The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Is there realy a cloaking device?
and if there is where is it?

coders this question is for you

Nope.

It was an idea that was first proposed to be put in the game, but Paul and Fred didn't see how the device would differ, or be any better than the Ilwrath ability.  So, it was scrapped and made it nowhere close to the final product.

Nope, never was a cloaking device, never will be.   :P

thanks for the info

There has been an occasional prank or *joke* over the years to keep the myth alive  ;)

I wonder how hard it would be to add something like that to UQM??

Well, they were really trying to integrate it into your Precursor ship, but since the United Federation of Worlds couldn't build their own they had to use "aquired" tech from the "Remoulade Star Empire" which of course didn't work all too well - hence, no cloaking device for you!  :D

I'm REALLY fighting the urge to lie about this again  :P

The last couple times it came up I sent people into Ur-Quan space to be destroyed over and over until they figured it out on their own.

Consider yourself LUCKY !  :-X

well, i know there is no cloaking device, but i did hear a rumor that there is some sort of ultimate weapon you can get by doing a certain number of things in chrono order starting at the beginning of the game. I dont know about this one, but from as far as i can tell, the source is telling, the truth. What do you think?

I say you should find whoever wrote that bull and hurt them.  Throw them into the furnace for their lies!

Omni - there IS such an ultimate weapon -- remember, it takes up 10 module slots?

Hehe.  Ah yes, I forget about that ultimate weapon.  I guess you do have to so a certain number of things in a chronological order... it's called playing the game.  lol.   :P

So what if one of us coders out here decided to incorporate a cloaking device.  It wouldnt really be that hard to do.  But what would be the point, since the computer would actually know where your ship is even if it is cloaked.  I would have to say that I am for making the cloaking device, but it takes away from the storyline of earthling technology being stolen and earthlings having to fight against all odds.  Quazi-space portal spawner does that also, but at least you have to earn that.

Well, nothing is saying that you would not have to earn this cloaking device.

Proposed cloaking device plotline:

1 ) Send Ilwrath to attack Thraddash.
2 ) Befriend Thraddash (before or after step 1)
3 ) Let Ilwrath do serious damage to Thraddash
4 ) Talk to (and presumably blow up) some Ilwrath -- find out that they envy the Aqua helix (which you have not yet taken)
5 ) Talk to Thraddash. They explain how they are doing, and are pissed. You tell them how you used the caster. They find this extremely funny, and claim that they would never fall for such a ruse, because they have the Aqua Helix to guide them. You suggest that they let them see it. They think you are nuts, but you suggest that this will make them the teachers of the Ilwrath -- much as you are their teacher. This appeals to them.
6 ) You use the caster to tell the Ilwrath that the battle has readied them for new wisdom -- the Aqua Helix. They vow to take it.
7 ) You talk to a Thraddash, who reports that things did not go as planned, and the Ilwrath have stolen the Helix. Here you have two options -- give the Thraddash the Umgah Caster, or they go to war with you.
8 ) If you give them the caster, they will give you in return an extra-powerful cloaking device that was used by the Ilwrath incursion team and abandoned. You can install this on your ship at the Starbase.
9 ) Either way, you will need to go to the Ilwrath Homeworld to recover the Helix. There, in orbit, is a space station that houses the great union of their Dogar-and-Kazon sacrificial altars and the Aqua Helix. Protecting it are 10 Avengers and 5 Torches (captained by Ilwrath, who have adapted the design using the wisdom of the Helix). Destroy the fleet, claim the Helix.
10) Once you have given the Ultron to the Utwig, you can tell the priests that you gave the Helix to powerful dark-skinned aliens to the galactic East. Off the Ilwrath go to attack... the Kohr-Ah!

How was that?

Wow, that was pretty cool and very UQM-like! Very nice thinking, man!

I have a better idea though.

1) find an Ilwrath squad, lets say 10 ships
2) blow the first one
3) repeat step 2 for remaining ships
4) retrieve vessel debris
5) order the Spathi to put it all back together and build you an Ilwrath avenger
6) in case Spathi hesitate, threaten to bring back the Ultimate Evil (or move it to their moon).
7) Study rebuilt-cloaking device and incorporate it into Precursor technology!

:P

Why do you think that Spathi would know how to build a cloaking device?

Correction - why, if the Spathi knew how to build a cloaking device, do you think you would be able to find them?

Actually, that's a pretty good answer to the first question.

The Spathi are the ones who tell you they think the Precursors used a massive cloaking device to hide...  so I wouldn't be surprised if the Spathi have been trying to get their hands on a similar cloaking technology from their time as drones, alongside the Ilwrath...  Especially since they wouldn't mind being cloaked and hidden at all.

Exactly - if you gave them the parts to play around with, and it worked, do you think they'd stick around to give the results to YOU?

Not unless you can give them "proof" to believe which would make that kind of action necesarry... Spathi are sort of cowardly - especially if threatened with the "Ultimate Evil"

Which makes me think -
1) how come you can't neutralize enemy crafts and study their technology
2) if the enemy ship always gets blown to bits, how come the Ilwrath (for example) say they enjoy eating the Thraddash? (literaly - they say they eat their bowels.. yuck!)

It didn't say that they were alive at the time.

And why can't Orz Marines take over ships??

And.. and.. why do the Androsynth bubbles deal their damage all at once? It should be spread out over time, like any good acid.

