I've been back a few days now after a while away and something is bothering me. Now I play a Klingon but this I do not agree with.
The ability of some ships to launch a load of weapons whether it be torpedoes or mines then instantly cloak again giving absolutely no chance or retaliation.
The number of people doing this is ridiculous. It is basically a little to no risk strategy.
If you uncloak and fire ANY weapon there should be a minimum of a 10 second timer before you can cloak again. If you have attacked someone then you shouldn't be able to insta cloak before they can even lock on you
Granted there are counters to this but like anything you shouldn't have to run certain weapons or skills to counter this.
The idea behind the cloak is to give you a positional/surprise advantage, not to make you immune from people who haven't specifically built a ship to counter it.
Was this PvE or PvP gameplay you were watching this in?
Do you, or were you watching a normal BoP, or a B'rel?
Cloaking DOES have a cooldown, all 3 versions. So even a Hegh'ta has to wait to recloak again.
Also, the whole point of advantage of the B'rel (since I'm guessing this is what you saw, or use), is that it CAN fire while remaining cloaked. Even then it's only a good amount of BOFF skills, or mines, or torpedoes, and that is all, it cannot fire energy weapons.
It's not OP in any shape, just very advantageous. Even in PvE my B'rel gets decloaked...ALL...the...time. Plus it does also have a 3 second period of being out of cloak (and targetable), when you fire torpedoes or use some abilities (like Hazard Emitters on an ally).
In short, it has it's advantages and disadvantages. In PvP you have to build to counter it, but the BoP flyer has to build to fly that well in the first place. Besides, Fed toons have plenty of outright counters to de-cloak someone.
I remain empathetic to the concerns of my community, but do me a favor and lay off the god damn name calling and petty remarks. It will get you nowhere.
I must admit, respect points to Trendy for laying down the law like that.
Pretty much what mimey said. What you're describing sounds like the Enhanced Battlecloak on the B'rel retrofit, which is a 2000 zen C-store ship that is effectively distinguished by just that feature. The only point of getting the B'rel retrofit is to use that Enhanced Battlecloak, which enables the pilot to launch torpedoes and mines while cloaked with a 3-second window of visibility, and enables them to use certain abilities on themselves while cloaked. The regular battlecloak, available to all Bird of Prey ships and the Pegh'qu destroyer, doesn't do this.
The Enhanced Battlecloak, if disrupted by the wide array of cloak-disruptors that are out there, is subject to the exact same 20-second cooldown that all cloaks, even battlecloaks, are subject to. Also, if you manage to launch a salvo of torpedoes, especially quantum torpedoes, while the ship is targetable. . .they'll get hurt :P
Or you could just fire a 'target auxiliary' shot, which will disable the cloaking device (which relies on auxiliary power to operate).
About the only way the B'rel retro can truly be lethal is if it drops tricobalt mines on you, or fires both a tricobalt torpedo device and maybe a transphasic cluster torpedo at you at close range. . .both strategies are able to be resisted/deflected if you're paying attention (which you should be in PvP areas). If they're specc'd right, both of those could seriously damage or destroy you in a single barrage. Otherwise, the B'rel is more of a sniper, lobbing torpedoes from 8-9k km using the enhanced aspect of its battlecloak. It's very useful for keeping stragglers from escaping to rejoin a larger group of friendly players, because firing torpedoes at someone keeps them in Red Alert mode, restricting them from Full Impulse.
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
While it can drop mines/torps under cloak, if someone spots you during that opening, hits you with....
sub nuke/viral matrix/photon shockwave/emission torp/target aux/carrier pets/emergencey to aux/sensor scan/the two tachyon field detection skills/a torp salvo/gravity well/tykens rift/charged particle burst..
that brel, it can be in big trouble.. very quickly
Thats a fairly big list ^
And given the squishiness, you might just find that a torp salvo or two, might very well have that brel in pieces
yes, the tric spam bops that exist, (im ashamed to say i played with them for a bit for lols..) are easily thwarted by a pilot who doesnt panic, and has a degree of skill.
