OK, I have long been under the impression that the formula for scanning a planet with cloak is something like 1-(cloak/scan), meaning somebody with 12k scan would have a 25% chance of seeing a planet w/ 9k cloak ( 1 - (9,000/12,000) = .25), but have been told by other smart people that you simply have to have *more* scan than planet cloak to spot it, and you will spot it just fine (e.g. you have a 100% chance of scanning a planet with 9,000 cloak if you have 9,001 scan).

Can somebody confirm or deny either of these statements about planetary cloak and scan?

ya. so as long as u have more scan than the cloak of the planet u will get a chance to find it.

What you thought is correct. The people you have heard from are describing the original system, which was changed some time ago.

The way I understand it is, to use your example, if you have 9001 scan then yes you can see a 9000 cloak planet, but also every other planet with 9000 or less cloak. Say that means 3000000 planets can be seen, you have a 1/3000000 chance of seeing that particular planet with 9000 cloak (and you also have to factor in the chance of you successfully scanning a planet, ie. good, poor, very poor), but by no means guarenteed to find a 9000 cloak planet.

For what it's worth, I've lost a planet that had well into 30K cloak (very little defense because I used to think that the cloak would save me). That was some time ago, so maybe it's been fixed since then.

Scan is broke. Don't use any of the formulas. Max it out and pray.

Best defense for planets are 10k Pop 10K Attack, Defense and cloak. without legion bonus.

Yeah, that should stop just about anyone.

Just saw a planet with 8k pop, 190k attack/defense and 9k cloak get nabbed in about 90 seconds, so, uh... no?

Yea, there are players out there (quite a few) who can take any planet they want. My strategy is to put either 20K cloak or 20K defense (to keep the lowbies away). After that, i's just a matter of flux probing and flux orbs with the understanding that losing a planet every now and then is part of the cost of doing business. That, and I try to spread my production over as many planets as possible (prefer having several 1X or 2X over one planet with 5X+)

While that might happen, Dan IS willing to give you a clone of the planet(and everything on it) if that does happen. this have been done before.
Provided that it was not already scanned by someone(remember to probe ) and not crit hacked or something of course.

So mega cloak is 100% safe(cept crit hack), in the sense that even if it f**k up, you get your planet back.

As for why it fails... the only reason I know of is that it becomes invalid for a while after legion hop. So remember to probe it say 6 hours AFTER you are in your new(or return to) legion. Other reason might me legion mate hopping around but... for 300k to drop enough that'd take 10 people leaving for a bit, bit unlikely.

um.... OK. Dan, Can I have my planet back? It was 15X arti Massive Gaia with rings (or maybe very massive, I can't remember exactly). One of the first Gaias I built. I spent quite a bit on Terraformers to get it to 15X.

use the contact this app button on the bottom of the game, give an approximate date of the occurrence if u still can along with any other possible detail you might have. Explain the situation(that a safe-cloaked planet was snugged) If it have been a while, it might be more difficult, dunno how much data log he keeps. But if it's recent, you'd have a pretty good chance.

Yea, it was like 2 years ago