I’m considering the adoption of the Burst Jammer II in low and null sec, to try to break targeting if I have to suddenly escape, but I don’t understand the logic of its operation.
I read that it “Emits random electronic bursts which have a chance of momentarily disrupting target locks on ships within range”.
I read in the attributes that its strength is 7.2 with every kind of sensor, so the chance to disrupting targets depends on this strength or not?
I try to explain: a ship with 23 targeting strength will see this value decreased at 15.8 or it will lose targeting by chance? And how often does it succeed in disrupting target lock?
This.
I won’t pretend to understand the math (someone else maybe?) but the “tldr” of it is “it is based on chance like any ECM module.”
Now here is the thing…
A Burst Jammer only works within a certain range and, if I remember correctly, that range is no more than 5 to 7km.
Warp Scramblers (without any special bonuses) have a max range between 6 to 9km.
Warp Disruptors (without any special bonuses) have a max range between 20 to 28km.
And Burst Jammers can’t be activated when a Stargate or Station is within range of it.
More than that… activating it is considered a form of aggression, which will give you a timer where you can’t jump through a Stargate or Dock for about a minute.
And in Low-sec, using it preemptively (see: before you are aggressed first) will incur the wrath of the gate-guns (unless the hostile in question is already a legally valid target).
This makes Burst Jammers quite situational and not really ideal if your plan is to stay close to stargates or stations.
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Both.
The chance of disrupting targets depends on the strength of this number, as well as the sensor strenght of the ship.
Larger ships are harder to disrupt, smaller ships are easier. If i remember correctly.
Chance can be caclulated by jammer strength over ship sensor strength or something.
I’m just searching for an electronic counter measure in case I’m attacked by surprise in low or null sec, just to gain some time to warp away or destroy the enemy. Is there something better than burst jammer?
I know that there are sensor dampeners too or weapon disruptors, but both need target lock and disruptors need you to choose between missile or turret disruptor, but in PvP you simply can’t know in advance what kind of ship you will find outside.
So in the end I thought that burst jammer is fast (you activate and don’t have to lock any target) and is effective against every kind of ship, with missiles or turrets.
is my reasoning wrong?
You reasoning isn’t wrong… it simply doesn’t line up well with the reality of scenario you are trying to get ahead of (see: get away from hostiles in low/null).
The problem is simply that ECM is chance based and has range issues… making it unreliable (unless you are in a ship that has specific bonuses to increase the odds/range).
.
If I may, here are other directions you can go in…
(please note that none of these are “magic bullets”)
-
When you have just jumped into a system are are attempting to warp to the next stargate, the period where you decloak and enter warp is where your ship is most exposed.
By reducing your align time with NanoFiber Internal Structures or Inertial Stabilizers you reduce this exposure.
Know that an align time of less than 2 seconds makes you fairly “immune” to all but the best gatecamps in low-sec. And a nuisance in null-sec. -
When you jump into a system and are greeted by hostiles, DO. NOT. PANIC.
Get a sense of your surroundings. Where is the nearest hostile to you? Are they moving towards you or away?
Remember that you have up to 30 seconds where you can sit there cloaked. No one can see or touch you (even if they are right on top of you) until you move/activate something or the 30 second are up.
If possible, wait until the closest hostile is more than 10km from you… then make a break for the stargate with a MWD (overload it if you can).
Activate all your defense/repair systems too (overload them if you can).
Once you are within 2500m of the Stargate you can jump back through. Once your screen loads, immediately warp out to any object so you can’t be followed (FYI: any hostile that shot at you will have a weapons timer… so they can’t dock or jump systems for about a minute). -
If you are simply hauling stuff, the cloak-MWD trick is also quite handy (especially if you do not have access to a Blockade Runner).
For this… I suggest Googling this and watching some videos.
Essentially it is a method of manipulating a few modules to achieve warp in 10 seconds.
True… in which case you simply need to pick your battles.
Easier said than done, I know.
The best I can say is: Gear your ship to a specific weapon/tactic and use maneuvering to put yourself in the best position possible… failing that… don’t take the fight.
However, I will say that “kiting” tactics are popular for a reason (see: a player can disengage better when doing this).
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Tanks for the tips ShahFluffers.
The idea is not to warp away at gates, but while I’m exploring sites. In fact I have no problems at the gates, because I have a Tengu with interdiction nullifier to be sure to be immune from interdictions spheres in null-sec and a covert ops cloak module with cloak skill at lvl 4 that make the cloack-MWD trick useless.
