Why is it that when an enemy cloaks, my weapons stop powering up, but apparently the enemy's keep working? Is this a bug? It would make sense that the weapons still charged up, even if the enemy was not visible.

its not a bug, its a feature. cloaked ships cannot be targeted, so weapons wont charge up. does not make perfect sense, but that is how cloak works in this game

If it's a feature, it's the stupidest one ever.

Given that weapons will quite happily power up when there are no enemy ships in the zone at all to target.

So cloaks somehow prevent weapons from powering up. That has to be a bug.

Well if any of the developers for this game are reading this, please change this. Here are some suggestions.

1. When an enemy is cloaked, you can charge weapons but cannot target or fire at any previously chosen target.
2. Any previously chosen targets will be invalid when an enemy activates cloaking device (ruining chosen 'auto fire' targeting). Player will have to re-target when enemy uncloaks.
3. When cloaked give the player a tiny chance to hit a cloaked vessel with beam weapons. Obvious variables would be skill level of the player's crew member manning the weapon station and the skill level of the enemy crew member manning the enemy vessel's piloting station.

Thanks.

Just imagine its also targeting/calculating trajectory/ and whatever else you can come up with. The feature works well as it is, they wont change it.

But it's not, since it charges up when nothing's there. If a ship is cloaked, as far as the sensors or whatever are concerned, there's nothing there, so it should act accordingly and charge the weapons, just like it does when no ships are nearby. Or if the sensors do know there's something there, they should still let the weapons charge.

There is nothing (as far as the game lets us know) inherent in the cloak's abilities that prevents enemy weapons from charging, so why don't they charge? Now, if they were also weapon jammers or something that would make sense.....

Simple. When a the enemy cloaks, your crew thinks that they are facing a ghost ship, so they are petrified with fear, and stop charging the weapons.

Ok fine, it makes no sense, so what. If they change the cloak the way you propose, all it would be good for is one dodge, there would be no point in longer activation times. There already is a tiny chance to be hit while under cloak as it does not give a 100% bonus to evasion.
Seriously, why mess with it, it works well in the current game mechanics.

I dunno, because it's nice for things to make sense? I have no problem with the mechanics the way they are, just change it or explain it. Maybe there is a weapon jamming component. Whatever. Just put it in the description.

Ok fair enough, now that you told me it bugs me, too, thanks alot. I will return the favour: People not blowing out of airlocks, def drones not shooting at off drones, theres probably loads more.

okay here is how to solve it: just imagine that activating cloak also activates a jamming device which blocks weapons from charging

I think it should be noted that there's a difference between a bug and a hard-to-rationalize (but perfectly functional) gameplay mechanic.

I personally don't have any issues with the cloak as it is. FTL's gameplay mechanics are seamless and internally consistent, so I find myself generally absorbed in the gameplay without having to resort to unwaveringly realistic explanations. I would be loathe to see the rules of combat change just to accommodate some niggly concerns about unrealism.

I don't think it really has anything to do with realism, it has to do with the mechanics being "internally consistent," as you say. The description of cloaking says it prevents the enemy weapons from locking on. But shouldn't they still charge? Is charging the same as locking on? Weapons charge when there's nothing to lock on to (when there are no ships in the sector), so it seems that charging is not the same as locking on. I can't speak for everyone in this post, but all I really want is for the mechanics to be seamless and internally consistent.

It seems like the problem would be completely solved by not allowing weapons to charge when enemy ships are not present and by changing all mentions of "charging" to "locking on".

This would help players to better rationalize the cloaking system without affecting gameplay.

With that in mind, I disagree. It _is_ about creating a more digestible interpretation of on-screen events and has nothing to do with game mechanics.

How about this? The "recharging" is actually acquiring weapons lock. This is why a more experienced crew member can get a faster lock. When an enemy ship is present the computer scans the sector and locks on the target, when there is no ship present the computer scans the sector and once it can identify that the sector is empty it simply readies the weapons. The Pre-Igniter is similar to a long range sensor but is highly calibrated to prescan the sector for use by the weapon systems only. When a ship is cloaked the targeting computer becomes confused and continuously scans and rescans the whole sector looking for the ship, it can tell there is something there but not enough of a something for weapons lock.