Oolite Bulletins

Translator:
After using the Cloaking Device, my ship starts to disappear, but the enemy continues to shoot at me. This is not normal, is it?

Are you cloaking and passive, or still fighting? The moment you open fire, you will decloak.
Also, if your energy levels are too low, the cloak will not function.

It looks like this:
I fight, they destroy my shield, I use cloak and try to escape. I stop shooting, but they keep shooting at me anyway.
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I tested it a bit and it turns out that the opponent keeps firing even when I am cloaked, but misses most shots. It's normal?
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There is something else weird. Some pirate ships are extremely fast. I always use my rear laster to fight and sometimes I increase the distance with boosters. But these pirates are so fast they catch up with me almost immediately. Even the Thargoid ships are not as fast as these pirates. My ship is a Boa 2 Class Cruiser.

Some pirates are equipped with fuel injectors, and will be able to chase down a Boa CC.

I see. Nevertheless, I also use boosters/fuel injectors, but these bastards are much faster anyway.

Is it a Cloaking Device, does it work as I wrote above? I was convinced that the enemy would stop shooting and I would be able to safely fly away.

A Boa CC is slower than a Cobra MkIII (which I presume was your previous ship).
A pirate interceptor with injectors can keep up with a Cobra MkIII on injectors.

But shouldn't the cloaking device help in an escape, if 3DH is not using his rear laser? The pirate's ability to travel faster should be irrelevant if they can't see him...

The wiki page says that it is activated by the 0 button. Is this still true?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 7:26 pm

The wiki page says that it is activated by the 0 button. Is this still true?

Yes!

Cody wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 3:55 pm

A Boa CC is slower than a Cobra MkIII (which I presume was your previous ship).
A pirate interceptor with injectors can keep up with a Cobra MkIII on injectors.

Most often, the fastest ones piloted Krait. Fer-de-Lance is also a problem for me.

To be precise. When the Cloaking Device is activated, the indicator light turns purple, right? It's purple in combat and white at the station. It turns red when we fire.

Hmm... the Cloaking Device Wiki page needs rewriting. Any expert volunteers?

3DH wrote: ↑Sun Oct 03, 2021 10:12 am

When the Cloaking Device is activated, the indicator light turns purple, right? It's purple in combat and white at the station. It turns red when we fire.

That's not how mine behaves, but I don't have time at the moment to check this out properly.

This is how it looks for me: https://youtu.be/yTqOKlWtyYk?t=264

My mistake... it's been a very long time since I used the cloak in anger. But I misunderstood something too: if you are already engaged with Thargoids, activating the cloak will not break their lock on you. If you arrive in interstellar space with the cloak already activated, they won't see you unless you engage them. Some "inconsistencies" with cloaking device behaviour were fixed a while back (1.77.1?). I think the same is true with all ships, not only gooks, but I don't have time to check. Activating the cloak should still break a missile's lock on you though (I think).

Cody wrote: ↑Sun Oct 03, 2021 10:22 am

Hmm... the Cloaking Device Wiki page needs rewriting. Any expert volunteers?

I'm in two minds about this one.

To date, the device has been kept under wraps, with all sorts of circumlocutions employed in describing it. This has been done because it is a surprise. And in the current time, with most new players not having come to Oolite through Elite, it is a surprise.

The other equipment is out there for sale - and people would know about it. I remember discussing cars with a cousin in Yorkshire who knew what each car parked on the road cost, its top speed, its mileage per gallon etc etc. I was quite blown away by it all. So I have few problems with oxp's revealing such details about the ships or the stations. It would be common knowledge, unlike knowing that the pirate viper attacking me is equipped with a military laser rather than just a beam. I'm not so sure that equipment could exist to tell me that he had a military before he started pot-shotting at me, when his laser beam could then be analysed.

So if the Cloaking Device is indeed a military secret, it should be the subject of rumour. But the Navy should give you an instruction manual when they give you one. Should not this manual be built into the Vanilla game, rather than the wiki? Maybe as an appendix to the F5 page? Or the F4 page (who bothers looking at the F5 page regularly?).

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:18 pm

But the Navy should give you an instruction manual when they give you one.

I don't think it has anything to do with the Navy, it's simply mysterious. I'll not mention how it comes into one's possession.

Re the rewrite: I agree, but what it says now is actually misleading, given its adjusted behaviour. I'll give it some thought.