Smallish tweak to ECM to make it less "on/off"

This idea doesn’t address all issues with ECM, it only tries to change the on/off feel of being ECMed, ie, today you either can continue to target as normal, or you cant target anything at all until next ECM cycle.

It also assumes the “chance to jam” formula stays the same. (ecm strength/sensor strength), but changes when the rng runs.

The following is from the “ECM victim” point of view.

Today:
Start of ECM cycle, roll dice, if ECM wins all locked targets are unlocked, and cannot lock any new targets until next ECM cycle.

Idea:
Start of ECM cycle, roll dice once per locked target, if ECM wins, unlock that target. (all target locks where ECM wins will be unlocked)
For every targeting attempt, roll dice, if ECM wins, targeting fails at the end of targeting cycle.

With this idea, when you get ECMed you will never be completely shut down, but always affected. You can continue to try to lock targets, and the dice roll will decide if you succeed or not, if you fail try lock the target again. Logi and similar roles will have to keep track of cap buddies and other important pre-locks to make sure to re re-lock them if they get unlocked.

High ECM strength might feel less oppressive, you will still have a successful lock now and then, low ECM strength might feel less useless, it will prevent a lock now and then.

My hope is that the feel of being under ECM is less random, even if it still very much is random, and instead will feel closer to noise, since the randomness happens more often.

2 Likes

You know what ECM should do?

It should land successfully every time, and it should (a) break the target’s lock and (b) apply a significant but temporary penalty to the target’s scan resolution to delay the speed of their re-locking. The degree of the penalty could be affected by the target’s sensor strength.

The only chance-based ECM should be the Burst Jammer and Target Spectrum Breaker.

…You know what, nevermind. That basically makes it a warp core stabilizer in a solo PvP scenario.

only two things need to change with ECM and it will be fine

1 remove 100% jam chance this is neither balanced nor does it fit the theme

2 give the ECM a remote ECCM based on the mag grav radar ladar strengths (this gives an effective stacking penalty.

adjust base levels to compensate ofc

The remote sensor booster does ECCM for a while now.

And instead of focusing what you cannot do, you should focus on what you can do, which is warp to a ping and come back.

train reading comprehension to at least level 2 and try again

Try being respectful and polite every now and then.

  1. chance to jam is capped at 95% .
  2. is the same as lowering the base strength of the ECM .

the re-locking after being jammed is most people’s biggest complaint . it effectively adds several seconds to the jam time , especially on larger ships trying to lock smaller ones .

best suggestion i’ve heard is to ‘grey out’ the locked targets , and shut down offensive modules as now . once the jam fails , your targets are immediately available again .

this is not true you are thinking of probes .there needs to be a cap but a cap does not exist currently.

this is also not true idk how you even came to that conclusion

this is easy to counter and its even done with the same mod you use for ECCM its just most people don’t think to do it

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the 95% hard cap on chance to jam is from a dev post … :face_with_raised_eyebrow: what makes you think it doesn’t currently exist ?

it’s unclear to me what you’re trying to do here be a bit more specific , and tell me how what you propose would give different results than simply lowering the strength of the ecm module .

hours of testing both on SiSi and TQ. if the devs intend it to have a 95% cap then it’s currently bugged. i even went back and tested it today. in 1200 cycles not a single jam failed. (6 jams going a little over an hour)

as adding a remote ECCM effect i’m not sure what is confusing about it.

add a remote ECCM effect. this would mean the more ECM active on a target at one time the harder it would be to jam. now if you miss a jam you can chose

A try a second jam with a worse chance

B wait the 20s and try again

This plays into how you currently fly ECM where your goal is to have as few of your ECM modals on as you can. it also means putting your 3 rooks worth of ECM onto one logi isn’t the best use for them 90% of the time

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