Star Trek: Into the Unknown – Rising Tensions Expansion

To set up the cloaking device, first place a tracking marker into the aft slot of the cloaking unit's base. Then, remove the unit from the play area. Next, place the wake marker onto the play area, aligning its aft slot with the tracking marker. Finally, remove the tracking marker from the play area. The wake marker will now represent the approximate position of the cloaked unit on the board.

The objective of cloaking is to conceal the unit's exact position. The unit's actual position relative to the wake marker is secretly recorded on a stealth tracker. This tracker uses two dials: one for radial position (A through H) and one for distance (1 to 6 inches). One side of the tracker is kept face down to hide the exact position, while the other side has two telemetry windows that can be revealed to provide limited information about the cloaked ship's actual position.

During its activation, a cloaked unit has restricted movement capabilities, being limited to only forward impulse or come about maneuvers. It can engage warp as normal, with the wake marker moving as if it were the cloaked unit, and can enter and leave systems like any other warp-capable unit. A cloaked unit can launch probes or auxiliary units, provided this is not part of an attack. It can also transport personnel by measuring from its wake marker, but an opponent cannot transport personnel to a location in that cloaked unit. Additionally, a cloaked unit can conduct and receive hails (with a modified comms range of 2 inches) and perform a sensor lock onto another unit.

While cloaked, a unit faces several restrictions. It cannot perform an attack, nor can it be declared the target of an attack. Its sensors and comms ranges are both reduced to 2 inches and cannot be increased. Furthermore, the unit's instrument power stat is reduced to 0. These limitations reflect the energy and operational compromises required to maintain the cloaking field.

A unit can decloak voluntarily at the start of its activation if it did not cloak in the previous phase. It must decloak if it cannot prove its position beyond the range of an effect, given the revealed telemetry windows. To decloak, the unit's stealth tracker is revealed to all players, showing its true radial and distance positions. A ruler is then placed on the wake marker, aligned with the indicated radial, and the unit is placed at the measured distance, ensuring its base is touching the ruler and its fore end is oriented in the same direction as the wake marker's forward end. Finally, the wake marker is removed, and ranges are checked to the ship's true position.