Oolite Bulletins

Thargoid wrote:

Oddly I don't recall ever setting it, and I get decloaked when firing (in trunk). My memory is that in my 1.73.4 set-up I did too (and the saves from the former are inherited from the latter).

Its off by default as I never noticed a change with my commander. But it is possible that you fly an oxp ship that has it set to true. (its not stored in the save files but in shipdata.plist) Its already in the last 1.73 release as published here

Energy Drain -

There was a reply earlier that stated if you use the cloak then you're ship does'nt drain that much energy.

I've resisted using my new toy, but I found myself in a TOTALLY defensive
situation against approx 25 thargoids all firing at me.

I used the cloak, only to find it drained my first two energy banks in under 60 seconds, thereby cutting out, so I had to hyperspace out of there to survive.

Anyone else had this problem?

masona2 wrote:

Energy Drain -

There was a reply earlier that stated if you use the cloak then you're ship does'nt drain that much energy.

Well, it totally depends on your ship. To be precise: on your ship's capacity to re-charge its energy banks. This capacity is determined by a pre-defined rate, depending on ship-type, plus the installation of an Energy Unit. If you don't have any Energy Unit installed, you're stuck with your ship's original capacity, which sucks. The Extra Energy Unit gives you a better re-charge, while it is rumoured that the Navy has developed an alternative device with an even better re-charge.

Obviously, if your ship has a high energy re-charge rate, you cloak will be able to last longer than in a ship with a low energy re-charge rate. Which is, by the way, the same for your ECM. The ECM also drains energy, and repeated use can deplete your energy banks really fast, if they are not re-charged fast enough.

masona2 wrote:

Energy Drain -

I used the cloak, only to find it drained my first two energy banks in under 60 seconds, thereby cutting out, so I had to hyperspace out of there to survive.

Anyone else had this problem?

That large energy drain is deliberate to compensate for its advantages. But there are ships that are designed with a much bigger energy generation than the best of Oolites own ships. With those ships you generate more energy than the cloak consumes. (The super cobra is one of them) With such ships you can stay cloaked forever. Just kill your enemy without any risk on your part. Using ships, stronger than Oolites own is really cheating, not the reinstalling of the cloak after damage.

Commander McLane wrote:

masona2 wrote:

Energy Drain -

There was a reply earlier that stated if you use the cloak then you're ship does'nt drain that much energy.

Well, it totally depends on your ship. To be precise: on your ship's capacity to re-charge its energy banks. This capacity is determined by a pre-defined rate, depending on ship-type, plus the installation of an Energy Unit. If you don't have any Energy Unit installed, you're stuck with your ship's original capacity, which sucks. The Extra Energy Unit gives you a better re-charge, while it is rumoured that the Navy has developed an alternative device with an even better re-charge.

Obviously, if your ship has a high energy re-charge rate, you cloak will be able to last longer than in a ship with a low energy re-charge rate. Which is, by the way, the same for your ECM. The ECM also drains energy, and repeated use can deplete your energy banks really fast, if they are not re-charged fast enough.

What he said.
Also, your shields will draw from the main banks while recharging, and this drain is noticable while cloaked. If you've taken a few hits before you turned the cloak on, then it won't run as long because of the increased demand.
It's really a good idea to install an energy unit, or better, a naval energy unit, to compensate for the cloaking device's massive power hunger.
The docking computer will also draw the main banks down while cloak is active.

A quick way to check the recharge capability of your ship's energy unit is to trigger the ECM while "cloaked", possibly while the hyperdrive is spinning (before or just after a witchspace jump). You can see how rapidly the energy banks dwindle.
But if you kill the loved one some loathsome wretch with black prodruding tongue - while cloaked - you won't score anything.