DracSpy@aol.com wrote:

> DracSpy@aol.com wrote:

> Nice! The Kra'Vak have a cloaking device?

Yes,

In the beginning of the novel that is how they get the drop on II/KG14.
However it's a new technology for them and not available on most ships, (or so
believes the IIa from Oberkommando KriegsRaumFlotte.)

> DracSpy@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 99-02-12 10:34:15 EST, you write:

If you are meaning what powers, I don't know. I'm sure most of the major
powers have some ships with cloaking capability. But if you mean what ship
classes don't have cloaking devices, I believe it's most, since it's a rather
expensive piece of equipment. Also note that most cloaking devices per FB
rules are what i call black globe, meaning nothing comes in and out, so the
ship in cloak cant fire or sense or navigate. it has to maneuver via dead
reckoning.

In the story, the KRS Köhl is experimenting with a new version of cloak
(Spiegel Industries gmbh Mark IX) which allows it limited capability to see
OUT of cloak. It still can't fire while cloaked but it can navigate and sense.
Though the quality of the cloak is degraded. This is similar to a system
developed independently by the NAC whch is used on some of their Special
operations ships as depicted by the RNS Meadows (BTW Dick Meadows was a Medal
of Honor winning Air force officer who specialized in Special ops insertions
amongst other things.) The Meadows has both systems, "Black Globe" and
"Looking Glass". Even running under Black Globe the Meadows can use it's cloak
generators to senses subtle changes in the shape of its sphere, as effected by
the gravity of planetary bodies within the system.
Through a sophisticated navigational sub-routine it is able to "hand
rail" itself close enough to the planet for insertion. Once at the IP (Initial
Point), the Meadows switches to "Looking Glass". This is another form of cloak
which allows allows in and out visible light and passive sensing but masks all
signatures. yes the ship can be seen with the naked eye, but guess what..space
is a big place. The advantage of looking glass is that the using ship can
deploy canisters or drop pods, or receive encoded messages or whatever, then
move out and go back into Black globe for egress.

At least that's how it works in the story.

How did Kurt and I handle this type of system in our big battle. Simple. With
over 100 ships engaged we could not afford the time to fiddle fart around with
normal cloaking. As it was accepted that this was the first time the Kra'Vak
would be exposed to cloak ships, and that the Speigel designed cloak was
similar to looking glass in that it enabled precise navigation, I merely
grabbed a handful of pennies (one for each ship), then stood over the battle
area (we were playing on the floor) and tossed them where I wanted to declaok.
Some landed dangerously close to other ships, some landed far away, some
landed where i wanted them. This was done at the beginning of Kurt's movement
phase. he then was told his sensors are picking up strange anomalies in those
areas. Kr'rt then had the option to maneuver or do whatever he wanted in
reaction to this information (he couldn't fire since the ships were in the
process of decloaking they could not be reliably targeted). During my turn I
placed the models and away we went.

For the next fight, the Kra'Vak have now been exposed to this technology and
are no doubt working out some sort of counter measures so we will have to
handle this differently. However we still need a system that won't swamp us in
a mega battle.

One thing to clarify, when kurt and I fight our battles we are first and
formost working under the framework of the Röt Hafen story and secondly in
competition with each other. Kr'rt is ROLE PLAYING the Kra'Vak commander and
is operating within character as he sees it, so he may do things that as a
human in a tournament type of game he might not consider doing. This is what
has made these battles interesting pieces to write up in the story.