or standard map. (Enemy being any Civ that is not allied with you. Not necessarily at war with you.) So it's possible that one turn the ship is there and you can see it, but on the next turn it's still there, but you can't see it. There would be a 50% base chance and then 20% bonuses or penalties be applied for every tech level difference.

Here is an example...

What if Civ A has stealth 7 while Civ B has Sensors 5. Take 20% for each level difference taken from Civ B's ability to see Civ A's ship.. Subtract 40% from the 50% base chance of detection so that leaves only a 10% chance per turn for Civ B to see Civ A's ships while in their sensor radius. What if Civ B had only Sensors 4, then that would be 50-60 for a total of -10% so there would no chance that Civ B could see Civ A's ships, even if they were right beside their ships.

Now on the flip side of that. If Civ A has Stealth 5 and Civ B has Sensors 7 then that would add 40% to the base 50% so that Civ B would have a 90% chance per turn to see Civ A's ships. If Civ A had Stealth 4 and Civ B had Sensors 7, that's +60% which is 110 so there would be a 100% chance that Civ B could see Civ A's ships every turn.

The stealth effects would be neutralized during a battle so that the other ships could return fire. Kinda' hard to hide yourself when missiles or lasers or what-have-you are coming from your ship.

The only problem is that if the AI can't use it correctly, then it's just another advantage for the human player.

If it were added to the already existing sensor tech tree, I do not see why the AI would have any problem with it. It would just be a more advanced level of the sensor tech.

Since it wouldn't be a toggle thing like Star Trek cloaking, the AI would automatically use it without having to add much to it's programming. The only thing needed would be set the AI up to research the stealth path just like it would lasers or shields or any other military type tech.

Cloaking. Might cause a problem. WTF do you do when you auto-explore this bugger?

forgedaboudit

umm, I don't think anyone was talking about invisible ships...at least i was not when i started the thread. My intent was to only make it "invisible" on radar. I think the term "stealth" is what we mean here. Pretty funny observation though.

lol. I know what the intent of the thread is. Had to dig back 7 pages to find the thread after this graphical glitch showed up (it being a sensor ship made it even better).

For the record, I also would like to see stealth components.
How I would set it up (number of levels between theory and tech open to balance):
Armor Theory >> Stealth: Stealth armor = -30% detection (decreasing opponent sensor effecttiveness)
Shield Defense Theory >> Spectral shielding: Spectral shields = -30% detection
Sensors >> Advanced Detection: Advanced detection computer/system = +50% detection abilities. Available for both ships(computer) and military SBs (system)

No other benefit from the component. If you want to waste space on your ships, be my guest. (jk)

I also would like to see some stealth tech to counter the ever increasing sensor range. With a large hull full of advanced sensors you can see a mosquito on the other side of the galaxy.
The stealth tech could decrease the range on which the fleet is detected without making it completely invisible. Say on range 1 you always see a ship/fleet.

Or it could create a Fog of War around the ship, like jamming the enemys sensors.