New Cloaking Device |
Ok, I've been tossing around the idea of a new cloaking device, available to the Temporal Tech tree, creatively called the Temporal Cloaking Device. Basically it functions like the standard cloaking device but requires a Temporal Sensor mount to see it. What I would like to do is to see if there is a way to make it so that a high level Tachyon scanner could have the possibility of seeing a ship. Maybe give the Tachyon scanner a 25% chance of detecting a temporal cloaked ship, with a further 25% for every 1 level that the Tachyon scanner higher than the temporal cloaking device. At the limits of the tech tree, it would drop down to just a basic 25% chance per tachyon scanner to detect a TC vessel.
Can this be done?
I'm fairly certain I can whip up a temporal cloaking device but I don't know about being able to give a tachyon scanner a % to spot it.
Re: New Cloaking Device ?detection
martok and I discussed this earlier-
myself, i don't like the idea - thta s me - but am intrigued by the modding, implications, blah blah blah...
i said i could make the component but not necessarily give it any than ordinanry cloaking...
it wasn't until put that Baldly (eh, sorry, Ekolis)
that irealized the implication that detection IS all-or-nothing and that i disagree with thta.
I htink detection should be a chance of factors..
too complex?
Re: New Cloaking Device
I think the different kinds of scaners should have differnt effects, that a temporal scaner behaves just like a tacyon scaner is wrong.
maybe each type of scaner could have it's type of cloak that it finds best, but then the other types it's several levels lower at scanning for.
SEV, more than a feeling.
Re: New Cloaking Device> my mistake
Just saw Rilo's comment b/cas i was en route here to report my error, oddly.
Actually, the cloak abilities CAN be set to different levels of difficulty vs. different modes of detection - so, until someone pops up on here to make fun of me for not know THAT ability doesn't work either 
it would appear it IS possible to make a cloaking device that it would require temporal scanners to find.
Damn that tardis.
Re: New Cloaking Device
Actually, Kryten, that is sorta the idea though I didn't want it to be uber powerful and hence the notion of giving tachyon scanners a chance to see through the temporal cloak. It may be an all or nothing notion right now but I am going to email Adam and see if he could perhaps add this type of code in. I think it could be useful for quite a number of other applications as well.
I don't think it is really all that complex since you are merely giving the tachyon scanner the chance. I also don't think this would be really unbalanced for a multiplayer game. Say I have a fleet of 5 temporally cloaked ships and my opponent, lets call him possum, has a fleet of 4 ships, all of which have a tachyon scanner that is 1 level higher than my temporal cloaking device. There is a good chance that possums fleet will spot at least 1 of my ships since each scanner has to make a check against 5 ships.
Now, perhaps that aspect of it may be complex, I'm no programmer so I don't really know myself.
maybe each type of scanner could have it's type of cloak that it finds best, but then the other types it's several levels lower at scanning for.
That could work but that would mean a lot more changes and additions as well. I'm not gonna say that this isn't a good idea but I think it might make things messier.
I still think that doing this might make for a messier and more annoying balancing trick. Still, it might be the only way to proceed. Anyone got the email for MM? I'd like to throw in my idea to him.
Re: New Cloaking Device
Sure, you can email Aaron (not Adam ) at . He most likely gets tons of email about SE5 so don't feel bad if you get ignored - you just have to be persistent but not too annoying about it!
BTW, please ignore my first post, except for the part about cloaking being all-or-nothing - I forgot how cloaking works in SE5! I thought there were still five "cloak types" like there were in SE4; I forgot that there is now only one! 
HOWEVER... you could distinguish the sensor and cloak types by giving them various sensor-level and range parameters, as well as varying resource costs and special abilities - they don't HAVE to all be the same! You could for instance make temporal sensors more powerful than other sensors, being able to scan at twice the normal sensor level (reduce the max component level by half of course), but perhaps give then shorter range; you could also make the temporal cloak twice as powerful too (and remember to reduce the max level there, otherwise max temporal cloaked ships will be undetectable!)
Here's a simple sensor scheme I set up for the 21st Century Mod:
Basic Radar: 10 tons, short range, no anti-stealth, cheap
Anti-Stealth Radar: 30 tons, short range, anti-stealth, moderate cost
Long Range Radar: 30 tons, long range, no anti-stealth, moderate cost
Active Radar: 50 tons, long range, anti-stealth, high cost, defense penalty, cannot be used with stealth technology (you are broadcasting your position, negating any ECM or stealth!)
All sensors in this mod also provide an attack bonus; there are no dedicated Combat Sensors. So even if you have active radar, you might still want the other types too if you need precise shots, since the attack bonuses stack as long as you have more than one type of sensor!
Re: New Cloaking Device
I like the sensor additions you've added in there. I'd still prefer to have the Combat sensors though...as they really are a dedicated system and the AI has no problems with using them. I don't know if the AI would understand that multiple sensors would benefit them.
As for the TCD, I really don't want to create a ton of overhead by adjusting everything else. I'm still under the impression it would be easier just to create the TCD and then request a code that would allow a percentage varible to determine success or failure. I don't think adding an extra line to the tachyon scanner would be as difficult a task as would creating a whole slew of new cloaking devices and modifiying them.
That said, it may in fact be the only way to do this. I don't really know. I'll be emailing ADAM (thanks...thought Aaron was wrong) later about this.
Re: New Cloaking Device
Detection is all-or-nothing, sorry. You could have it give a really high level cloak in all areas but temporal, thus requiring a temporal sensor to see it, but then only players with temporal tech could see the ship when it's cloaked...
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Check out the 21st Century Mod!