The said discussion seemed to indicate that a new bar would be added to the ETS display, indicating cloak energy ratio (on any ship that has a cloak). There would also be a corresponding cloak power level indicator somewhere around your reticle like the weapon and afterburner indicator. Some people were suggesting that if one were to put all power to the cloak, it would allow the player to remain cloaked indefinitely, but limit the other 3 power usage areas. This would be ideal for a cloaked approach since you don't have to worry about running, getting hit, or having to fire a weapon. It has been suggested that if under cloak, you hit your burners, it would show up on an enemy hud and alert them to your presence. FRED would need to include cloaking sexps, as well as flags that mark a ship as cloaked upon its arrival or when the mission starts. It might even be possible to alter the arrival and departure cues for all ships so that where it lists methods of arrival, hyperspace, docking bay, etc, there is also an option to "Arrive From Cloak" so that a ship would uncloak in its selected position and orientation instead of warping in. You might also have to disable the warp effect for this (as you would for arrivals or departures from docking bays). In a broader sense, one would also have to have the cloak of a target ship fail if that ship sustains enough dammage. Unfortunately, allowing the AI to cloak and decoak as part of its combat tactics would require AI revisions which are something the SCP shies away from to remain compatible with existing campaigns.
Later!
