Regarding Cloaked Engagements.

[JonasHudson]

The issue here is that the ship in question was cloaked when it RP'd. There is no way for the person that is about to be attacked, to know that he will be attacked for certain within the next 10 seconds after it sees the first message, as the RP might as well be directed at another person withing local chat range. As such RP while being cloaked does not really qualify here.
Which leads us back to the reasonable time before hostilities, as that is not given when you uncloak and instantly unleash hell after dropping some lines of chat while being cloaked.

Unfortunately I don't agree with this at all. I have played here since 2012 and the whole time this has been an issue, it has been widely accepted that it is YOUR responsibility to be diligent with your craft. If you see a notice in local, and the only person around is not the person who just dropped the message, or you don't have them on scanner among any others present, you can put it together really quick that there is a ship cloaked nearby dropping the message. Combined with the cloak sound (which was brought in to put these situations to bed forever), you have more than enough information on average to take evasive action leading up to a properly role played attack by a cloaked vessel. I have seen this and done this myself and as long as you give that minimum time it has always been enough and more than obvious what was coming. This seems like yet another bias against the cloak, one of too many that have piled up on this server. RP in local while cloaked still ought to be considered legit. That just totally kills the last possible practical use of the cloak, now that escape from battle has been made impossible on all types. Piled up with the cloak disruptor's now filling the market, ambush is just about the last thing you can really do to enjoy using them and feel like you applied the technology and tactics practically. That's why I have always played this game, cloaks are not supposed to be just cosmetic or for RP purposes only. Now, typically I pirate, so cloaked or not if a demand is made in local, it gives more time than when ID's are otherwise clear to engage upon first contact. Also for piracy, demands for cargo/credits or simply to stop tip someone off and its usually prudent to drop the cloak to fire your CD. When factions are enemies or if bounty hunting and a clear attack declaration is made against a target, it most certainly should count as valid RP and engagement RP.

Some things do have to be your job, like keeping yourself alive. Everytime I crash into a planet with a full load of pscrap, I remind myself of the NPC that's always saying 'Don't look away, even for a second, that's all it takes'.

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