Cloak

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Revision as of 11:19, 27 October 2021 by 67.85.190.113 (talk) (Separated dual tables, centered numbers.)
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Cloaking makes your units immune to detection by sight and radar, which amounts to near perfect invisibility when dry; however, submerged and swimming units can still be detected by sonar even if cloaked.

Cloaking will fail to work in the following conditions:

  • The unit takes damage. After a few seconds of taking no damage, the cloak will reactivate again. Damage-over-time effects (like being on fire or in acidic water) will prevent cloak from reactivating for an extended period.
  • An enemy unit comes within proximity of the cloak. After a few seconds of no proximate enemies, the cloak will reactivate again.
  • Insufficient energy to power the cloak.
  • The unit is attacking or using buildpower. This includes reclaiming and repairing. An exception to this rule is the Phantom, which is the only unit that can remain cloaked while attacking.
  • The unit is stunned or disarmed.
  • The unit walks into range of a sonar-equipped enemy while being in water. This does not decloak the unit but it will be visible as a radar dot.

Personal Cloakers

Some units come equipped with a personal cloak. Their cloak costs a small amount of energy to maintain while stationary, and a greater amount of energy while moving. These units are good for sneaking past heavy defenses to reach valuable economic targets at the back of the enemy base. They are also great for spying on enemy positions without being seen.

  • Personal cloak is disabled for 3s after taking damage or performing an action.
  • Personal cloak disabled by enemy proximity remains disabled for 1.5s.

Cloak.jpg

Area Cloakers

Area Cloakers (Cornea, Iris, Commanders with Area Cloak module) will render most units inside the cloaking radius invisible. Any other cloak-capable units that have their personal cloak on while inside the radius will not cost any energy to power their personal cloaks, and there is no additional cloak cost for moving, either. This can lead to a potent boost to your economy if you use this feature to negate the cloaking cost of several high-maintenance units, like Skuttles or an Ultimatum.

Units receive a standardized decloak radius when affected by area cloak. This is most useful for Skuttles and other walking bombs, as they can sneak much closer to enemies without their usual instant discovery. Of course this combination has other vulnerabilities as an area cloaker must be nearby. The decloak radius change is not applied to units which are actively area cloaking, the large decloak radius of Iris cannot be mitigated.

All structures aside from Cornea (the Area Cloaker building) are not affected by area cloak. It is also impossible to cloak any shield-projecting unit such as Thug, Felon, Convict and Aspis. Note that a personal cloak module has no effect on a shield projecting commander.

Area cloakers come with a jammer. This can be useful to conceal bases from radar even though they cannot be cloaked. The mobile version can help to hide and reposition armies stealthily.

  • Area cloak is disabled for 5s after taking damage or performing an action.
  • Area cloak disabled by enemy proximity lingers for 2.5s.

Stats/Specifications

Energy Usage chart

All cloak-capable units (save Fleas, Blastwings and crawling bombs) require a nominal energy upkeep to maintain their cloak.

Unit Stationary cost Moving cost
cloakcon.png Conjurer 0.1 0.5
cloakheavyraid.png Scythe 0.2 1
athena.png Athena 2 5
spiderantiheavy.png Widow 4 12
armcomdgun.png Ultimatum 8 24
Unit Stationary cost Moving cost
cloakaa.png Gremlin 0.1 0.5
cloaksnipe.png Phantom 1 5
striderscorpion.png Scorpion 2 10
jumpbomb.png Skuttle 5 15
Unit Jammer cost Self-cloak cost Field cost
staticjammer.png Cornea 1.5 1 12
spherecloaker.png Iris 1.5 1 15

Commanders are also able to cloak and jam by installing relevant modules.

Unit Stationary cost Moving cost
module_personal_cloak.png Personal Cloak Module 5 10
module_cloak_field.png Area Cloak Module 15

Decloak Radius chart

Any units not listed here are assumed to have a decloak radius of exactly 75 elmo (unit of distance in ZK). Radii larger than 75 will be set to 75 when affected by an area cloaker.

Unit Radius
cloaksnipe.png Phantom 155
spiderantiheavy.png Widow 60
jumpbomb.png Skuttle 180
armcomdgun.png Ultimatum 100
wolverine_mine.png Claw 50
cloakaa.png Gremlin 140
Unit Radius
athena.png Athena 125
striderscorpion.png Scorpion 150
spherecloaker.png Iris 180
staticjammer.png Cornea 100
armflea.png Flea 120
module_personal_cloak.png Commanders 150