Ships & Modules

Some time ago I came across a blueprint for a Target Lock Breaker.

For those of you who are not aware, this is as module that confuses the targeting systems of multiple ships and breaks their lock.


I built the TLBs and have worked with them a little. It's a strange module with strange needs, but I think there is some potential.


For the most part, having tried this module in PVe several times, there is just no use for it. This module eats cap with a vengeance. To have even tried it was kind of dumb, but this was also a matter of needing multiple targets and a level 4 mission is a great place to find that. Just about any cap-stable fit is broken by this module, but otherwise, if you don't use it, it's a wasted slot for PVe that could have gone to the tank. It's a mid-slot module.

The only use I can see for this module is in some of those Guristas and Serpentis missions where you get permajammed or perma-damped (the latter seems not to happen as much) and it's basically a "so, I can't lock you/ Fine, you can't lock me", and so the TLB might get you a chance to regenerate some tank, but if you are using an active tank, reppers or shield boosters, the cap needs of the TLB don't appear to work well with this. I can see that this might work for a passive shield tank though but have not attempted such a fitting yet (and probably will not find the time to do so).

I did consider that this is a good panic module for cases where your tank breaks and you need to run off, but in PVe, good management and early destruction of scram/jam ships prevents this need in the first place.


So it's looking like the TLB is good for PVP, but there is no test of this yes (Having only 3 of these so far).

One area where I can see this module mixing things up a bit is in fleet engagements. The more ships targeting you, the better this module works. Could this be the end of being primaried? I could have used such a module on my battle cruiser that was lost during a live event. But overall in large fleets, what would be the consequences? The TLB does not appear to be linked with the "sensor strength" mechanics so could this make a battleship impossible to primary?

I don't expect to see any results soon though, because the TLB is a T1 module, and the large fleet fights are mainly in null where the big boys play with better hulls, such that a T1 module would undercut the better T2 ships they favor.

But if anybody has tried one of these on a battle ship in a large fleet and has seen this change the primary strategy of concentrated fire on a target, I would be curious. Perhaps fleet commanders will have to deploy "spotters" using ship scanners to find out which ships are equipped with TLBs or not? This could get interesting.

NOTES:

With NPC, around 10-12 of them, the TLB worked to break MOST of the locks, but some were still able to keep firing on my ship. I could expect that in PVP, if jumped by a gang of say 10 ships, the 2 or 3 ships that don't break lock, if the pilots are on the ball with DPS and have tackle, your goose may still be cooked.

Sadly this module is only for battle ships. This is too bad and I hope they consider a special attribute for TLBs for logistical and command ships. Command ships especially, because being able to slough off multiple locks would certainly make up for the end of off grid boosting. The whole reason for OGB was "Hey, the command ship! Everybody on the command ship!" and of course we know what happens next. Note that the TLB will also break "friendly" locks too, so on a logistics ship this would mean having to reestablish the locks needed to maintaining logistical needs of friendlies. But in some case where I have seen logistics get primaried in incursions, it might be better to have this happen than lose the logistics entirely.

Important to note that this module has the effect of a cloak regarding affecting of the time it takes to lock a target. A battle ship with a TLB can take up to a minute to lock a drone or frigate. So a special ability for the Noctis to equip this module (a ship that might certainly benefit from it) would certainly slow down salvage operations as a consequence. But I reiterate again that logistics, command, and perhaps even blockade runners would certainly benefit from this module and we should hope this is considered.

Overall I think this module is interesting, and may well end up being the "anti gate camp" module at the least, and a large fleet game changer for battle ships at best. It will be interesting to see what happens in the latter case, though I expect we will know when threads start appearing started by really angry fleet commanders screaming that the TLB is over-powered because the Primary-F1 method fell apart at some point. But again, who knows how that will play out.

as with all prototype modules its just "lets get that thing that and that and see how it goes" from CCP. Its a pure gatecamp escape tool which obviously never worked due to many factors. As such i forgot the last time i saw someone actually fitting those. Nowdays CCP made a second attempts with MJD, i suppose it will fail too.