Black Ops Covert Ops Cloak : The Case For And Against

Case: The Black Ops battleships should be allowed to fit and use Covert Ops cloaks.

For:

Its hard to be sneaky when they see you coming.

Black Ops ships are built not for front line combat but for asymmetric guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, using covert ops ships to set up covert cynos to bypass major enemy encampments and strike at miners, ratters, supply lines, cyno jammers, etc that are not easy reached by conventional forces due to the nature of immediate local.

All of the ships that the Black Ops jump bridge can move use Covert Ops cloaks: Covert Ops frigs, Stealth Bombers, Force Recons, and Blockade Runners. Each one brings a specialized role to the force that can arrive secretly and suddenly and approach unseen. The centre of the fleet, the lynchpin of the operation, cannot warp hidden and instead must annouce its presence to anyone with a Directional Scanner or anyone on the grid. Its like having a guy with a flashlight and clanking metal armour leading a team of Navy SEALs.

Being able to use a covert ops cloak would not unbalance this class if it retained a decent recalibration period to prevent it from being used as a sneak attack ship like a stealth bomber. It would simply allow Black Ops pilots the ability to muster the forces into enemy systems and navigate with them without giving the game up to the enemy.

Improved cloaks are good for ships that want to sit still and hide. The Black Ops ships need to be able to move, much like Stealth Bombers needed to be able to navigate in order to become a real threat. Give them covert ops cloaks.

Against:

Covert Ops cloaks are already overused in the game.

Using these powerful modules on ships with extremely specific roles is one thing; like Blockade Runner slipping past gate camps, Covert Ops frigs scouting out systems, and Stealth Bombers moving in for sudden sneak attacks. But Covert Ops cloaks on Force Recons is too much: the combat power of a tech II cruiser with the maneuvurability of a ship that can warp cloaked should be removed. Bonuses to Improved Cloak sure, but force those ships to plan ahead and get in position like the rest of them.

For the same reason, the bigger and nastier Black Ops Battleships should not be given free reign to terrorize systems with almost no risk of capture itself. They are indeed not front line ships, but utility ships directing and sending the troops into battle, providing backup if needed but otherwise staying in the shadows and moving only when its safe.

If Covert Ops cloaks are given to Black Ops Battleships, we will start to see proliferation of these ships into purposes they were never meant for. For example they will become the "third man in" in fights where one side is fooled into thinking they have a fair fight then suddenly another pilot or two uncloaks not in Force Recons, but big, nasty, tanking, damage dealing battleships.

Keep Black Ops battleships in their place. Deny them access to the covert ops cloak.

For Rebuttal:

No one is going to use massively expensive covert ops battleships when much more affordable and still very powerful Force Recons are available. The cloak would merely give the ship class the ability to function in behind enemy lines as well as the fleet it accompanies.

Against Rebuttal:

The playbase is very clever and much of the experienced players are very rich. Give them a hook, line, and pole for fishing, and they will find a way to use it to bash their neighbour over the head, gouge his eyes out, and strangle him to steal his wife. Black Ops are fine.

Jury, what say you?