Most of my tric bombing runs failed against better pilots, its only real sucesses where against people who thing the best defence to an alpha strike in engineering team 8-)
edit:
Heck even scramble sensors will turn those bad boy mines against the bop if memory serves :P
[Combat (Self)] Your Bite deals 2378 (1475) Physical Damage(Critical) to Spawnmother.
If it was only using torps/mines and doesn't uncloak to do so how are you supposed to kill it?
Only thing I could think off was some sort of aoe but you still need to be able to target it surely?
A lot of the skills you've mentioned require you to be able to target him to fire them near him.
i was in my carrier and couldn't even get my pets to attack him. granted he couldn't break my tank but the TRIBBLE just kept attacking me so I couldn't do anything including leave.
In the end (after about 20 minutes) I just went and sat in amongst a group of Borg cubes just to get away from him.
Sorry there may be counters to it but it seems way overpowered regardless.
If it was only using torps/mines and doesn't uncloak to do so how are you supposed to kill it?
Only thing I could think off was some sort of aoe but you still need to be able to target it surely?
A lot of the skills you've mentioned require you to be able to target him to fire them near him.
i was in my carrier and couldn't even get my pets to attack him. granted he couldn't break my tank but the TRIBBLE just kept attacking me so I couldn't do anything including leave.
In the end (after about 20 minutes) I just went and sat in amongst a group of Borg cubes just to get away from him.
Sorry there may be counters to it but it seems way overpowered regardless.
And they are targetable for about 2-3 seconds. You've gotta be quick on the button with the disable/hold move.
There are certain skills that don't need to be targeted that can really mess with cloaked BoPs in general. Charged Particle Burst will most likely decloak anything within 5km, especially if you're at high auxiliary power. Sensor scan for science officers, when untargeted, can potentially decloak enemies that are within 5km. Scramble sensors will mess with any destructible projectiles (tricobalts, cluster torpedoes, etc). Heck, even warp plasma might catch the BoP if you have a good idea where he is and he's not paying attention.
As for it being OP. . .you've gotta keep in mind that this basically makes the B'rel retro a one-trick pony. This sort of thing is about the only thing it's good for, other than being a makeshift sci ship that can use heals while cloaked. If you wanna hit-and-run ambush with alphastrikes, you just stick with the Hegh'ta or get a fleet BoP. There's a reason why Bird of Prey ships spend a lot of time cloaked in PvP, especially in places like Ker'rat. They're squishy, and rely on the advantage of surprise/tactical mobility to succeed. The B'rel retro just takes that to the next level.
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
I picked up a B'rel a few days ago, haven't taken it into Ker'rat yet (the character it's for isn't Lv 50). If all the feddies cry this much about its better-than-a-normal-battle-cloak, it's gonna be a lot of fun
I've also got a bio-neural warhead for it, so I can engage at 15km, and in theory the target won't even know they're in trouble until the torpedo's point defence starts chewing on their shields.
While it can drop mines/torps under cloak, if someone spots you during that opening, hits you with....
sub nuke/viral matrix/photon shockwave/emission torp/target aux/carrier pets/emergencey to aux/sensor scan/the two tachyon field detection skills/a torp salvo/gravity well/tykens rift/charged particle burst..
that brel, it can be in big trouble.. very quickly
Thats a fairly big list ^
And given the squishiness, you might just find that a torp salvo or two, might very well have that brel in pieces
yes, the tric spam bops that exist, (im ashamed to say i played with them for a bit for lols..) are easily thwarted by a pilot who doesnt panic, and has a degree of skill.
Most of my tric bombing runs failed against better pilots, its only real sucesses where against people who thing the best defence to an alpha strike in engineering team 8-)
edit:
Heck even scramble sensors will turn those bad boy mines against the bop if memory serves :P
For those who don't understand (and the people it bothers the most probably don't read the forums) this retrofit is based off of ST6 where General Chang fires photon torpedos from under the Enterprise while cloaked to destroy the Klingon Flag ship. He also later uses this tactic to attack the Enterprise nearly destroying it.
