Warfare & Tactics

Sorry, I didn't mean that ECM never causes me a problem in combat. It does! But I think it's generally in a good place balance-wise. My one complaint is that it literally turns off turrets, and that's not very fun. I just wish that turret-users had a "fire blindly in the dark while jammed" option, like missiles and drones do. Frankly, I'd be fine with that option being almost completely ineffective. So long as I can spew ammo and say "I may not be able to target you, but I can still hope you fly into my bullets."

But, yeah, from a balance perspective I think ECM is fine.

Oh look. Another ECM thread.
It works as intended. It is RNG based target nullification. Small gang vs small gang, it is a powerful force multiplier. Personally, i think it is pretty balanced; it can be annoying, sure, but there are options available to counter ecm. FoF missiles, and I believe drones set to aggressive will target and engage the closest hostile to you (so heavy missiles and HAMs can/will explode harmlessly on that warrior II that is orbiting you), so get close to the offending ecm boat if you have got drones or FoF.
The opposition filled out a seat just to nullify 1-3 (depending on how your jammer like to operate) of your ships, nothing is stopping you from doing the same thing.
The ridiculous thing is that sensor damps are useful in every situation ECM is (plus a few more), and don't compete for tanking slots on ships bonused for them, and nobody seems to care. Some SD boats get a bonus to scramble as well ffs, the choice should be obvious.

Heck yes it does. I'd love to see the cycle time dropped down to 5-10 seconds.

Irrelevant. The design was flawed from the start. Whether it is currently working as intended or not, it is poor design and poor gameplay. The current design is a rework of a rework because the original design saw ECM modules put on every hull possible.



Not all ECM is deployed and played as you describe. It is at it's least effective when used to jam multiple targets. ECM often then fails to produce the required effect as the ECM ship is made primary and dies quickly because it has no tank (by design because of the broken mechanic).

The ECM pilot either decides to use ECM the most effective way or stops trying to use ECM. When they learn that ECM is best used on one target (may be two) the probability rises and the devastating effect of multiple successful cycles of jam (neutralising all items on a ship) becomes reality.

This is rarely used in Fleet operations of medium (8) or up because the ECM hull will be instantly primary (if within reach) and has no tank because all of the ECM hulls were nerfed due to the broken effect of ECM.



RSD does not deny use of mods at close range and range control is a very important aspect of all Eve. It has a sweetspot if the correct situation is engineered that puts it close to ECM in small / medium (kite) fleets.

It relies heavily on range control, from the target, where ECM does not.

Take away RNG, switch to jam duration.

For example, 10-strong jam vs. 20 sensor strength jams for 10s out of the 20s module cycle time.

Re-balance ECM strengths across the board to taste, considering that losing all locked targets is already a strong effect, even if you can re-lock after a few seconds.

Throw ECM an optimal and falloff into the mix, possibly decreasing optimal to compensate jam certainty with ship vulnerability.

Could spice things up a bit.

Obviously there would be a limit, like <25% strength/sensor nothing happens.

Then it depends on how it's balanced.

EDIT: you could also have your previous locks come back automatically, without having to re-lock.

Introduce a counter. Each jammer cycle increases the counter. Having higher sensor strength would mean the counter increases slowly, having less means faster. Higher jammer strength would increase the rate at which the counter ticks. Once it reaches 100, you get jammed. After the jam has run its duration, reset the counter. Introduce a stacking penalty meaning no more than 1 jammer can tick the counter. Good enough?

ECM is as broken as its advocates' arguments.

Perhaps spending more time using, apologies, learning tactics of overcoming nasty ECM pilots with the tools available to you in-game?????

There are many.....

And Yes, I could have been helpful and explained just a few but the is EVE. Stop crying over a very old spilled milk topic and move on.

P.S. I await my grammar **** correcting colleague Silverbackyererse to respond from the sidelines. This is to to cheer me up from yet another sad "ECM is broken thread"

Embrace the ECM butt hurt or work out how to beat it!

I think what most of you crying about ECM seem to miss, is if you are outnumbered, you'be probably already lost, ECM or no. Do you really think you, in whatever ship makes you feel badass, should be able to counter several other players at once?

ECM has been nerfed heavily several times over the course of time. It's not an "I win" button in an even fight. ECMs are race specific or face a drastic penalty to strength. ECMs are relatively short range, with only one ship i can think of having a range bonus anymore (I've been gone 4 years, not 100% on that.) there are skills now that counter ECM as well as implants. There have always been mods to counter them. As stated several times, larger and higher end ships have higher sensor strengths. ECM ships have fewer low slots then most other ships, and generally have little tank and no tackle. ECM's are chance based. What other module in EVE works that way? They fail often. Usually at the cost of the ECM ship.


They are not the most effective ewar modules anymore either. There was a time when NOS and one or two multispec ECM in the mid was a required fit. Not even remotely true any more. Ever tried killing that tackle frigate when you've got 1 or more tracking disruptors on you? How about even locking that frigate with several sensor damps on you? What about your knife range bruiser, double webbed by a long point? Target painters are probably the lest useful and used Ewar.



Bottom line it that it's not the ECM killing you, it's you being out numbered or outclassed in the first place. Pick your fights better. If you get soloed by an ECM ship you're probably doing something wrong. Post the kill mail so we can laugh at you.