How ECM currently works can be kinda oppressive, especially against carriers.
Also rng mechanics suck.
I would like for ECM modules to immediately break a target lock when first activated (if the targets sensor strength is weaker than accumulated jammer strength), and then giving the affected ship a 5 minute immunity to the target breaking effect. And also apply a stacking (per ECM jammer activated on same target) debuff to target lock timers.
The lock timer debuff could either be %based or add a flat 2s lock time (which can not be reduced by NSA or other modules) and be either %increased or %decreased by targets sensor strength vs. jamming strength.
As for fighters, considering how ECM works in EVE, realistic would be for one jammer to jam one fighter instead of the whole squadron, but for balance reason let’s say they affect 1/3/4 (based on type) fighters. And have the ECMs act as a flat 33% effectiveness reduction on the squadron. Eg. 3 jammers on a combat squadron would reduce its damage to 1% , or a Siren squadrons points to 0.
Can you make a case for this? CCP had to give ECM some badly needed love because it was so underpowered and underutilized. ECM is more-or-less where it needs to be right now. If you have a problem with ECM on carriers, boost your sensor strength/racial sensor skills. Sensor boosters/amplifiers exist for this reason - the more important it is for you to maintain target lock in light of ECM, the more important it is for you to use these modules.
This will permit fleetmates to purposefully do this to you on purpose before battle starts to guarantee it won’t happen during the battle itself
This is interesting but both impractical and undesirable in terms of gameplay mechanics because it would make ECM basically useless against carriers. One of the reasons fighters operate in squadrons is because they do not operate independently of each other and cannot be commanded independently from the carrier - in effect, the “control link” between carrier and squadron is all-or-nothing, and this makes for good gameplay, practical implementation, and is sensible in terms of lore and realism.
What? CCP nerfed ECM into the ground with the change that you can lock the jamming ship because it it was overpowered and overused, and because people complained that they had no way of doing anything against the jammers once they were jammed. Also, by virtue of this nerf they completely obliterated the usefulness several ships. And again: Instead of going the sensible way of breaking the lock and then reducing the number of targets a jammed ship can lock, CCP opted for the easy and completely inappropriate way that left more collateral damage behind than it did good.
ECM certainly is not where it should be balance-wise and most definitely the ships with bonuses to these modules are not either.
ECM 2.0 patch was the greatest thing that ever happened to ECM. The only thing it eliminated was solo ECM (through drone ECM still worked solo), which was totally fine. Fleet ECM got massive boosts all around. The can-lock-ECM-ship nerf was a fair nerf.
Elaborate, please. What do you feel needs to be changed?
CCP nerfed ECM into the ground with the change that you can lock the jamming ship because it it was overpowered and overused, and because people complained that they had no way of doing anything against the jammers once they were jammed. Also, by virtue of this nerf they completely obliterated the usefulness several ships. And again: Instead of going the sensible way of breaking the lock and then reducing the number of targets a jammed ship can lock, CCP opted for the easy and completely inappropriate way that left more collateral damage behind than it did good.