This thread comes up on almost a weekly basis. In fact, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a nerf cloaking thread in the first 2 pages on this forum section. Almost every single one of them goes like this:

1. OP posts a post with a new (lol) idea that always boils down to some variation of the following:
- "There's a big meanie who is sitting in my system and not doing anything, but I don't know where he is and I can't ever just go next door. I can't find said meanie and even though I know that he's probably at work and poses no threat at all, I wont do anything in my system that I absolutely can't leave ever because he might not be at work and I might lose a ship. CCP please stop the meanie from being able to do nothing to me because he's probably at work"

2. Thread gets trolled because its been done literally to death. This horse has been beaten so hard and so often that it's little more than a memory of a memory of a red smear on the grass, and yet it STILL WONT DIE! In fact it's been done so many times that this particular horse is now undead; even if it does die, it will still be remembered and parodied.

3. Someone comes along and suggests that AFK cloakers can't hurt you, because they are, by their very definition, AFK. No one ever lost a ship to someone who ISN'T PLAYING THE GAME.

4. Someone else comes along and points out that while the cloaker might be AFK, he might not be, and so we have Schrodinger's Hot Dropper. The cyno pilot who might be AFK... but he might not be as well, and you will only know for sure when he decloaks, points and lights his candle. (Yes, I know this isn't how the cat works)

5. Someone else comes along and suggests that you use bait and setup a TARP. Or have a defence fleet on standby. Heaven forbid you have to actually fight to defend your space.

6. A further person comes along and suggests that the problem isn't cloaking AFK in your system that you can't possibly leave ever, but that you KNOW that the person is AFK in your system... and perhaps local should be removed because free 100% accurate intel is probably not the best thing in the game and if you didn't know that the big meanie was in your system, you wouldn't be worried about leaving the undock/POS.

7. Then another person pokes their head in and complains that local is 100% NEEDED because D-Scan and probing are such bad mechanics, and IF YOU TAKE MY LOCAL AWAY IM QUITTING FOREVER AND NO YOU CAN'T HAVE MY STUFF!

8. Someone asks if they can have 7's stuff.

We end up with another thread which goes on for pages and pages between complains about local, defence fleets, inability to just go next door, people who aren't playing the game but are playing the meta, lots of bickering and in the end nothing gets solved. CCP wont remove cloaking because it would mess with waaay too many things and it creates content (which is a good thing) by removing content (which is a bad thing) but they can't really think of any way to do it without a complete overhaul of the local and scanning systems.

Now that I've had this entire thread's conversation, can we just let it die? Please?

as it is now people can login after dt dock/pos up and not move or be found, stay docked/posed until the next dt.
there needs to be a way for roamers to set the time for a non blue to remain dockled/posed in a system. ie: a pos structure.

ISD Ezwal in 3...2...1...

as it is now people can login after dt cloak up and not move or be found, stay cloaked until the next dt.
there needs to be a way for sov holders to set the time for a non blue to remain cloaked in a system. ie: a pos structure.

The "solution" has always been a feature that can already be found with many other MMOs.

AFK log off timer. It's funny how people will quickly shoot down ideas that place additional load on the server for that reason (the 'missile switching target' idea has one or two) yet they are also against an idea that frees up server load.


Oh and LOL @ all the typical "if they are AFK, they can't hurt you" responses. Despite being debunked, people still throw it around.

The "solution" has always been a feature that can already be found with many other MMOs.

AFK log off timer. It's funny how people will quickly shoot down ideas that place additional load on the server for that reason (the 'missile switching target' idea has one or two) yet they are also against an idea that frees up server load.


Oh and LOL @ all the typical "if they are AFK, they can't hurt you" responses. Despite being debunked, people still throw it around.

The "solution" has always been a feature that can already be found with many other MMOs.

AFK log off timer. It's funny how people will quickly shoot down ideas that place additional load on the server for that reason (the 'missile switching target' idea has one or two) yet they are also against an idea that frees up server load.


Oh and LOL @ all the typical "if they are AFK, they can't hurt you" responses. Despite being debunked, people still throw it around.

The "solution" has always been a feature that can already be found with many other MMOs.

AFK log off timer. It's funny how people will quickly shoot down ideas that place additional load on the server for that reason (the 'missile switching target' idea has one or two) yet they are also against an idea that frees up server load.


Oh and LOL @ all the typical "if they are AFK, they can't hurt you" responses. Despite being debunked, people still throw it around.

But a player who isn't doing anything produces virtually no server load?

And your idea breaks scouting, hauling, surveillance, the very act of waiting for something to happen (be it your scout finding something to hotdrop on, or the hostiles to go away, a site to de/respawn etc etc etc)...all to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist outside of the heads of some bears.

How exactly does an AFK log off timer break activities that require you to be at the keyboard? When something as simple as changing camera angles or selecting something on the overview resets the timer? Better yet, when clicking 'scan' on your d-scan will reset the timer.

As for the debunk, it's simple.

You don't know if they are AFK or not.

They could've returned 5 minutes ago
They could be watching something on another monitor
They could return from being AFK 5 minutes from now

All of which mean one thing for the indy player in a belt or a player running a plex in their PVE fit ship. That the "AFK cloak" may not be AFK at all and they can light a cov cyno at any time.

Don't bother with the semantics BS either. It's been quite obvious that the issue isn't AFK cloaking in the literal sense. It's the fact that there is no way to know if the person is AFK or not.

If the game gave you the boot for being AFK for an hour (which is plenty of time for any player at the keyboard to have to make some kind of input with any activity), then any cloaked ship in system can be safely assumed to be at the keyboard.

As it is now, since there is no way of knowing, any ship cloaked in system is treated as not being AFK.

17. Redundant and re-posted threads will be locked.

As a courtesy to other forum users, please search to see if there is a thread already open on the topic you wish to discuss. If so, please place your comments there instead. Multiple threads on the same subject clutter up the forums needlessly, causing good feedback and ideas to be lost. Please keep discussions regarding a topic to a single thread.