And... why don't the lasers's strength decay with the inverse square law?

Those are all very good questions that all have very reasonable explanations.

But we'll save those for another day. =)

...

Ok so I don't know. Sue me.

you know what would be a cool sequence of events.

1. Talk to the Illwrath using the caster
2. Find out about their lust for Syreen
3. Learn how they would give anything for some Syreen
4.Go to Beteljuice*i think* and get some Syreen maidens.
5. Return to the without using the castor and tell them of the maidens
6. Get the Cloaking device in exchange for the Syreens.
7. Just as the Syreen women start a sexy striptese over the "camera", you blow away the nearest Avenger and run for it.
8) 8) 8)

as much as i would love to see the syreen in the nude, ...no.

I still like Death_999's storyline of how the precursor ship would get the cloaking device.  And, it would make for a great weapon at the end of the game.  

Maybe, if we didnt want it at the end of the game, we could say that

1) When you combine the Chenjesu and the Mrrr and they outfit your ship to be a big bomb (with the parts provided) one of the major components is the cloaking device because it would create a large cloaking field that when combined with the blast of the explosives would cloak the nearby systems from ever being discovered again.  In other words, in the storyline you would essentially erase all knoledge of precursor technology so that no race could get a hold of it again.

Make sense????

I suppose cloaking all those stars would work if the Sa-Matra and Mark I were the only source of Precursor tech... but there's still the factory on Unzervalt and various artifacts scattered everywhere else.

Is the factory there though? I seriously doubt the Quan left too much of it to the slave-shielded Unzervaltzians... Also, cloaking an entire starsystem could either be extremly hazardous, or very ointless.

If you can still see the gravity well in hyperspace, like you can see Ilwrath ships, then cloaking it from trealspace would be pointless, cuz you can still enter the systeems, and once inside the cloaking fielld, you must be able to see what is around you. Otherwise Ilwrath inside a cloaked ship would be invisible.

And if cloaking it means you can't see anything, not even the hyperspace gravity wells, it just means you'll suddenly fall into the system, and have no way how to get out. Just beacuase you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.

To make it different, the cloaking device could have been a graviton-cloak.  This would allow your ship to travel unimpeded through enemy Hyperspace, but still be visible in combat (as an extra or special it could reduce the effect of the planet's gravity on your ship; hang by the planet like a skiff).

Awwww, but a cloaking device would take all the fun out of the game... you could just hiden whenever you reach hostile territory, taking out all the fun of blowing enemy ships to pieces.  I really don't like any of the storylines proposed, because they really don't fit into the game, in my mind.

I don't like a cloaking device -- if it's any good it's way too good.

Of course, if we had a different encounter system, with border patrols and stuff rather than random spawning, then the cloaking device could be useful -- you are only 'seen' by the enemy if you pass directly between two of them which are not further than X apart.
Of course, that would cease to be SC2... though it could be SC3...

Border patrols is a cool idea, it'd add a whole other dimension. You'd sometimes even have to evade the border patrols of your allies, since they don't really appreciate you mining their systems dry.

How about this for a working sequence of events?

1.  Befriend Thraddash and solve probe problem
2.  Turn Ilwrath onto new prey
3. Wait until war commences
4. Talk to slylandro, they have a returned probe with data on the ilwrath/thraddash conflict.  Thraddash are pulling slightly ahead
5. Talk to thraddash.  They confirm this, and give you wreckage of an avenger with an intact hyperdrive
6. Take drive to base, they analyze it and say it would work with your ship, but it's too small.  They don't have know how enough to big a model large enough for your ship.
7.  Go to Ilwrath homeworld.  Impersonate Displeased Dogar and Kazor.  Tell ilwrath of the thraddash homeworld.  Instruct them to attack with all available forces, after building a giant cloaked ship from which 'you' may watch the carnage in person.  Ship is to be take along, then abandoned at the edge of the system, where you will take it as your own.
8.  Fly ahead to Draconis, warn thraddash of impending attack.  Come up with plan to destroy giant ship while leaving it mostly intact.
9. Ambush ilwrath.  You steal cloak at edge of system, after fighting off a dozen or so avengers, but then need to abandon the ship.  The ilwrath move it closer to the combat to prevent you from stealing their gods platform.
10.  Thraddash and Ilwrath fight.  Ilwrath battle fleet is crushed, but giant ship crashes into thraddash homeworld, nuking them back into the stone age.
11.  Laugh, take your toy, and head for earth.


Is it Star Control enough?

You do realize that I mentioned that to criticize silly literalism in interpreting game events, right?

I swear, every time I see this topic I say "no!" out loud. So, to recap:

"Is there really a cloaking device?"

Answer: NO!!!

Are you really really sure? ;)

Cloaking on a shofixti ship would be nice. No warning until you explode!!

Well, once you begin to do that it gets into the question of a mix-and-match, which can completely break (i.e. make too powerful) many ships.
Pkunk which launches barrages of 3 MX missiles, whee!
Thraddash which launch blades!
Druuge with Pkunk generation instead of crew sacking!
Why not put a FRIED on a Zoq-Fot-Pik as their special instead of this sucky tongue?

It just gets silly.

True, I rememebr the fascinating little chat we had a while back about this with BioSlayer. It wasn'tt a serious suggestion, more of a humorous one  ;) And also a sad and pathetic attempt to rejunevate a dying thread... I just hate to see them go..  :'(