Your definition of a Perfect Cloak would be a rather useless Cloak, because in order to do ANYTHING you have to decloak, and that includes moving. Otherwise you run the risk of flying into a rock, a star, a planet, a black hole...
Hell... you run the risk of having someone else run into YOU if you can't see them coming and move out of the way.
Also... did you miss where I said that the "CLOSEST" we have is the Scimitar Cloak? For all intents and purposes the Scimitar Cloak is perfect because it renders the user COMPLETELY undetectable, and allows for use of 99% of ship systems. Only one I don't think could be used was the Thaleron Weapon. Other than that she had full use of her weapons, shields, SECONDARY shields...
Traditional cloaks in Star Trek use up so much power that a cloaked ship cannot use her shields or weapons, and do not hide all emissions. Those emissions can be tracked if you know what to look for.
There was literally only two ways to fight the Scimitar.
Blind fire and focus on detected shield impacts until they move and start over
Telepathic Detection of the Crew
Actually, several of the anti-cloak methods seen in the show would theoretically be capable of detecting it. Anti-proton sweeps, tachyon beams, etc...
Also I think the Scimitar's thalaron projector only broke cloak because the cloak didn't work while the wings were unfolded.
The Chaff idea is also pretty specific to finding a cloaked vessel you know is there. It would be difficult, and eventually quite expensive, to maintain a cloud of chaff around, say, a space station.
Of course, you could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Get some antimatter gravel and create shotgun shells. Of course, this will create navigation hazards for your own ships as the gravel continues on its way until it runs into something. Regular gravel would work as well, but it wouldn't be as cool when it hits the cloaked target.
We're basically talking about submarine warfare honestly. Stealth vs Detection.
If we look at history... the use of submarines was a pretty devastating blow when there was no way to detect them. Just look at all the convoys that U-Boats sunk in WW2. U-Boats started a race to develop countermeasures, including sonar and depth charges.
Also U-Boats, and other submarines, didn't typically go after warships as they were somewhat fragile and couldn't duke it out in a stand up fight. Which is why Depth Charges were so effective if a surface ship knew they were there. They weren't trying to hit the sub directly. The blast wave from the Charges were enough to wreck a sub.
Their best use was in surprise attacks and interdiction.
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Also I think the Scimitar's thalaron projector only broke cloak because the cloak didn't work while the wings were unfolded.
My character Tsin'xing
Of course, you could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Get some antimatter gravel and create shotgun shells. Of course, this will create navigation hazards for your own ships as the gravel continues on its way until it runs into something. Regular gravel would work as well, but it wouldn't be as cool when it hits the cloaked target.
If we look at history... the use of submarines was a pretty devastating blow when there was no way to detect them. Just look at all the convoys that U-Boats sunk in WW2. U-Boats started a race to develop countermeasures, including sonar and depth charges.
Also U-Boats, and other submarines, didn't typically go after warships as they were somewhat fragile and couldn't duke it out in a stand up fight. Which is why Depth Charges were so effective if a surface ship knew they were there. They weren't trying to hit the sub directly. The blast wave from the Charges were enough to wreck a sub.
Their best use was in surprise attacks and interdiction.
Visions of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade going though my head.