Cloaking: Difference between revisions

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Cloaking is a nuanced mechanic and knowing the exact way it interacts with other aspects of the game is important.

Once the cloaking module is activated the ship ~~will turn invisible~~ immediately. ~~You~~ will ~~see~~ the cloaking ~~animation~~ on ~~your own ship~~ but ~~other players will just see your ship disappear~~. ~~Equally when you uncloak your ship becomes visible instantly when~~ the cloaking module is deactivated.

Once the cloaking module is activated the ship is immediately considered to be cloaked. The cloaking animation itself will take a few seconds to play, during which time the cloaking ship is visible in space and on the overview, and can be selected, but cannot be targeted. Once the cloaking module is deactivated, the ship will immediately appear on the overview and be targetable, even though the decloaking animation also takes a few seconds to play.

While active the cloak will prevent activation of all modules. However ~~you can activate~~ non-offensive modules during the first 5 seconds of being cloaked. Modules that are active before cloaking will also finish their cycles normally~~. But~~ some modules, such as ~~MJD,~~ will decloak the ship if ~~they~~ cycle while the ship is cloaked. ~~You are~~ also ~~unable to~~ set ~~modules~~ to ~~overheated state while you are cloaked~~.

While active the cloak will prevent activation of all modules, including reloading them or moving items between containers in inventory. However, non-offensive modules can still be activated during the first 5 seconds of being cloaked. Modules that are active before cloaking will also finish their cycles normally, however some modules such as the [[Propulsion equipment#Micro Jump Drives|micro jump drive]] will decloak the ship if their cycle completes while the ship is cloaked. While cloaked, modules also cannot be set to Overheat.

There are multiple factors ~~that~~ prevent ships from cloaking, cause a cloaked ship to decloak ~~or apply to cloaked ships~~.

There are multiple factors which can prevent ships from cloaking or forcibly cause a cloaked ship to decloak.

* Being within 2000 m from any object will cause cloaked ships to decloak ~~and prevents cloaking~~. This includes often ignored objects such as jettisoned cans, corpses, drones, and gas clouds.

* Being within 2000 m from any object will prevent ships from cloaking and cause cloaked ships to decloak. This includes often ignored objects such as jettisoned cans, corpses, collidable structures, drones, and gas clouds.

** Missiles '''will decloak''' cloaked ships.

** Exceptions: Cloaked ships and scanner probes do not decloak cloaked ships. As a side-effect of this, multiple cloaked ships in the same spot will not collide with one another, however if one of them decloaks they will all forcibly decloak and potentially be sent bouncing away from each other.

* Being targeted will prevent ship from cloaking. This includes being targeted by an NPC or a passive targeting module which does not show as yellow box.

* Being targeted will prevent a ship from cloaking. This includes being targeted by an NPC or a passive targeting module which does not show as yellow box.

** ~~Someone trying to~~ target ~~you~~ will ~~not~~ prevent cloaking. ~~The~~ targeting attempt will fail.

** However, only completed target locks will prevent cloaking. If the cloaking device activates before a target lock is established, the targeting attempt will fail.

* If you are already cloaked you cannot cloak. This may seem like a non problem but this will force you to break the gate cloak before you can activate your cloaking module and in the process reveal yourself.

* If you are already cloaked you cannot cloak. This may seem like a non problem but this will force you to break the gate cloak (see below) before you can activate your cloaking module, and in the process briefly reveal yourself.

* Faction police and CONCORD ships are able to locate cloaked ships. If you are being chased by either of them due to low standing or criminal action they will warp to you even if you are cloaked.

* Offensive area of effect modules such as ~~bombs~~ and ~~smartbombs~~ will damage cloaked ships but will not decloak them.

* Offensive area of effect modules such as [[Bombs]] and [[Smartbombs]] will damage cloaked ships but will ''not'' decloak them.

* Command ~~bursts~~ do not apply to cloaked ships.

* [[Command Bursts]] do not apply to cloaked ships.

=== Skills ===

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 Cloaking is a nuanced mechanic and knowing the exact way it interacts with other aspects of the game is important.
-Once the cloaking module is activated the ship will turn invisible immediately. You will see the cloaking animation on your own ship but other players will just see your ship disappear. Equally when you uncloak your ship becomes visible instantly when the cloaking module is deactivated.
+Once the cloaking module is activated the ship is immediately considered to be cloaked. The cloaking animation itself will take a few seconds to play, during which time the cloaking ship is visible in space and on the overview, and can be selected, but cannot be targeted. Once the cloaking module is deactivated, the ship will immediately appear on the overview and be targetable, even though the decloaking animation also takes a few seconds to play.
-While active the cloak will prevent activation of all modules. However you can activate non-offensive modules during the first 5 seconds of being cloaked. Modules that are active before cloaking will also finish their cycles normally. But some modules, such as MJD, will decloak the ship if they cycle while the ship is cloaked. You are also unable to set modules to overheated state while you are cloaked.
+While active the cloak will prevent activation of all modules, including reloading them or moving items between containers in inventory. However, non-offensive modules can still be activated during the first 5 seconds of being cloaked. Modules that are active before cloaking will also finish their cycles normally, however some modules such as the [[Propulsion equipment#Micro Jump Drives|micro jump drive]] will decloak the ship if their cycle completes while the ship is cloaked. While cloaked, modules also cannot be set to Overheat.
-There are multiple factors that prevent ships from cloaking, cause a cloaked ship to decloak or apply to cloaked ships.
+There are multiple factors which can prevent ships from cloaking or forcibly cause a cloaked ship to decloak.
-* Being within 2000 m from any object will cause cloaked ships to decloak and prevents cloaking. This includes often ignored objects such as jettisoned cans, corpses, drones, and gas clouds.
+* Being within 2000 m from any object will prevent ships from cloaking and cause cloaked ships to decloak. This includes often ignored objects such as jettisoned cans, corpses, collidable structures, drones, and gas clouds.
 ** Missiles '''will decloak''' cloaked ships.
 ** Exceptions: Cloaked ships and scanner probes do not decloak cloaked ships. As a side-effect of this, multiple cloaked ships in the same spot will not collide with one another, however if one of them decloaks they will all forcibly decloak and potentially be sent bouncing away from each other.
-* Being targeted will prevent ship from cloaking. This includes being targeted by an NPC or a passive targeting module which does not show as yellow box.
+* Being targeted will prevent a ship from cloaking. This includes being targeted by an NPC or a passive targeting module which does not show as yellow box.
-** Someone trying to target you will not prevent cloaking. The targeting attempt will fail.
+** However, only completed target locks will prevent cloaking. If the cloaking device activates before a target lock is established, the targeting attempt will fail.
-* If you are already cloaked you cannot cloak. This may seem like a non problem but this will force you to break the gate cloak before you can activate your cloaking module and in the process reveal yourself.
+* If you are already cloaked you cannot cloak. This may seem like a non problem but this will force you to break the gate cloak (see below) before you can activate your cloaking module, and in the process briefly reveal yourself.
 * Faction police and CONCORD ships are able to locate cloaked ships. If you are being chased by either of them due to low standing or criminal action they will warp to you even if you are cloaked.
-* Offensive area of effect modules such as bombs and smartbombs will damage cloaked ships but will not decloak them.
+* Offensive area of effect modules such as [[Bombs]] and [[Smartbombs]] will damage cloaked ships but will ''not'' decloak them.
-* Command bursts do not apply to cloaked ships.
+* [[Command Bursts]] do not apply to cloaked ships.
 === Skills ===