Survey - Cloaking devices

[Xenon]

Greetings, DiscoveryGC,

Heading straight to the subject, I noticed through a survey that the use of cloaking devices has dropped to a minimum. Accordingly, the industrial/manufacturing market behind it has also dropped to its minimum. I noticed that some active manufacturers decided not to craft cloaking devices anymore, and some even dismantled their cloaking device factories, like me.

I want to ask the community if they still enjoy using cloaking devices or not, so I can calculate if it is worth crafting, or just leave it dead as it is now.
Feel most welcome to participate in the poll, and I would be glad to hear your opinions too about the cloaking devices' usage efficiency under the current server rules and regulations.

Cloaking Devices Information

Information copied from the discovery guide, arranged/perfected by @TheKusari

Thank you for your time.

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[TheKusari]

I use cloaks. Better than not being able to cloak.

How effective they are is a different story. Usage based on speed is a nice mechanic, though distance disruptions could use an adjustment in my opinion.

The issue is that a lot of guys here are long time players, been here long enough to accumulate funds to pimp out a handful of ships. Those who want cloaks already have them. If you're wanting to use the replies here to see if it justifies a cloak factory, I think this is not the best way to go about it. I don't know what the best way is, I guess that's for you to explore and find out.

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[Dark Chocolate]

It's been NERFed too hard. I don't bother using it anymore.. Atleast not as much as I used to. Most of my cloaks are now rusting in my Storage

[Ashyur]

use spoiler for images so we'll be able to read the text as well

cloaks have been nerfed too much to be useful, but that's the purpose of changes, for the space to not be as empty , though with 20 players it's not enough

also there's no point to be cloaked if you know you'll not meet someone who's gonna be red to you

[StellarViss]

The purpose of the change was to remove butt-cloaking mostly. Now it is impossible for someone to de-cloak next to you and open fire.

As for then now. I have used the device to escape bad situations.

[LuckyOne]

They're pretty useless since the last changes.

In my opinion auto decloak should be removed or the range reduced and switched to an audio cue again and cloak disruptors buffed instead.

Maybe introduce some kind of energy cooldown so butt-cloaking is still somewhat viable but it takes something like 40-50 seconds for your energy to recharge to full.

[Dark Chocolate]

Oh yeah.. Thanks for reminding. Cloak Disruptors are even more useless now. I completely forgot they even existed. Yeah, my cloak disruptors are also decaying in my armory.

[JadeTornado]

I haven't seen them for a long time, and disappointed that Cloak Disruptors aren't being used. I guess that counts as not enjoying it.

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[darkwind]

If i wished to use cloak for a smuggling transport, would it be similarly not usable?
Or it would work better than for combat applications?

As far as i am aware smuggling requires quick flight to maximum distance.
Nerfes made cloaks less usable to fly at distances, so questioning myself if cloaks are still usable for the smuggling dashing purpose

In theory speaking. Transports have 350 speed
Cloaks => Fix transport speed problem
So cloaked transports should be still applicable concept to avoid the capture?
Better working than CM

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[Leo]

If i wished to use cloak for a smuggling transport, would it be similarly not usable?
Or it would work better than for combat applications?

As far as i am aware smuggling requires quick flight to maximum distance.
Nerfes made cloaks less usable to fly at distances, so questioning myself if cloaks are still usable for the smuggling dashing purpose

In theory speaking. Transports have 350 speed
Cloaks => Fix transport speed problem
So cloaked transports should be still applicable concept to avoid the capture?
Better working than CM

Yes and no.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but my understanding was the faster you go the faster your fuel depletes on your ship. So in a Freighter, you might be moving at 550 speed with the higher grade engines, thus it would deplete faster than if you had 500 speed engines.

As for the larger ships, I think the MkIII cloaks use 400 cargo space so you would basically be sacrificing cargo space (and thus profit) for the safety of being able to operate under a cloak. Not to mention the extra cost incurred from buying batteries. I think it would be a net negative depending on how much it's used transporting cargo. Just my own two cents.

As for the original question, cloaks are useful as a tool and not as something to center your gameplay around. I.E., useful as a tool in your toolbelt in an "Oh shit" situation but not something to create say, dedicated stealth ships. I think they're still used, just not nearly as much as they used to--for combat, anyway.

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