Topic: New Romulan technology?!?

[Darkwalker]

...okay, maybe not really, but it was kinda weird and I just wonder if anyone else has seen this happen.

I'm playing through an SP conquest game as the Feds, and I take my fleet in to assault a Rom planet. Everything's going fine--my fleet and I are slapping the AI silly--and then the strangeness sets in. One of the AI ships cloaks, and the planet (which is behind the ship I'm currently targeting) starts to CLOAK! No kidding, it faded out and vanished from the main view AND the tactical map just like a cloaked ship. Even weirder, the def plats were suddenly able to blast away at me through where the planet had been. Then, to top it all off, when I wiped out the last platform, the mission didn't end--I assume because of an error tied to the "mysterious cloaking planet."

I'm sure this is a bug of some sort, but at first I started to think, "Great, now the Roms can cloak planets. So much for ever beating them in the D3." Still, I wish I would've had my auto-filming on. Would've loved to to upload that one to the BattleClinic if for nothing else but the laughs. Not a big issue in the end, but has anyone else ever encountered the "Planet-class Cloaking Device" or its never-seen but oft-rumored cousin, the "SB-Class Cloaking Device" in action?  

[ChamadaIV]

Quote:
 Not a big issue in the end, but has anyone else ever encountered the "Planet-class Cloaking Device" or its never-seen but oft-rumored cousin, the "SB-Class Cloaking Device" in action?    

Every so often I have, my friend. Tis truly an odd occurence that warrants attention. Pre-patch and latest beta-patch, the problem persists. The cause for me is a little different, however. The planet tends to disappear on me when the camera sweeps inside the planet itself.  Taldren has graciously made planets in the game single-sided textures (meaning you can't see through it from the outside, but its transparent from the inside; that way your view isn't blocked by the object). But to me, I think because the planet cannot be seen with the camera inside of it, when the cam reemerges, the graphics engine forgets to redraw the planet, thus forgetting it even exists. The effect for me, on the other hand, is exactly as you put it (the mission does not end automatically as it should when all plats are gone).

Hell, this bug has even burdened me a few times while playing SP campaign missions (when the planet vanishes, I have no choice but to leave the system and forfeit the mission having to replay it again). Though I forget exactly which missions this happened.

Does anyone know the exact reason why this bug occurs?    

[Praxis]

Quote:

Quote:
 Not a big issue in the end, but has anyone else ever encountered the "Planet-class Cloaking Device" or its never-seen but oft-rumored cousin, the "SB-Class Cloaking Device" in action?    

Every so often I have, my friend. Tis truly an odd occurence that warrants attention. Pre-patch and latest beta-patch, the problem persists. The cause for me is a little different, however. The planet tends to disappear on me when the camera sweeps inside the planet itself.  Taldren has graciously made planets in the game single-sided textures (meaning you can't see through it from the outside, but its transparent from the inside; that way your view isn't blocked by the object). But to me, I think because the planet cannot be seen with the camera inside of it, when the cam reemerges, the graphics engine forgets to redraw the planet, thus forgetting it even exists. The effect for me, on the other hand, is exactly as you put it (the mission does not end automatically as it should when all plats are gone).

Hell, this bug has even burdened me a few times while playing SP campaign missions (when the planet vanishes, I have no choice but to leave the system and forfeit the mission having to replay it again). Though I forget exactly which missions this happened.

Does anyone know the exact reason why this bug occurs?      

I don't think that theory is correct...

I played a game on the DYNAVERSE, not single player.  I was ingame with another ally.  We were both feds, against 4 pirates and 4 defense platforms.  We killed half the defense platforms and half the pirates and were engaging the last pirates (I had a Defiant, buddy had a Sov i think).  As i flew around i wondered where the planet was.  I checked my scanners and found the defense platforms that had been BEHIND the planet, but no planet.  I actually flew through the space where the planet had been!  I didn't impact anything.  The thing is, we were both far from the planet when it disappeared...and it disappeared for both me AND my buddy.  So it couldn't have just been my graphic engine forgetting to redraw it.  And if it was the graphic engine forgetting to redraw it, i would have still impacted the planet when i went through.

[MarianoDT]

Worst things had happended. Once in a Scan mission, the planet was dragged by a near black hole. The only thing left was the atmosphere effect in the place where the planet was.
I canīt tell you how the population must have suffered this devastation or they must be living now in other dimension...who knows....
 