In retaliation Scotty and Spock outfit a "Heat Seeking Torpedo" to counter these cloaked attacks.
STO has both these available in game:
B'rel Bird-of-Prey Retrofit with its Advanced Battle Cloak
The B'rel is the ONLY ship that has the Enhanced Battle Cloak and it is not a console that can be moved to another ship!
The Ionized Gas Sensor Console, however, can be moved to any ship AND this refit only costs 750 Zen. Using this console will enable you to attack ANY cloaked ship! And as we all know they have NO Shields when cloaked! Not only this but when attacked they lose the cloak and you can attack them freely after that!
I've played against the B'rel dropping the Aceton Assimilator all over the map along with mines and never leaving cloak except for the blink when they deploy these items.
In C&H this is very difficult to deal with as the AA's are devastating when you are in combat and near impossible to counter.
While I applaud people for coming up with the tactic and I'm sure it seems somewhat fun for you, it is not for others.
However, Feds you can get this console, put it on any ship you wish and use it to combat these tactics!
For those who don't understand (and the people it bothers the most probably don't read the forums) this retrofit is based off of ST6 where General Chang fires photon torpedos from under the Enterprise while cloaked to destroy the Klingon Flag ship. He also later uses this tactic to attack the Enterprise nearly destroying it.
In retaliation Scotty and Spock outfit a "Heat Seeking Torpedo" to counter these cloaked attacks.
STO has both these available in game:
B'rel Bird-of-Prey Retrofit with its Advanced Battle Cloak
The B'rel is the ONLY ship that has the Enhanced Battle Cloak and it is not a console that can be moved to another ship!
The Ionized Gas Sensor Console, however, can be moved to any ship AND this refit only costs 750 Zen. Using this console will enable you to attack ANY cloaked ship! And as we all know they have NO Shields when cloaked! Not only this but when attacked they lose the cloak and you can attack them freely after that!
I've played against the B'rel dropping the Aceton Assimilator all over the map along with mines and never leaving cloak except for the blink when they deploy these items.
In C&H this is very difficult to deal with as the AA's are devastating when you are in combat and near impossible to counter.
While I applaud people for coming up with the tactic and I'm sure it seems somewhat fun for you, it is not for others.
However, Feds you can get this console, put it on any ship you wish and use it to combat these tactics!
Erm, the Aceton Assimilators are easily killed by torpedoes (as in, very easily). They'll absorb energy damage. If you're pinging away at it with beam arrays, it won't go down :P
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
I picked up a B'rel a few days ago, haven't taken it into Ker'rat yet (the character it's for isn't Lv 50). If all the feddies cry this much about its better-than-a-normal-battle-cloak, it's gonna be a lot of fun
I've also got a bio-neural warhead for it, so I can engage at 15km, and in theory the target won't even know they're in trouble until the torpedo's point defence starts chewing on their shields.
Actually, I'm pretty sure the enemy will be kicked into Red Alert as soon as you launch the torpedo. Red Alert is supposed to be activated by all weapons fire. A competent PvPer uses the Red Alert as a warning that they're about to get attacked, probably from the side or behind. The key thing is to strike quickly. I would recommend not using the bio-neurals unless the enemy is either distracted, doesn't have enough firepower to kill the torp, or has weapons disabled. Stick with non-destructibles, they're more useful in most PvP situations. Hargh'peng is popular amongst B'rel snipers, along with nasty, annoying stuff like plasma, chroniton, transphasics, etc. Stick with a torpedo type and buff the heck out of it with tactical consoles.
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
Maybe STO needs to add a "Suggestion" proc to the Fed Communications officers ingame letting the players know how to disable cloaking? :P
Seriuosly, the B'rel is a sweet ride but a one-trick pony that is easily countered if one knows how to using the many ingame methods and can be survived for the most part unless they drop DpB enhanced Tricobalt mines on you.
