Stalker cloak and ESP

Question for people who use Stalker cloak a lot: how often do you come across someone who you suspect uses ESP hack?


Recent situation: I used Valkyrie to deploy behind enemy lines, I moved crouched to avoid enemy radar, didn't fire weapon nor spotted the enemy - in short I didn't give any reason for enemies to suspect I'm there. I was sitting cloaked and crouched for two or three minute near the teleporter(not in the building itself but 50m outside, out of the any commonly used routes).
Then suddenly some guy with a flashlight comes to my position, lights me up and shoots me...


In one hour of Stalker gameplay I die maybe once or twice in what I consider to be suspicious circumstances but I can't say with high degree of certainty whether other player was hacking because randomness is equally probable explanation as well(or I somehow gave my position away). However in this most recent example I'm 100% sure player in question used ESP hack. He has far too good score per hour for dedicated Stalker infiltrator hunter and he came to my position directly as if he knew exactly where I was.

Do other Stalker cloak users have similar experience as mine?

Don't forget that unless you use sensor shield implant, you are being shown when scout radar (flash/ESF) is around, and I have no idea if also on proximity radar of other vehicles

The scout radar doesn't spot non-moving targets anymore.

so we have no idea where you were hiding at, but an lucky player was passing by...

Either he saw you while you were moving to position and was hunting you. Or he just saw you. You're not invisible.

Having a good score per hour (without any other suspect stats) means he's probably pretty familiar with the game and knows to double check when he sees something shimmer even in the distance/barely visible.

Also, considering he was using a flashlight, he probably saw you drop in or moving at some point.

i was on hossin and did the same thing but i took the A point in the one base where its all under ground and its super cool. but anyways i was not on the A point i was off by a stump of a swamp tree and the grass/moss and stuff makes u like unseeable cuz your lil wiggles that give u away in high settings are hidden super well with the mesh of grass/moss.

but anyways i was waiting for some1 to come recap it and jump them but when they came down into the room they didnt even take 2 steps from the doorway in and turned at me and shot me with a slug shotgun. didnt even get time to turn to face them fully befor they killed me. no head shots but just died in two shot from slug

Yesterday at Quartz Ridge I came into the point room for [ B ] through the northern doors and saw a momentary shimmer through those other doors connecting to upstairs hallway. Afterwards, it was just empty, as if noone there. A test shot revealed a hit marker and subsequent shots revealed a dead Stalker Cloak Infiltrator, who then went on to make a huge stint that I could have not possibly been able to see them. Lacking the means of demonstrating that I did see them on my screen, I decided to let SOE sort it out and quickly /ignored him as his complaining was getting annoying.

theres no shimmer in game and even if you looking at a cloaked infiltrator and moving around him there is no movment in the waves or whatever u call it in his cloak and they only move if he moves

Other people can see the shimmer if they're moving, you have an outline whether you move or not, and we can see that if we're paying attention.

Also, a crouched infil can block movement, like an object would. If I'm running and "stumble" for no reason, I'll look to see if there's an infil crouched there.

I'd say out of those circumstances that make you suspicious, it's probably 80% someone saw you, 19% cloak bugs, and 1% actual cheating. I can only think of one incident where I was absolutely certain the player was cheating. Saw that player one night and then never again, so I assume he actually got banned.

As someone who mains Stalker infiltrator, yes, there is a shimmer while moving because of the shift in perspective and it is EXTREMELY noticeable.

Not only with stalker cloak.


It just happens too often, that someone turns around a corner and shoots me right into the face, apparently exactly knowing where I was..


I don't run, reload, shoot, do anything except waiting for my shield to recharge.

50m outside the teleporter room. Suffice to say I was cautious enough not to stand on any of the commonly used routes (such as spawn-teleporter, teleporter-jump pad, teleporter-nearest base exit etc...

Probably once every three days.

This thread reminds me of playing WoW. The amount of rogues who could not understand how people kept picking them out of pure stealth even when multiple levels below who should not have been able to detect them even when standing in the same space.

Infiltrators, let me try to lay it out. You give away so much without knowing it. I can see you with your cloak on (the shimmer, and any bit when you move, also lasers and other things play with the refraction effect). I can hear you. If I know you were there, I will stay here until you are definitely not here anymore.

It's realllllly easy to find someone. Even if they are 99.99% invisible. The key is to know there is someone else there. You can't make a human forget they saw something like a guard in metal gear. When I see a blip on the radar, hear a cloak or footsteps (headphones really help), or see any bit of refraction of light it's ******* on. Everyone I'm with in mumble will now know that I'm hunting a possible infiltrator, they will all also be suspicious of everything they encounter.

If I chase a shimmer I saw in my peripheral vision into a room and then see nothing I know that he's probably crouched in the nearest corner, and I will corner check from that one out until I clear the room at the very least.

People check around the spawn room, bad place to sit.

I'm not disputing that cheaters exist, but I think it's virtually impossible for anyone to make that distinction when it comes to this particular subject. I kill cloakers who sit completely still in corners practically every time I log on. I don't know how long they've been there, I didn't see them go there, they didn't reload or move or make any noise. But experience has taught me about many spots and paranoia has taught me to check the spots I don't know. And I know I'm not the only one who's like this. There's just so many infiltrators running around I know a lot of experienced players shoot or check just about everywhere they run. It's become part of the meta! Find the infil.

yeah it happens to me perhaps once every day or two that im playing stalker, the most obvious one was some guy sniping headshots on me from a 60+m hill while id been crouched and cloaked afk many minutes in one spot (but could still see the screen)

however also ElRobos points up there are valid too, if I see an enemy blip when the base is quiet of fighting someones got to find them and yes it might take some minutes to get there or filter through the buildings slowly, often im spotting them pulling a radar flash to get to the next base and stop to hunt them down, ofc if they suddenly disappear while im riding to them I have a strong idea about the area theyll be crouched/hid (and i carry a flashlight on all of my sidearms)

Had a MAX unit come charging across a base at me the other day, stop right in front of me and promptly head shot me with bursters. I’d been crouched and stationary for some time behind hard cover with others actively hunting me… May have been hinky or he may just have been on his way back to his spawn room to grab more ammo and happened to spot something nobody else in the area had.
I’ve also had the same with a random ESF flying over me and suddenly deciding to PPA the area I was crouched in, it may have been down to him using night vision and it showing a flicker as he switched it on and off and then shooting at the flicker rather than the other clear targets in the area but there’s no way to tell either way.

On the other hand yesterday I was heading to a cap point to resecure a base, run up to a door, stopped, turned to my left, stepped through the door and unloaded a clip into the LA hiding around the corner. He probably thought I was running ESP, no radar in the area and no way I could see him. I could however see the red beam from his laser sight across the door way…

So between bugs and glitches and the “little things” that give you away it’s almost impossible to pick out the script kiddies. But as a rule maybe once a day I’m left thinking “What the???” as I get killed for apparently no reason.