 

[jive]

I've seen this also in Single Player mode.  What happened was I was attacking a Rom. starbase and it disappeared.  I destroyed the platforms and remaining ships.  So I completed the mission.  Well, when I got back to the map, the Missions button was lit so I clicked on it and the starbase was attacking me.  So what I figure is that the starbase withdrawls from battle somehow.  I don't know how, but that's my theory.  

[Alexander1701]

   This is not perculliar to the romulan planets. Any planet can dissappear. It tends to have trouble with loading, lag significantly, and finally just fade out. God only knows why, but just run away when it happens

You were as brave as two planks flying through the damned thing there.

Alexander  

[Darkwalker]

 

Quote:
Once in a Scan mission, the planet was dragged by a near black hole. The only thing left was the atmosphere effect in the place where the planet was.

Yeah, I've seen something like that. The planet's never actually fallen into the hole and disappeared, but I have sat back and watched a planet get "pinballed" around on one of the 4+ black hole maps. It's even more fun when you blast out the impulse engines of the AI pirate that's attacking you and guess to see which they'll do first: fall into a black hole or hit the planet.

As far as the cause, I think I'm gonna have to go with Praxis on this one. It can't be the camera not re-drawing the planet or a similar graphical issue. If it was simply a graphical thing, the planet would've remained on my tactical map (in theory, anyway) and the defense platforms couldn't have fired on me. Still, it's good to know this isn't just a glitch on my system...or some new Rom super-tech.    

[Praxis]

Wait...what if they are PHASE-cloaking planets?  They cloak and we can pass right through them... hehe

[Alexander1701]

  Except that the PHASE cloak is FEDERATION technology  

[feargusf]

Quite by accident, I actually got to watch this happen in a single player Planetary Assault mission today. I have come to the conclusion that this yet another variant of the spontaneously combusting wimgman/enemy bug. The reason that I believe this is that the planet went translucent at the moment that I destroyed the last defending ship, and proceeded to fade out as the break model pieces of that defender did the same. Somewhere lurking in the source code must be a small glitch that occasionally links two objects as far as damage/destuction goes. It is hard to figure out why, because it doesn't always happen. But, I would venture to guess that it might have something to do with the distance between the two objects that become linked. From now on, I will pay closer attention to where things are in relation to one another, and see if that has any effect on the occurrence of this bug.  

[hobbesmaster]

Quote:
  Except that the PHASE cloak is FEDERATION technology    

Thats what they want you to think.  

[3dot14]

Quote:
One of the AI ships cloaks, and the planet (which is behind the ship I'm currently targeting) starts to CLOAK! No kidding, it faded out and vanished from the main view AND the tactical map just like a cloaked ship.

Sorry I have nothing to add on the subject of this bug/feature...

But I simply want to point out THIS IS NOT A ROMULAN INVENTED technology.

It's a LYRAN invented technology...:D

(go play SFC1 Lyran Campaigns, you will see. )
sorry for that random useless outburst... we now return you to your regularly scheduled ponderings.

[Alexander1701]

   Yes, romulans would never cloak a planet. I can't imagine anything more useless. Any landing ship would crash, and most planets have steady traffic. The idea is to have a cloaked FLEET, so that any planet MAY have 10 warbirds around it, without actually NEEDING 10 warbirds per planet

Alexander  

[Scorpion]

 

Quote:
 I played a game on the DYNAVERSE, not single player. I was ingame with another ally. We were both feds, against 4 pirates and 4 defense platforms. We killed half the defense platforms and half the pirates and were engaging the last pirates (I had a Defiant, buddy had a Sov i think). As i flew around i wondered where the planet was. I checked my scanners and found the defense platforms that had been BEHIND the planet, but no planet. I actually flew through the space where the planet had been! I didn't impact anything. The thing is, we were both far from the planet when it disappeared...and it disappeared for both me AND my buddy. So it couldn't have just been my graphic engine forgetting to redraw it. And if it was the graphic engine forgetting to redraw it, i would have still impacted the planet when i went through.

...Which is exactly why this is a bug and not a romulan technology.  The thing as quoted above has happened to me before on more than one occasion.  

[Darkwalker]

...okay, maybe not really, but it was kinda weird and I just wonder if anyone else has seen this happen.

I'm playing through an SP conquest game as the Feds, and I take my fleet in to assault a Rom planet. Everything's going fine--my fleet and I are slapping the AI silly--and then the strangeness sets in. One of the AI ships cloaks, and the planet (which is behind the ship I'm currently targeting) starts to CLOAK! No kidding, it faded out and vanished from the main view AND the tactical map just like a cloaked ship. Even weirder, the def plats were suddenly able to blast away at me through where the planet had been. Then, to top it all off, when I wiped out the last platform, the mission didn't end--I assume because of an error tied to the "mysterious cloaking planet."