Did you know that there's a wee little button hidden deep inside your UI that if pressed, allows you to use abilities without selecting a target? One of my favorites is tractor beam. It is so cute it will actually disable cloaks. It works really well with high aux too. Aux is nice because it boosts your detection range. I heard that some players don't even spec into stealth or use stealth consoles because they think it's poopy. Silly. I can tell you this, if I had a stealth ship I sure as heck would make sure I had those things! But yah there is such a button. A wee one. In your UI.
Cloaking devices are never used a PC game as who wants to cloak at range 10.the only game is in SFC3 to do repairs other than that they are useless in PC Games.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Age StarTrek-Gamers Administrator
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer Star Trek Gamers
Did you know that there's a wee little button hidden deep inside your UI that if pressed, allows you to use abilities without selecting a target? One of my favorites is tractor beam. It is so cute it will actually disable cloaks. It works really well with high aux too. Aux is nice because it boosts your detection range. I heard that some players don't even spec into stealth or use stealth consoles because they think it's poopy. Silly. I can tell you this, if I had a stealth ship I sure as heck would make sure I had those things! But yah there is such a button. A wee one. In your UI.
Tragamites is correct. I have this console and suffice it to say cloaking is a waste of time now for most enemies. My wide angle QT gets them every time. My complaint about cloaking in general is that on the defiant class escort, I can never re-cloak mid-battle even if I am not targeted! Maybe its just a bug or something, but I'd use it more often. I also wish we could put that cloak on any ship we wanted. I mean, why not? OP arguments aside, it would be nice to cloak and heal from time to time.
I plan on starting a Klingon character soon. They are especially formidable players in PVP. :rolleyes:
"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." - Rocky Balboa (2006)
Tragamites is correct. I have this console and suffice it to say cloaking is a waste of time now for most enemies. My wide angle QT gets them every time. My complaint about cloaking in general is that on the defiant class escort, I can never re-cloak mid-battle even if I am not targeted! Maybe its just a bug or something, but I'd use it more often. I also wish we could put that cloak on any ship we wanted. I mean, why not? OP arguments aside, it would be nice to cloak and heal from time to time.
I plan on starting a Klingon character soon. They are especially formidable players in PVP. :rolleyes:
There are different kinds of cloaks.
A basic cloak can only be engaged out of combat. Similar to MES this way.
A Battle Cloak (BC) can be engaged while in combat if you have aux power and you aren't under an effect which prevents cloak.
An Enhanced Battle Cloak (EBC) is only available on B'rels and can torps/mines w/a brief 3 second decloak. It can also use some Boff powers not available to other cloaks while cloaked. Similar to MEF this way w/o the AoE though.
There is a timer for all cloaks as mentioned before that starts after a full decloak. It can be lengthened by an SNB (potentionally by Boarding Parties as well, it's rare those are effective in PvP).
[Zone] Dack@****: cowards can't take a fed 1 on 1 crinckley cowards Hahahaha you smell like flowers
Random Quote from Kerrat
"Sumlobus@****: your mums eat Iced Targ Poo"
C&H Fed banter
It should be! But alas it isn't. It isn't even a button actually. Its a box. You need to check it. But once you check it things start to get better.
Seriously. A B'rel. Get TBR and use it as a defense. Or decide that you're all that and get TB and just put that B'rel out of business.
Off the top of my head to repeat/add:
EWP
TB
TBR
GW
CPB
Fed Pet Cloak Prevention
Nuke Cloaker's Aux by various power drain abilities
SNB them after decloaking
AoE Tric Mines
Misc high Aux Cloak Detection Item Builds
Sci Captain Sensor Scan Ability
FoMM
APO Ramming Speed evasive eng batt GDF target for lolz
[Zone] Dack@****: cowards can't take a fed 1 on 1 crinckley cowards Hahahaha you smell like flowers
Random Quote from Kerrat
"Sumlobus@****: your mums eat Iced Targ Poo"
C&H Fed banter
A basic cloak can only be engaged out of combat. Similar to MES this way.
