There are alot of people who say the cloak is rather useless outside of counter sniping, which i do partly agree with but i also disagree with because the cloak is a invaluable tool, not a overly useful ability like the medic or HA. mostly i posted this thread to see what people have to say about it and to give people something decent (or atleast helpful) to read on forumside.
It works for what it is. It's not a replacement for playing smart and against experienced players it's not a tool to use in close quarters, but otherwise it serves its purpose. Smart use of the cloak is a big part of what makes infils deadly on the battlefield and at long range where it works effectively it makes infils quite hard to track down until you get closer. The biggest problem with it is the long list of bugs which seem mostly to be due to server latency of one sort or the other and thus not readily fixable by the dev team.
Stalker would work fine in Close Quarters if crouch walking shimmer was turned down. As it stands right now, you can't even corner-peak in it (courching of course) without the shimmer "diffusing" light around you (this is the technical explanation for why it's still too visible) which appears to any Mammalian (or Reptiles too for that matter) as "Motion" -- and the first thing just about any living animal creature first evolved to notice, was Motion. I don't know if their code/shader Engineers have any means of removing that illusion of motion element from the way it shimmers without building in some kind of counter-motion algorithm ... but until they can, I'd rather they'd partially copy/clone it's Deepcloak behavior specifically to the crouch walk so that the deepcloak remains in effect based on a 1 second timer so you can still move little incimental distances slowly. And of course for balance: just extend the range that Dark-light flashlights are effective in, in the meantime.
"it's not a tool to use in close quarters" I disagree. An infil can cause a lot of havok in CQB. One thing I love about Planetside is that enemy infantry storming a base always clump up in large groups. As an infil, jump right into the middle of a group, uncloak, fire, cloak, uncloak, fire, cloak, uncloak, fire, etc etc etc. Add a few bouncing bettys into the mix and now it's a party! Sure, it's a suicide run but it's the best 10-15 seconds of adrenaline in the game IMO.
Use it to flank and then smg everything. SMG infiltrators are my most hated foe. You cannot see them and then they shoot you with the fastest firing weapon in the game. Cloak, hack stuff like terminals turrets and set mines everywhere. Then flank enimeies and kill them. you stay out of the fight and away from people.
I still think they have to much difference between low setting and normal/hihg/ultra setting. Low setting : The cloak is an invisibility tool and is nearly a godmode if you use it right. Be carefull of ennemy with darklight. Normal/high/ultra setting : The cloak is cool to help you to flank the ennemy but remember you're not invisible : ennemy can see you if they look in your direction, even if you are crouched/immobile.
Cloak in close quarters is a great tool but does take some time to learn to 'use it right'. I think one of the biggest errors I see is cloaking too close when approaching a fight. For example: Smallish fight or some players in a building. Many infiltrators will cloak pretty much outside the door which, in my opinion, is too late. If you cloak farther out and use every bit of your cloak timer they won't always know which direction you're coming from. In larger battles you can pretty much cloak at will since so much is going on. Avoid overcloaking since it's a beacon of "I'm here!" in small/medium combat (more so than large fights). Sometimes it is better to just run there uncloaked to get the drop on someone - footsteps are harder to hear than cloaking. Cloak is also useful for just gaining distance away from something, if you can turn a couple corners or run away with objects behind you (like keeping a tree between you and the enemy) than being cloaked further confuses the enemy. Plenty of times I've outran/outmaneuvered vehicles just by cloak and block with terrain, and going in directions they don't expect. In short: People that say cloak has little use outside of countersniping are so very wrong and should probably stick to their main class
in my experience the cloak is one of the best ways to move unnoticed as long as you are out of ear shot of an enemy, the cloak makes good use in tech plants when your moving in since there is alot of open gorund, has anyone ever ran a ghost squad? and im not talking CQC smg infil im talking highly organized bait and trap sniper work, 1-2 smg's lead enemy out of cover while the 3-4 snipers on your '6 provide kill shots,, prioatizeing medics and maxs (head shot a max and he'll take cover)
Low Settings: Overpowered, though I've noticed more Infiltrators as of late...so I believe that they may have increased the visibility. Medium to Ultra Settings: Inconsistent and extremely situational unless you're in Deep Cloak, it's pretty hit or miss...and I mean in regards to what its intended purpose is, flanking. The glass statue effect is not difficult to see by any stretch of the imagination. I'm pleased with their changes that make entering into Deep Cloak quicker and more reliable.
