Trade offs

[bladela]

No, they wired it in and turned it on. It worked fine, apparently - enough that the Romulans couldn't find them as they warped back to Federation space. No mention of it not working as well or only for a short time.

I think, however, for the whole period between this episode and the Algeron treaty,
it is almost 50 years in which the federation could have adopted and developed a cloaking device and did not do so, at least on the flagships (Enterprise and Excelsior), although not having treaty impediments.

this is more difficult to explain, even more so if there did not seem to be major technical impediments to doing so.

The excuse "Our crews don’t go sneaking around in space.” doesn't make sense to me, nothing forces you to use it in peacetime, but it's an extra option in combat situations.

[McAvoy]

No, they wired it in and turned it on. It worked fine, apparently - enough that the Romulans couldn't find them as they warped back to Federation space. No mention of it not working as well or only for a short time.

I think, however, for the whole period between this episode and the Algeron treaty,
it is almost 50 years in which the federation could have adopted and developed a cloaking device and did not do so, at least on the flagships (Enterprise and Excelsior), although not having treaty impediments.

this is more difficult to explain, even more so if there did not seem to be major technical impediments to doing so.

The excuse "Our crews don’t go sneaking around in space.” doesn't make sense to me, nothing forces you to use it in peacetime, but it's an extra option in combat situations.

The fact that the Klingons use it should say something. Honor in combat and all that. Though Klingons honor has always been fuzzy.

The fact the Federation doesn't use cloaks doesn't bother me. What really bothers me about it, is why is that a stipulation from the Romulans. Are they afraid of the potential of Starfleet being able to refine it past them? Like a perfect cloak where they can fire and have shields while cloaked or hell fire weapon while phased cloaked?

[bladela]

The fact that the Klingons use it should say something. Honor in combat and all that. Though Klingons honor has always been fuzzy.

The fact the Federation doesn't use cloaks doesn't bother me. What really bothers me about it, is why is that a stipulation from the Romulans. Are they afraid of the potential of Starfleet being able to refine it past them? Like a perfect cloak where they can fire and have shields while cloaked or hell fire weapon while phased cloaked?

your signature says it all ... you give starfleet engineers a cloaking device and who knows what they'll take out in ten years...