I'm sure this is a bug of some sort, but at first I started to think, "Great, now the Roms can cloak planets. So much for ever beating them in the D3." Still, I wish I would've had my auto-filming on. Would've loved to to upload that one to the BattleClinic if for nothing else but the laughs. Not a big issue in the end, but has anyone else ever encountered the "Planet-class Cloaking Device" or its never-seen but oft-rumored cousin, the "SB-Class Cloaking Device" in action?  

[ChamadaIV]

Quote:
 Not a big issue in the end, but has anyone else ever encountered the "Planet-class Cloaking Device" or its never-seen but oft-rumored cousin, the "SB-Class Cloaking Device" in action?    

Every so often I have, my friend. Tis truly an odd occurence that warrants attention. Pre-patch and latest beta-patch, the problem persists. The cause for me is a little different, however. The planet tends to disappear on me when the camera sweeps inside the planet itself.  Taldren has graciously made planets in the game single-sided textures (meaning you can't see through it from the outside, but its transparent from the inside; that way your view isn't blocked by the object). But to me, I think because the planet cannot be seen with the camera inside of it, when the cam reemerges, the graphics engine forgets to redraw the planet, thus forgetting it even exists. The effect for me, on the other hand, is exactly as you put it (the mission does not end automatically as it should when all plats are gone).

Hell, this bug has even burdened me a few times while playing SP campaign missions (when the planet vanishes, I have no choice but to leave the system and forfeit the mission having to replay it again). Though I forget exactly which missions this happened.

Does anyone know the exact reason why this bug occurs?    

[Praxis]

Quote:

Quote:
 Not a big issue in the end, but has anyone else ever encountered the "Planet-class Cloaking Device" or its never-seen but oft-rumored cousin, the "SB-Class Cloaking Device" in action?    

Every so often I have, my friend. Tis truly an odd occurence that warrants attention. Pre-patch and latest beta-patch, the problem persists. The cause for me is a little different, however. The planet tends to disappear on me when the camera sweeps inside the planet itself.  Taldren has graciously made planets in the game single-sided textures (meaning you can't see through it from the outside, but its transparent from the inside; that way your view isn't blocked by the object). But to me, I think because the planet cannot be seen with the camera inside of it, when the cam reemerges, the graphics engine forgets to redraw the planet, thus forgetting it even exists. The effect for me, on the other hand, is exactly as you put it (the mission does not end automatically as it should when all plats are gone).

Hell, this bug has even burdened me a few times while playing SP campaign missions (when the planet vanishes, I have no choice but to leave the system and forfeit the mission having to replay it again). Though I forget exactly which missions this happened.

Does anyone know the exact reason why this bug occurs?      

I don't think that theory is correct...

I played a game on the DYNAVERSE, not single player.  I was ingame with another ally.  We were both feds, against 4 pirates and 4 defense platforms.  We killed half the defense platforms and half the pirates and were engaging the last pirates (I had a Defiant, buddy had a Sov i think).  As i flew around i wondered where the planet was.  I checked my scanners and found the defense platforms that had been BEHIND the planet, but no planet.  I actually flew through the space where the planet had been!  I didn't impact anything.  The thing is, we were both far from the planet when it disappeared...and it disappeared for both me AND my buddy.  So it couldn't have just been my graphic engine forgetting to redraw it.  And if it was the graphic engine forgetting to redraw it, i would have still impacted the planet when i went through.

[MarianoDT]

Worst things had happended. Once in a Scan mission, the planet was dragged by a near black hole. The only thing left was the atmosphere effect in the place where the planet was.
I canīt tell you how the population must have suffered this devastation or they must be living now in other dimension...who knows....
 
 

[jive]

I've seen this also in Single Player mode.  What happened was I was attacking a Rom. starbase and it disappeared.  I destroyed the platforms and remaining ships.  So I completed the mission.  Well, when I got back to the map, the Missions button was lit so I clicked on it and the starbase was attacking me.  So what I figure is that the starbase withdrawls from battle somehow.  I don't know how, but that's my theory.  

[Alexander1701]

   This is not perculliar to the romulan planets. Any planet can dissappear. It tends to have trouble with loading, lag significantly, and finally just fade out. God only knows why, but just run away when it happens

You were as brave as two planks flying through the damned thing there.

Alexander