EVE General Discussion

Im running in low sec.....I get randomly targeted by some other ship neara gate.....

...I know he is up to no good so I hit my ECM on him.....

Now, becuase I ECM'd him without him firing a shot, I get the bad-guy blinky on me.


Seems to me this is messed up. I was acting defensively where split second decisions count...yet EVE doesnt see it that way and marks me as the aggressor.


Why?


BTW....he warp scrambled and fired on me but my 2nd ECM on him took and I got away.....blinky and all.

ROFLMAO!!!!!!

Oh god, I think I just peed myself laughing so hard.

Also, when you're over 150km from Lowsec gates or stations, the (respective) guns won't fire on you
Good fun to play with people who don't know that.

Relax. He was cargo scanning you to see what ammo/consumables you used so he could determine what to haul to your low-sec trade hub, i.e. it was nothing but market research.

/there_are_a_lot_of_decaffeinated_brands_on_the_market_today_that_are_just_as_tasty_as_the_real_thing

Another casualty of the baffling ordeal known as empire aggro mechanics.
I've seen "leet" pvp-bros get toasted by empire gate-n-station gun mechanics, as well as lowsec <-5 pilots who jump in haste into a hisec system and suddenly remember OH YEAH CONCORD.
Bottom line: get out of Empire.


Edit: you can earn gate gun aggro, warp to a ping just off grid from gate, warp back and blaze away without any more hassle from em, if the other guy redboxed you that is, oh it's full of complex details like a great beautiful garden.

Yeah, I know. but it still sucks.

If a ship attempts to target you first, and you target him faster with a countermeasure, it should not count against you.

Targeting means just that...you are in their cross-hairs. A countermeasure would be appropriate even if a shot is not fired.

True. It would not then matter becuase I would be unaware of it. But if Im aware of it, I should be able to protect myself by blinding them.

ECM isn't a defensive module. It's pure offense. It prevents the target from locking anything, which severely handicaps their ability to do anything. This is why there are ships like the Blackbird and Scorpion who's job in a fleet is to jam everything, and why they tend to get primaried.

You don't "target with a countermeasure".

You target and then you act.

All he did was target. You both targeted and acted against him. Even though you see ECM as a defensive module, the game isn't to know what your purpose is in activating a module against another player. ECM can be used, very much as an offensive tool.


No, if used defensively only, a countermeasure is only valid when a shot is fired.

There is nothing to counter up to that point if your only motive is to defend yourself. But ECM can be used to assist an attack.

It's simple:
ECM is an offensive action. It messes with the other ship, severely impairing how it functions.
If you do it first, you are the aggressor.
I don't even know what's there to discuss.

Offensive actions can only be counted as defense when they are in reaction to an offensive action targeted at you.

So it's for you to decide: Is that split second between ECMing a possible aggressor before he shoots as compared to after he aggresses more important than the difference between gate guns shooting at you rather than him? Then do it.

Else don't. If he shoots first he already is at a disadvantage.

If you see someone targeting you and he isn't shooting immediately, isn't it even highly likely he doesn't want to shoot at you anyway? Why else give you time to prepare?
In any case you have time to take any number of preventive measures which are not considered aggressive but will help you in case you are attacked after all:
Moving back to gate, overheating hardeners, moving to your optimal distance, aligning out, warping out..
Edit: targeting him in return, too, of course.