Cloak trick
The MWD/Cloak Trick:
Purpose
Avoid being targeted after jumping through a gate.
What is it?
This is a technique that enables pilots to cloak while aligning after jumping through a gate. When done properly, this allows the pilot to almost instantly warp the second he breaks cloak.
Modules Required
This technique works best with an Improved Cloaking Device and a Microwarp Drive of the correct size for the ship (e.g. 10mn for Cruisers and Industrials). These are usually placed on the F1 and F2 keys when the pilot believes using the technique will likely be required.
- A Tech 1 Prototype Cloaking Device may be used, but this will result in slightly more time uncloaked.
- An Afterburner or undersized MWD may not be used, as it will not provide enough of a speed boost.
- With the Odyssey 1.1 Tier 1 Industrials rebalancing, "fast-role" industrials (Sigil, Badger, Wreath, Iteron) can now fit 10MN MWD's and Cloaks in addition to their tank and cargohold fittings.
How does it work?
- Hit align to your point of interest
- Immediately after hit the cloak
- Immediately after you hit cloak hit your MWD (this does work, you can activate and non-offensive modules for 5 seconds after you activate a cloaking device).
- When your MWD cycle is about 90% complete you drop cloak and spam warp to your point of interest.
Because the MWD boosts your (cloaked) speed by 500% for one cycle while you are cloaked you will end up at right around warp speed when you deactivate the cloak (right before the MWD cycle is complete.) Since you hit align before the cloak you will be aligned and at warp speed when the cloak drops. This equals near insta-warp. With practice, you can be uncloaked for literally less than a second total on a gate. Practice in high-sec and you will find this is actually pretty easy and effective.
Videos that Demonstrate the Technique
There are numerous videos of this technique posted on Youtube. These two videos provide clear demonstrations of the technique (probably need out-of-game browser to view):
Bonus pro-tip side note:
You can use the same MWD trick to accelerate a big ship (say an Orca or Rorqual) to warp speed without the cloak involved. Align, pulse the MWD ONCE (and once only, just click it twice in a row) and warp in 10 seconds instead of 30. You could do the cloak thing, but you'll have to see the specifics on how to time dropping the cloak and it may require more time uncloaked at the end of the MWD cycle to get to just the right speed. The cloak trick requires a tad more practice but makes annoying acceleration waits *slightly* less annoying and a little safer.