So, I want instead to warp away just in case someone attack me while I’m exploring sites. So, your suggestions to reduce align time instead of using a jammer is right, but I have a question:
Actually with everything lvl 4, 3 inertial stab lvl II and a low friction nozzle joint II I have an align time of 5,44 s. With the same config, if I use chassis optimization I could achieve 3,20 s.
- Do you think is better use chassis optimization instead? With chassis optimization I can lower align time, but with nullifier I’m immune from non targeted interdiction. What to prefer? Maybe I can use nullifier only in null-sec, where spheres can be used? Or is always better prefer align time?
- Are there any skills to lower align time that maybe I neglected?
Thank you in advance
Ooooooo… exploration and using a Tengu! Context helps! 
I unfortunately don’t have much advice when it comes to fitting a Tengu as I have never flown one.
The best I can do is offer up general advice.
When at a site:
- Don’t stay close to warp-in points (so people can’t land on top of you)
- Always keep moving around (so it is hard for Covert-Ops ships to get close to you)
- Watch local (if you see people enter a system, be on guard… if you see a bunch of people enter a system, be ready to warp)
- Use your D-Scanner liberally… set to a 1-5 AU range (so if things get close you know when to warp)
- Have your shp generally aligned towards clusters of celestial bodies (so you can warp out quickly and make it hard to track you)
- Don’t warp to gates when hostiles are around
- Make “safespots” as you go and bounce between them when you are in danger
Beyond that… it would probably be best to get some advice from more seasoned explorers.
Hope that helps!
Thanks ShahFluffers
I’m a bit of an ECM buff. I guess that’s past tense now, as I reallocated ECM points to damps after the ECM nerf but c’est la vie.
Point is, I’m quite well versed in it. Burst jammers are a bit of a meme, if you ask me. They should absolutely not be relied upon as a primary escape mechanism. The way ECM works is chance based, as Shahfluffers pointed out. If your skills give you a strength of 7.2 on the burst jammer, that means it emits:
- 7.2 ladar strength
- 7.2 radar strength
- 7.2 magnetometric strength
- 7.2 gravimetric strength
To an area around you (tier 2 is 6km). The maths is based on the target’s sensor strength which can be found on the EVE University page for whichever ship you are trying to jam. Speaking very roughly frigates will have a strength around 8-10, whereas battleships you can expect 20+. All the other ships fall in the middle incrementally.
What does this mean? Well the maths is simple - (jam strength/sensor strength) * 100. This means if you are looking to jam a frigate (let’s say an atron) with a sensor strength of 8 magnetometric, your chance to jam is (7.2 / 8) * 100 = 90%.
Pretty good right? But ships may have sensor boosters or implants which raises their sensor strength, and this is just a t1 frigate after all. Take the raptor, a T2 caldari interceptor, which has 14 points. (7.2 / 14) * 100 = 51.4% base chance. Wanna take that coin flip if you get jumped? I wouldn’t…
I’m using “tackle frigates” as references because this is assuming you want to PvE in low/null sec and want a “get out of jail free” card - realistically the most common tacklers are inties and bubblers (if you get jumped by a sabre, jam burst ain’t gonna do anything). However if you’re looking to PvP and have a burst jammer as an emergency escape, you are better of fitting more utility (another web? More tank?) in the mid slot instead and choosing your engagements wisely.
Final note: caldari ships have higher sensor strengths.
Quick anecdote: My corp fleet (~6 people in T3 cruisers) which I was FC for, located a stratios in a wormhole sitting at the sun uncloaked. We weren’t sure if it was bait or if their cloak broke/deactivated by accident. I had one guy engage in a stratios and suddenly 5 more stratios’ and a proteus decloaked on him (it was bait!) Thankfully we were right behind him but weren’t sure if he’d survive. We snagged a proteus kill worth 1 billion and the other stratios’ fled (bizarrely).
We weren’t sure why they ran away until the proteus pilot convo’d me and asked “hey who was that guy burst jamming us? Nobody could lock anyone” and it emerged our initial tackle had fitted a burst jammer II on his strat for some hilarious reason, and had actually pulled off the ~30-40% chance to jam their fleet successfully, numerous times, which caused them to leave the field despite being at an advantage!
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