A Battle Cloak (BC) can be engaged while in combat if you have aux power and you aren't under an effect which prevents cloak.
An Enhanced Battle Cloak (EBC) is only available on B'rels and can torps/mines w/a brief 3 second decloak. It can also use some Boff powers not available to other cloaks while cloaked. Similar to MEF this way w/o the AoE though.
There is a timer for all cloaks as mentioned before that starts after a full decloak. It can be lengthened by an SNB (potentionally by Boarding Parties as well, it's rare those are effective in PvP).
So the basic cloak is not even canon really, just a game set up? I chalk it up to the myriad of episodes where the cloak was basically useless on the Defiant anyways.... lol
"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." - Rocky Balboa (2006)
I heard that some players don't even spec into stealth or use stealth consoles because they think it's poopy. Silly. I can tell you this, if I had a stealth ship I sure as heck would make sure I had those things! But yah there is such a button. A wee one. In your UI.
Just saying.
Maxing out the stealth skill and playing with XII purple stealth consoles in all your sci slots nets you some.... +600 stealth. That's assuming you're flying with high aux.
That's... not really that much. Oh wow, the enemy can see me 0.5% of a kilometer further out. Whoopidee doo.
Maxing out the stealth skill and playing with XII purple stealth consoles in all your sci slots nets you some.... +600 stealth. That's assuming you're flying with high aux.
That's... not really that much. Oh wow, the enemy can see me 0.5% of a kilometer further out. Whoopidee doo.
You're not that smart are you?
No really. Please stop spreading your misinformation. Just stop it.
Tragamites is correct. I have this console and suffice it to say cloaking is a waste of time now for most enemies. My wide angle QT gets them every time. My complaint about cloaking in general is that on the defiant class escort, I can never re-cloak mid-battle even if I am not targeted! Maybe its just a bug or something, but I'd use it more often. I also wish we could put that cloak on any ship we wanted. I mean, why not? OP arguments aside, it would be nice to cloak and heal from time to time.
I plan on starting a Klingon character soon. They are especially formidable players in PVP. :rolleyes:
Agreed, in regards to cloaking in PvE. It doesn't accomplish much, as the enemy won't do anything to you unless you stumble within 10k anyways. In PvP, the cloak is very important. The battlecloak is one of the 2 things that keeps the Bird of Prey class relevant, along with the all-universal boff setup (which isn't quite as awesome as it might seem).
As p2wsucks said, there's different kinds of cloaks. It's a good thing the Defiant doesn't have the battlecloak, because they would really be overpowered at this point, given the stats the ship has compared to the Bird of Prey class. Still, they can ambush just fine, and escape fairly well in the right hands.
As it is, the Defiant can enter cloak as soon as the Red Alert indicator turns off (which it will do about 10 seconds after your combat is over, assuming you're not suffering from plasma fire, etc).
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
Oh my gosh you gotta be kidding me... alright yeah if your in pvp then what you probably were fighting is a BoP Brel-R, on one of my KDF toons that is my ship of choice and that's how if i fight. i stay under cloak loaded with transphasics torps and trico mines. let me give ya and advice. do enough damage and you kill him or knock him out of cloak. if you wish you, i can give you my handle and we can pvp so you can figure out how to beat a brel. the only real good thing that ship has is that ability. tractor beams gravity wells and other stuff will work, can decloak me. when i fight i do hit and run. i attack uncloak for about three seconds and recloak again thing is there's the thing. because i am already under cloak all you need is a good hy torp or a spread and you will do damage. you will hit hull.. when fighting a brel the best thing to do is to out number it or figure out where its at or kill it.
The Emperor isn't please with Cryptic apparent lack of progress for the Empire. Lord Vader is on his way
The cloak is also broke by incoming extraship transmissions from NPCs and by Bridge Officer conversations about the freshness of galley gagh.
