EVE General Discussion

In a two hour event that saw about two hundred people come to the system, I witnessed first hand the issues that both defenders and attackers faced when using this new mechanic.

Overall I think it is a great addition to the game, there was definitively an influx of content in our home. Unfortunately this also happened when less than a quarter of our coalition was actually online.

Immediately I noticed the problem that in-game the mechanics weren't very clear as to what to do in order to play this mini-game. It was also frustrating to note that some of our defenders actually couldn't find the nodes that need to be hacked in space - they were practically invisible and they did not appear by default on the overview. I would recommend turning them on by default for people, or making them more visible in outer space.

However, the main issue that I ended up seeing were TrollECM. Under current mechanics it seems that it is possible for a single t1 ship fit with ecm to halt the defense by three pilots. This is especially annoying because an ECM boat only needs to get one jam cycle on on the entosis-ing ship in order to mess with the capture. It would be fine and dandy if you could then relock the node and continue capturing it, but unfortunately, you have to wait for the entire cycle to end to be able to do anything again, and at that point, you have to do two cycles on the node again! I would recommend remedying one of three ways -
a) allowing links to continue from where they left off if they relock the node as a result of the ECM
b) make the link make the ship immune to EWAR of the ECM variety (justify it by saying that "by using this link your mind and your ship reach a certain point of transcendence and are now immune to things that can break your concentration")
c) make the link boost the ships sensor strength by A LOT when it is active (since they do not need to be scanned down - they have to be at an object that is present on the overview)

Other than this I would say it was a very fun experience, was nice to see people from all over EvE gather in the system in which I tried to live, heh.

also you can fan out and grab other nodes, so if you had 1 dude with an ecm you can send another guy to another node to entosis it while you keep the lone ecm guy distracted.

but you had 3 v 1.. so shoot the ******* ecm boat

I'm sorry, but if one ECM ship defeated 3 of your pilots, you were seriously doing it wrong. There are plenty of ways to counter a single ECM ship, and with 3 pilots it should have been relatively easy.

I think the issue is: One ecm ship comes in, quickly locks and jams. Moments later, it explodes due to the actions of the defenders. But the damage is done: the link has to end its last cycle, then start a new cycle.

The result is it becomes a twitch game race: Can you lock and kill the ecm ship before it gets one jam off?

In the mass test I commented to CCP about the consequences to the link user of losing lock (I flew out of my range, and lost lock). They agreed the consequences were large, making me think CCP intends for things to be working as they are.

There are so many counters. Use a T2 link and be far away, moving fast. Have other ships standing by to activate their links (at least you only get set back one cycle). Insta-lock gank ships, and so on.

The point about the overview and making nodes a bit more casual-friendly is a good point.

I see the "TrollECM" case as the system working as intended.

Your example of 1v3 being a "possibility to halt the defence" implies that bigger numbers should always win, whether you indented this or not, and I do not personally agree with this. As others have said, you could have the ship with the Entosis Link ECCM-fit or you could damp / jam / kill the one ship in your example.

trollECM :D god now i know what to invest in on the market, this is really funny :D the big comeback of the lockbraker bombs

You could go full tryhard mode and build a bubble of stop bubble around your objective to prevent the ECM ship being in range.

Use a super.

Why do people keep calling legitimate tactics "trolling"?

This is not c17th century warfare, we don't all line up nice and neat and see who has the bigger guns then have a slow ordered march to the middle for a good scrap.

Running in and out in a cheap, throwaway ship, that can seriously annoy (but that's about it) larger gangs is trolling.