Ships & Modules

Everyone has been whining about ECM, being overpowered, and it definitely is, but a simple nerf to its power won't do ****, either ECM will not be affected much, or it will get nuked too much and be useless. With all other kinds of EWAR it is a constant debuff, not a chance, so best would be to in some way change ECM so that it has a constant effect as opposed to all none.

I propose that ECM decreases max target count by the ration of the difference of the ECM strength and ship sensor strength.
Example equation

Ship max locked targets=(Sensor strength-ECM strength)/Sensor strength*max locked targets

So assuming a reasonable ECM strength of 12, ECM will still lock out frigates and some cruisers(0 max locked targets), but for larger BC's, and BS's, it will just get them down to.....

say you are jamming a rifter
=(8-12)/8*6
=0

say you are jamming a raven
=(22-12)/20*6
=3

so this will not effect large combat ships too much, however if you are targeting a logi like a basilisk

=(22-12)/20*6
=3

It will put pressure on the logi, as now they cannot manage their cap chains and stuff as well. this puts ECM much more on par with other EWAR, it fits into a more supportive ole, namely shutting down logi chains or jamming out frigates

*Edit*

Do not forget stacking, and stacking penalties. ( i do not know how stacking penalties would be calculated for this) But this means ECM could still jam out targets with high sensor strength completely, such as logi, or even carriers, they would simply need to focus some or all ECM modules on that ship.

I don't think that is a terrible proposal. On the other hand, I think ECM is pretty much fine right now.

I present to you the fix for the ECM

ECM is not to have it break the lock and just do a white noice animation on the jammed ship icon.
The target ship still can not activate any mods as now but you do not have to relock all of your targets and are only out of action for the duration of successful jamming cycle.

Also any lock in progress that was not finished by the time jammed woud be broken, and for the duration of the jamming cycle you can not start new lock.
Think of it you ship computer is overloaded and has hard time just to keep the locks it has.

Jamming for bigger fights improved by adding a EW wing to the fleet system. All members of this wing will see in the overview which targets are they fleet mates jamming (this goes for all forms of EW)
It would basically make the EW section more manageable.

I think it fixes the main issue of being out of the fight too long jamming cycle + relock time by removing the relocking part but does not completely break the ECM in the process. (I know this is what most of the no brain dips plus tank types want)

I honestly think ecm has been nerfed enough.

"so this will not effect large combat ships too much"

You mean not at all. In a typical fight locking down the BCs or BSs to 3 or even 2 targets makes absolutely no difference. Locking the primary and the secondary...done.

I'm not sure what the ECM fix is but its not this. I like the idea of it not breaking lock, but that's probably a cop out easy way to code it into the game, rather than having to code in a whole lot of "if jammed...do not allow X, Y, Z..." you break lock for 20 sec and its easy, cause that's already programmed in...


Just like that thing where your repair drones can repair everything except you...wait, what?

ECM is fine, its 20 second cycles are just frustrating. If you think Falcons are bad then i take it you have never been caught buy an arazue at 80k or inst popped because a Rapier dropped your speed and lit your sig up.
see only the falcon some times decloaks at 60k locks 7 targets then nothing happens and gets killed for it.
all that needs to happen is reduce ECM to 10 seconds and every one will feel better.

I don't like ecm. I think it has overpowered and still is. But it is a needed mechanic in the game. There needs to be lock breaking ewar of some kind. Other than scan res damps, it is the only thing that can mess up logi support.

If ecm stays the way it is then I think that eccm could use a little buff as to the percentage protection it provides. Or, it could get converted to a static amount of sensor strength. That would make it worth fitting on smaller ships and not make them jokingly easy targets for ecm.

Also, I would love to see some new skills for sensor integrity introduced into the game. There are skills to speed up lock time and lock range. These do the opposite of damps. but there are no skills to increase the sensor strength of your ship. So, it would be great if one were introduced. Even if it were 2% per level or something. Train radar sensor integrity 5 (etc) and a get a certain percentage bonus on your ship's sensor strength.

So my alterations to the current ecm situation would be indirect, such as the above stated eccm buff or conversion, and an introduction of a new set of skills for sensor integrity. Those two things would make eccm more of a serious consideration for midslots, would possibly help smaller hulls, and would introduce another thing to expend sp on in the game.

hit quality on guns is random. otherwise every hit on a stationary ship or structure would be the same.

invention is random.

drops are random.

there are other random mechanics in the game.

As I said I don't like ecm, afterall, I've benfitted from it at times, but I don't want it abolished, severly weakened, or made into something that simply reduces number of targets a ship can lock.

Most effective form of EWAR, besides points for obvious reasons

wrong ECM is better on smaller targets, works substantially less on T2/T3 ships and has a chance to not work. All other forms of Ewar work as well or better, with the exception of dams they all force multiply about the same. ECM is buy far the weakest it's only usfull on a hull that bonuses it.