Jack Emmert: "Starfleet and Klingon. ... So two factions, full PvE content." Al Rivera hates Klingons Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert All cloaks should be canon.
So the basic cloak is not even canon really, just a game set up? I chalk it up to the myriad of episodes where the cloak was basically useless on the Defiant anyways.... lol
Nah, more like Red Alert is not canon. It's basically a huge debuff you get as soon as you even think of combat, that cripples half your systems (like warp, full impulse, cloak, hull repair, transporters...).
Nah, more like Red Alert is not canon. It's basically a huge debuff you get as soon as you even think of combat, that cripples half your systems (like warp, full impulse, cloak, hull repair, transporters...).
Picard: Full Impulse, any heading. Engage.
Data: [Spins from console] We can't, sir. We're at Red Alert.
Picard: [Facepalm]
Jack Emmert: "Starfleet and Klingon. ... So two factions, full PvE content." Al Rivera hates Klingons Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert All cloaks should be canon.
Yeah, I don't agree with the use of Red Alert at all. Full impulse, cloaking, and warp drive are all firmly established tactics in Trek. Sure, there should be a penalty in power and actuation cycles, and things can be rendered inoperable in combat, but disabling them entirely when you go to Red Alert? Programming copout, period.
Comments
Do you, or were you watching a normal BoP, or a B'rel?
Cloaking DOES have a cooldown, all 3 versions. So even a Hegh'ta has to wait to recloak again.
Also, the whole point of advantage of the B'rel (since I'm guessing this is what you saw, or use), is that it CAN fire while remaining cloaked. Even then it's only a good amount of BOFF skills, or mines, or torpedoes, and that is all, it cannot fire energy weapons.
It's not OP in any shape, just very advantageous. Even in PvE my B'rel gets decloaked...ALL...the...time. Plus it does also have a 3 second period of being out of cloak (and targetable), when you fire torpedoes or use some abilities (like Hazard Emitters on an ally).
In short, it has it's advantages and disadvantages. In PvP you have to build to counter it, but the BoP flyer has to build to fly that well in the first place. Besides, Fed toons have plenty of outright counters to de-cloak someone.
In short, you're far from immune.
The Enhanced Battlecloak, if disrupted by the wide array of cloak-disruptors that are out there, is subject to the exact same 20-second cooldown that all cloaks, even battlecloaks, are subject to. Also, if you manage to launch a salvo of torpedoes, especially quantum torpedoes, while the ship is targetable. . .they'll get hurt :P
Or you could just fire a 'target auxiliary' shot, which will disable the cloaking device (which relies on auxiliary power to operate).
About the only way the B'rel retro can truly be lethal is if it drops tricobalt mines on you, or fires both a tricobalt torpedo device and maybe a transphasic cluster torpedo at you at close range. . .both strategies are able to be resisted/deflected if you're paying attention (which you should be in PvP areas). If they're specc'd right, both of those could seriously damage or destroy you in a single barrage. Otherwise, the B'rel is more of a sniper, lobbing torpedoes from 8-9k km using the enhanced aspect of its battlecloak. It's very useful for keeping stragglers from escaping to rejoin a larger group of friendly players, because firing torpedoes at someone keeps them in Red Alert mode, restricting them from Full Impulse.
:eek:
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
Brel = SQUISHY, VERY,
While it can drop mines/torps under cloak, if someone spots you during that opening, hits you with....
sub nuke/viral matrix/photon shockwave/emission torp/target aux/carrier pets/emergencey to aux/sensor scan/the two tachyon field detection skills/a torp salvo/gravity well/tykens rift/charged particle burst..
that brel, it can be in big trouble.. very quickly
Thats a fairly big list ^
And given the squishiness, you might just find that a torp salvo or two, might very well have that brel in pieces
yes, the tric spam bops that exist, (im ashamed to say i played with them for a bit for lols..) are easily thwarted by a pilot who doesnt panic, and has a degree of skill.
