Wednesday, October 16, 2013

ECCM Secondary Effects?

I should be on a beach somewhere in the Indian Ocean right about now with no internet. Hopefully this works.

I was talking on Twitter defending the Falcon. It was suggested that other eWar such as tracking disruptors, dampeners, neuts and the like can all be offset with modules which ECM cannot. I then pointed out ECCM and the conversation died. However, if I'd been them I'd have continued with it as there is a massive flaw in my argument. ECCM is a one-trick pony.


You can counter tracking distruptors with either a tracking computer or tracking enhancers. If you are not being disrupted then these modules provide a good boost to your ability to hit hour enemy. They are useful all the time.

You can counter sensor damps with sensor boosters and amplifiers. If you are not being damped then you'll get a useful bonus to your scan res or target range or both. They are useful some of the time.

If you are being neuted you can counter with a cap injector. If you are not being neuted it will still help you last longer if your ship is not cap stable. They are useful most of the time.

If you are being jammed you can counter with ECCM. If you are not being jammed then that ECCM module is as much use as tits on a kipper.


All modules that counter eWar have a useful effect when not countering eWar. Except ECCM. The only benefit ECCM provides is that it makes your ship harder to probe down (scan probing is effected by the scan strength of the target ship as well as its signature radius). All in all not a massively useful module if there is no enemy ECM about. It is generally used in three circumstances:-

1. You are shipping up to engage a target fleet you know, or heavily expect, has ECM support.
2. You are in a critical ship for the fleet that must not get jammed such as a logistics ship in a chain.
3. You need a fit that is very hard to scan down when at a safe spot (booster alt).

Other than that people rarely fit ECCM to their ship. None of my PvP ships have ECCM fitted other than those from the list above. I never solo with ECCM fitted, its a waste of a slot.

What if ECCM, as per other eWar counters, gave an additional bonus that was useful? What could that be? It is a difficult one as you don't want it to do the same as other modules, but it needs some useful effect.

How about reducing signature radius? The advanced electronics help to reduce your ships electromagnetic signature leading to you being harder to hit/taking less damage from missiles? Any ideas anyone?


Perhaps ECCM could provide a broad-spectrum hardening to all forms of eWar but only when under attack. Not sure if the mechanics allow it but it could be interesting for ECCM to counter all forms of eWar. It doesn't provide a permanent boost to tracking or targeting range, but if eWar is being used on you the ECCM negates half or so depending on the meta of the negative effects?

Suddenly ECCM may become popular?

7 comments:

  1. +1 patch it now!
    How about a bonus to target spectrum breakers? They need some love.

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  2. When I was new, I thought sensor strength had a direct relation with lock time. I knew nothing about scan resolution (which by the way is inverted). Why not modify the targeting formula so that both scan resolution and sensor strength determine f targeting speed.

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  3. Does that unprobable thing still work? I thought it got nerfed

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  4. I've actually thought the same thing. ECCM should offer some kind of incentive to use it other than to just counter ECM. A sig radius reduction seems to feel right. Although it's still quite limited in its use. Anything smaller than a cruiser doesn't realistically have room (or cap) to fit ECCM. And cruiser fits can often be quite gimped by losing a mid to an ECCM module. It's really only on BCs and BSs that an ECCM module is regularly viable. But a reduction in sig radius is most valuable on the smaller hulls.

    I think a more balanced approach to modifying ECCM would be to make it into the power diagnostic equivalent for electronics. It should have small to moderate boosts to sensor strength, sig radius, scan res, lock range, and max locked targets. Or maybe that's what signal amplifiers should turn into (since they're closer to that function already).

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  5. I lost a ship last night because someone thought to fit eccm. Unlike other ewar, ecm can break tackle (yes, maybe you could damp or neut enough) If you are concerned about holding tackle then fit eccm. You just decreased the effectiveness of a Falcon by 1/2 with one module. Think of it as, would you rather have 2 guardians or 2 falcons as fleet support? Now add eccm and ask again.

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  6. I should add that I don't know for sure if eccm was used...which I feel adds to the argument. Theoretically I could have missed every jam attempt, or perma jammed him, right? From either point of view, the other person seems over powered, but are actually just lucky.

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  7. "Perhaps ECCM could provide a broad-spectrum hardening to all forms of eWar but only when under attack. Not sure if the mechanics allow it but it could be interesting for ECCM to counter all forms of eWar. It doesn't provide a permanent boost to tracking or targeting range, but if eWar is being used on you the ECCM negates half or so depending on the meta of the negative effects?"

    Like

    ReplyDelete