Cloaking compliments intelligent game play rather then replace it. There a lot of things in modern games that, due to a shift toward character management rather then player skill sets, has caused designers to emphasize mechanics and counter-mechanics rather then soft skill sets. Partial invisibility is one of those things that promotes a lot of supplemental soft skills, as its not a mechanically perfect system. Its a similar reason the Spy in TF2 has such a high skill floor, as the class's effectiveness relies heavy on the other team's ineptitude. Even some of the Spy's most basic tactics require a strong understanding of player behavior.
probably because stalker cloak is in the game in addition with the deep cloak, so the infiltrators who want to play sneaky can finally do that
The cloak can be as much a disadvantage as an advantage, it may be great against bad and inexperienced players, but when facing more experienced players it will most likely just get you killed if you try to rely on it too much.
You got it so wrong, I don't know if it's a joke haha. For those who didn't get it, I took the time to highlight it.
there is a difference between relying on it to much and using effectively it is a flanking tool great for out of the corner of the eye play and effective movement out of the normal flow patterns of battles. one thing I read else ware and that I have not been able to test but while I use it I perceive the cloak to be more effective. "Shadows" Their seems to be a mechanic that in "sunlight" or "headlights" the cloak is more visible especially during movement but also while crouch still. Using bushes is good but finding a out of the way cranny or weird spot to hide is more effective especially if it is shaded. Day light has me feeling quite exposed now. going in close is not a good idea unless you have a really good read on how troops are likely to more this can be super effective against all player types but you have to keep moving now a days ("death screen" ) even more then you used to have to. When you have a good read find a place above/below and behind and a little to either side with stalker you can be extremely creative with these.
I run on low settings but then just tweak graphics up to medium. At close quarters I find enemy cloakers quite easy to see and I regularly headshot any that have decided that it is safe for them to weigh up a situation. Consequently, I am under no illusion, when running with my cloak, and expect to be seen. I suppose this is why I do not do much CQ work, because I suck anyway at CQ and we are so squishy compared to the other classes. I've Certed the stalker cloak but not tried it yet... I should... One day
This, a thousand times this, the crouch shimmer seems paradoxically more obvious than upping and sprinting, in A/B tests it's hard to tell a difference between them at all, except for what appears to be a weird 'smearing' as you move from crouch move cloak to stationary crouched deep cloak. Could just be me. This also makes it impossible to actually Stalk a target, I find it turns into "Lunge Madly Before They Notice Glassy McShinyPants" and would also allow better cat+mouse action between infiltrators. As to light/shadow and its stealth interactions, bright, unfiltered daylight (say Indar at high noon) -seems- to increase potential visibility somewhat, depending on background against etc. Bright sun, bright ground seems to work fine (hiding in full view on a busy road as the TR tank zerg all thurnders past springs to mind as one brown trousers moment, but I got away with it). Darkness is superior, ive crouched in front of pursuing enemies and faded, and they've run straight past me...well a couple of paces, anyway ;D DON'T STAND IN FRONT OF MONITORS/ETC IN BASES, your form puts a big distorted bubble in the blue screen that makes you more obvious than an amphetamine fueled pneumatic drill. And if using Hunter/NAC, don't forget to crouch! standing cloak is pretty obvious once you're acclimatised to watch for it. Andy_m, give it a whirl with your favourite pistol, find a base under attack, take control of a point/generator/junction, and deny it to the enemy from deepshade! Or decloak awkwardly far away, miss your pistol fire and get knifed in the chops, either way its a different style of gameplay to hunter cloak (much like NAC would be if it still stacked with nanoweave.) Sorry for long post.
good way of putting it. certainly more universally relateable than the nerdy explanation I used for it