Most of my tric bombing runs failed against better pilots, its only real sucesses where against people who thing the best defence to an alpha strike in engineering team 8-)
edit:
Heck even scramble sensors will turn those bad boy mines against the bop if memory serves :P
If it was only using torps/mines and doesn't uncloak to do so how are you supposed to kill it?
Only thing I could think off was some sort of aoe but you still need to be able to target it surely?
A lot of the skills you've mentioned require you to be able to target him to fire them near him.
i was in my carrier and couldn't even get my pets to attack him. granted he couldn't break my tank but the TRIBBLE just kept attacking me so I couldn't do anything including leave.
In the end (after about 20 minutes) I just went and sat in amongst a group of Borg cubes just to get away from him.
Sorry there may be counters to it but it seems way overpowered regardless.
And they are targetable for about 2-3 seconds. You've gotta be quick on the button with the disable/hold move.
There are certain skills that don't need to be targeted that can really mess with cloaked BoPs in general. Charged Particle Burst will most likely decloak anything within 5km, especially if you're at high auxiliary power. Sensor scan for science officers, when untargeted, can potentially decloak enemies that are within 5km. Scramble sensors will mess with any destructible projectiles (tricobalts, cluster torpedoes, etc). Heck, even warp plasma might catch the BoP if you have a good idea where he is and he's not paying attention.
As for it being OP. . .you've gotta keep in mind that this basically makes the B'rel retro a one-trick pony. This sort of thing is about the only thing it's good for, other than being a makeshift sci ship that can use heals while cloaked. If you wanna hit-and-run ambush with alphastrikes, you just stick with the Hegh'ta or get a fleet BoP. There's a reason why Bird of Prey ships spend a lot of time cloaked in PvP, especially in places like Ker'rat. They're squishy, and rely on the advantage of surprise/tactical mobility to succeed. The B'rel retro just takes that to the next level.
I've also got a bio-neural warhead for it, so I can engage at 15km, and in theory the target won't even know they're in trouble until the torpedo's point defence starts chewing on their shields.
For those who don't understand (and the people it bothers the most probably don't read the forums) this retrofit is based off of ST6 where General Chang fires photon torpedos from under the Enterprise while cloaked to destroy the Klingon Flag ship. He also later uses this tactic to attack the Enterprise nearly destroying it.
In retaliation Scotty and Spock outfit a "Heat Seeking Torpedo" to counter these cloaked attacks.
STO has both these available in game:
B'rel Bird-of-Prey Retrofit with its Advanced Battle Cloak
Cruiser Refit (Exeter Class) with a Universal Console, Console - Universal - Ionized Gas Sensor
The B'rel is the ONLY ship that has the Enhanced Battle Cloak and it is not a console that can be moved to another ship!
The Ionized Gas Sensor Console, however, can be moved to any ship AND this refit only costs 750 Zen. Using this console will enable you to attack ANY cloaked ship! And as we all know they have NO Shields when cloaked! Not only this but when attacked they lose the cloak and you can attack them freely after that!
I've played against the B'rel dropping the Aceton Assimilator all over the map along with mines and never leaving cloak except for the blink when they deploy these items.
In C&H this is very difficult to deal with as the AA's are devastating when you are in combat and near impossible to counter.
While I applaud people for coming up with the tactic and I'm sure it seems somewhat fun for you, it is not for others.
However, Feds you can get this console, put it on any ship you wish and use it to combat these tactics!
Erm, the Aceton Assimilators are easily killed by torpedoes (as in, very easily). They'll absorb energy damage. If you're pinging away at it with beam arrays, it won't go down :P
Actually, I'm pretty sure the enemy will be kicked into Red Alert as soon as you launch the torpedo. Red Alert is supposed to be activated by all weapons fire. A competent PvPer uses the Red Alert as a warning that they're about to get attacked, probably from the side or behind. The key thing is to strike quickly. I would recommend not using the bio-neurals unless the enemy is either distracted, doesn't have enough firepower to kill the torp, or has weapons disabled. Stick with non-destructibles, they're more useful in most PvP situations. Hargh'peng is popular amongst B'rel snipers, along with nasty, annoying stuff like plasma, chroniton, transphasics, etc. Stick with a torpedo type and buff the heck out of it with tactical consoles.
Seriuosly, the B'rel is a sweet ride but a one-trick pony that is easily countered if one knows how to using the many ingame methods and can be survived for the most part unless they drop DpB enhanced Tricobalt mines on you.
R.I.P
Just saying.
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
Star Trek Gamers
Is it a shiny Red almost candy-like button?
R.I.P
I plan on starting a Klingon character soon. They are especially formidable players in PVP. :rolleyes:
It should be! But alas it isn't. It isn't even a button actually. Its a box. You need to check it. But once you check it things start to get better.
Seriously. A B'rel. Get TBR and use it as a defense. Or decide that you're all that and get TB and just put that B'rel out of business.
There are different kinds of cloaks.
A basic cloak can only be engaged out of combat. Similar to MES this way.
A Battle Cloak (BC) can be engaged while in combat if you have aux power and you aren't under an effect which prevents cloak.
An Enhanced Battle Cloak (EBC) is only available on B'rels and can torps/mines w/a brief 3 second decloak. It can also use some Boff powers not available to other cloaks while cloaked. Similar to MEF this way w/o the AoE though.
There is a timer for all cloaks as mentioned before that starts after a full decloak. It can be lengthened by an SNB (potentionally by Boarding Parties as well, it's rare those are effective in PvP).
Random Quote from Kerrat
"Sumlobus@****: your mums eat Iced Targ Poo"
C&H Fed banter
Off the top of my head to repeat/add:
EWP
TB
TBR
GW
CPB
Fed Pet Cloak Prevention
Nuke Cloaker's Aux by various power drain abilities
SNB them after decloaking
AoE Tric Mines
Misc high Aux Cloak Detection Item Builds
Sci Captain Sensor Scan Ability
FoMM
APO Ramming Speed evasive eng batt GDF target for lolz
Random Quote from Kerrat
"Sumlobus@****: your mums eat Iced Targ Poo"
C&H Fed banter
So the basic cloak is not even canon really, just a game set up? I chalk it up to the myriad of episodes where the cloak was basically useless on the Defiant anyways.... lol
Maxing out the stealth skill and playing with XII purple stealth consoles in all your sci slots nets you some.... +600 stealth. That's assuming you're flying with high aux.
That's... not really that much. Oh wow, the enemy can see me 0.5% of a kilometer further out. Whoopidee doo.
You're not that smart are you?
No really. Please stop spreading your misinformation. Just stop it.
Well if your in the T5 Bird of Prey its actually canon as it gives off a noticeable neutron energy surge that can be picked up a close range.
Agreed, in regards to cloaking in PvE. It doesn't accomplish much, as the enemy won't do anything to you unless you stumble within 10k anyways. In PvP, the cloak is very important. The battlecloak is one of the 2 things that keeps the Bird of Prey class relevant, along with the all-universal boff setup (which isn't quite as awesome as it might seem).
As p2wsucks said, there's different kinds of cloaks. It's a good thing the Defiant doesn't have the battlecloak, because they would really be overpowered at this point, given the stats the ship has compared to the Bird of Prey class. Still, they can ambush just fine, and escape fairly well in the right hands.
As it is, the Defiant can enter cloak as soon as the Red Alert indicator turns off (which it will do about 10 seconds after your combat is over, assuming you're not suffering from plasma fire, etc).
its not over powered its just being what it is
Al Rivera hates Klingons
Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert
All cloaks should be canon.
Picard: Full Impulse, any heading. Engage.
Data: [Spins from console] We can't, sir. We're at Red Alert.
Picard: [Facepalm]
Al Rivera hates Klingons
Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert
All cloaks should be canon.